Spoilers and things for The Walking Dead are shambling around below.
When The Walking Dead returns next month, it’s going to get a whole lot worse for Rick & Co. before it ever gets better. And it looks like a character that we’ve already said goodbye to will be one of the reasons for the misery, as a new piece of key art for Season 6 teases the return of Deanna Morgan. Or, at least, the reanimated walker version of Deanna. Check it out below.
If you’ll notice, the second-to-last image at the top is unmistakably Deanna, the Alexandria leader who was last seen avoiding a bullet-led suicide by screaming and allowing a group of walkers to envelop her. Viewers should have known that, despite contrarian murmurs that actress Tovah Feldshuh wouldn’t be back on the show, having Deanna avoid a head-wound death would mean she’d be returning as a walker. It’s just one more piece of evidence that Alexandrians have no clear plan or idea of proper survival techniques for themselves or their fellow peeps.
How are we so sure it’s Deanna? For one, Feldshuh has a pretty distinctive neck, but that’s hardly admissible in court. The wedding ring and the watch are huge clues, as well as the blue button-down shirt that she’s wearing. This is exactly what Deanna had on when she died, although it and her skin have gotten pretty messy and gory in the meantime. Note the watch and ring in the image below.
This is interesting for several reasons. One, we barely get to see Walking Dead characters come back as zombies these days. It happened more often in the early seasons, where we saw walker versions of Shane, Sophia, Amy and Merle. But most of the time, the doomed characters get a headshot specifically to ensure they don’t come back. I’m betting Deanna looks absolutely frightening, too.
The image also seems to indicate that Deanna is going to be attacking someone, as it looks like Morgan’s gloved hand is holding her back from whatever she’s grabbing. Maybe she’ll be the one to kill off her only living relative, Spencer, or one of the other non-essential Alexandria citizens that mostly serves as background noise. I just hope her resurrection will be a memorable one.
The new image, posted to the show’s Facebook page, also teases other upcoming moments, like possibly the introduction of Jesus, the comic moment during the zombie massacre, and the change in location we talked about yesterday. It’s going to be a huge season, and we can’t wait to see who’s left standing when Negan shows up.
Get yourself a good heart-shaped bucket of zombie guts warmed up and ready to go, as The Walking Dead will return to AMC on February 14 for the remained of Season 6. To see when everything else is premiering over the next few months, check out our midseason TV schedule.
