We know what you’re thinking, “didn’t Shane die in Season 2?” Yes, he did. But, it has been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) lifelong friend will be returning for an episode during Season 9 of the zombie drama.
Bernthal played former police officer, Shane Walsh, who was killed by his best friend Rick Grimes, then shortly after turning into a walker Walsh was permanently killed by Rick’s son, Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) in season 2 of the show.
Bernthal happens to be returning just in time before the two main characters, Rick Grimes and Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) leave the show.
Read more about their exit HERE.
How exactly Bernthal’s character will return to the show is still up in the air. Shane’s death confirms that it will not be a return to the present timeline, and most likely a flashback. ‘Walking Dead’ is known for its frequent flashbacks and now the more often, flash-forwards.
But, the apocalyptic show is also known for creating hallucinations and making characters see and hear characters that aren’t really there. Like, when Rick’s wife Lori died in season 3, Rick hallucinated himself seeing and talking to his wife shortly after her passing.
Sadly, Shane’s return will most likely be short lived. Bernthal’s role as Frank Castle on the Marvel Netflix series, “The Punisher” actually limits how many episodes the actor could appear on ‘The Walking Dead,’ the standard rule is three episodes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Even though Shane’s time on season 9 will most likely be brief, we have a strong feeling his return will connect with Andrew Lincoln’s departure from the show. Whether it’s flashbacks of untold stories or Rick Grimes hallucinating, Shane’s return will most likely be a pivotal moment in Rick’s last season.
In December, Lincoln told THR that, “there needs to be an end game and that is something that is definitely being talked about.” A few months later, Lincoln updated the publication and said, “there’s certainly an endgame in my head. Whether or not that’s the same endgame that’s in the producers’ heads or the people I work with is another matter. That’s open for discussion.”
A New Showrunner Brings Another Time Jump…
We already know that the events happening within season nine will make it monumental and the start of something new. But, there have also been changes to the outside of the show, longtime showrunner Scott M. Gimple will no longer be the showrunner of ‘The Walking Dead.’ Instead, Gimple will be overseeing ‘The Walking Dead’ franchise as a whole. This means that showrunner duties fall to Angela Kang.
Kang has been with the zombie series since season two, and she made her first public appearance as the newest showrunner at the “Kick-Ass Women of AMC” panel on Wednesday. Kang remained silent about the future of Lincoln and Cohan’s characters, but she did reveal one major detail.
“We’re playing with time in the season, so we get to jump forward in the story,” Kang revealed at the event. The news confirmed that the AMC show will continue to follow the plot of its comics, created by Robert Kirkman. In the comic books, the series jumps ahead two years following the events of the “All-Out War” between Rick and Negan.
(Spoilers from Season’s 7 and 8 of ‘Walking Dead’ Ahead!)
The season 8 finale ended with Rick ultimately choosing to save Negan’s (Jeffery Dean Morgan) life after slicing his throat open with a shard of glass. Grimes saves Negan’s life when he remembers the letter that his son, Carl wrote before he died earlier that season. It was Carl’s goal to unite Negan and Rick and become one big community.
While Michonne (Danai Guerrea) and Rick are happy with their decision of keeping Negan alive after spending two seasons trying to kill him, Maggie lashed out at Grimes’ decision. In the season 7 premiere, fans may remember how Negan makes his mark on a new community, by killing one member of the community. In this case we lost two main members of Rick’s group, Maggie’s late husband and fan favorite, Glenn Rhee and rambunctious redhead, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz). The two gruesomely had their heads bashed in at the hands of Negan’s baseball bat, Lucille.
One of the final scenes in the finale is Maggie, Darryl (Norman Reedus), and Jesus (Tom Payne) plotting how they plan to overthrow Michonne and Rick to get justice for Glenn, Abraham and everyone from the Hilltop community that died at the hands of Negan’s group, The Saviors. With a two-year time jump, this will be sure to shake things up. Were Rick and Michonne overthrown by Maggie, Darryl and Jesus? We will just have to wait and see.
What’s Next for the Series?
Kang painted the big picture of how she plan’s on going forward with the series as showrunner. “We’re working on a season that has a really fresh look and feel,” Kang said. “We come in on some pretty fun stuff. I’m really focusing a lot on the core character relationships in the show that have kind of been long-lasting, as well as all of our wonderful series regulars.”
Kang says that her hope for season nine is that the series would lean into “great stories” with the women on the series. “We’re going to see some really great stories with the women in our show, particularly. And I think for people who are really invested in Michonne, Maggie or Carol (Melissa McBride), there’s such great material for them. For people who are looking for that specifically, they will see some really incredible work from our women,” Kang confirmed at the panel.
‘Walking Dead’ will return in October on AMC. The formal premiere date and trailer will be announced at San Diego Comic-Con next month.
What are you most excited for in the upcoming season of ‘The Walking Dead?’
