The Walking Dead: Was season seven premiere too violent?

The Walking Dead 'mid-season finale' teases fans with Negan

01 December

Warning: this article containers spoilers

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The mid-season finale of AMC's hit zombie-horror drama The Walking Dead has left many fans and critics unsatisfied – but was it just a teaser for the second half of the season in 2016? And what's coming up next?

The sixth season has continued the story of Rick Grimes, Andrew Lincoln's sheriff's deputy who awoke from a coma after being shot, only to find the world as he knew it destroyed.

Episode eight of season six, titled Start to Finish, marks the mid-point of the 16-part series and the finale for 2015. After a gripping first half of the season, which saw the Safe Zone of Alexandria under threat from Walkers, Wolves and internal rivalries, fans and critics were expecting some solid answers to the questions raised so far, but many felt the episode was a disappointment.

Episode eight ended with Rick's crew disguised in zombie guts, trying to slip out of Alexandria undetected, as it was overwhelmed with Walkers, only to have young Sam (Major Dodson) call out and blow their cover

Erik Kain, writing in Forbes, says the 2015 finale "felt like three-quarters of an episode". When the credits rolled, says Kain, he blurted out "That was it?"

It wasn't just a cliff-hanger, says Kain, "but very much in the middle of a scene, in the middle of a shot, in the middle of some dialogue." Kain adds that season six hasn't been about great storytelling and plotting as much as "making us wait".

Ron Hogan on Den of Geek says the promise behind the foot-dragging, is apparently so the audience will be put in the same sort of turmoil and confusion as the people of Alexandria, "but the result is the worst episode of the season thus far".

There was a lot of tension built up, says Hogan, but it just ended up feeling tepid because nothing actually gets resolved. Still, Hogan admits, "I don't think one mediocre episode is enough to kill the momentum of the sixth season".

Let's face it, says Morgan Jeffrey on Digital Spy, The Walking Dead has always been "a massive tease". Each season opens strongly enough to keep you hanging on through a middling middle until an inconclusive "finale" that's mostly concerned with forecasting what's to come.

Yes, the methodology is frustrating, says Jeffrey, but is it addictive? "You betcha."

So, what's to come in 2016? "Fasten your proverbial seatbelts, people, because the road out of Alexandria is about to become a lot bumpier," says Dalton Ross in Entertainment Weekly.

The prologue scene for the second half of the season reveals that Daryl, Sasha and Abraham encounter a new group called the Saviours, who mention their leader Negan, a sinister character with whom comic book readers will be familiar.

In an interview, Andrew Lincoln told Entertainment Weekly: "The Saviours are bad, far more organised, and far more terrifying than anything we've ever seen before. And things start to get very, very, very dark."

The first episode of The Walking Dead season six part two airs on 14 February 2016.

The Walking Dead back with 'thrill-ride' sixth series

12 October

Hit American horror-drama The Walking Dead returns to UK television screens tonight for its sixth season premiere.

A brutal tale of human survival in a devastated world overrun by zombies, The Walking Dead is one of the more gruesome shows on television. The series, based on a comic book of the same name, has gripped audiences with strong characters and haunting apocalyptic drama since 2010.

Season six continues the story of Rick Grimes, Andrew Lincoln's sheriff's deputy who awoke from a coma after being shot, only to find the world as he knew it destroyed. Rick reunites with his family and becomes the leader of a group of survivors struggling to adapt to a world filled with zombies – and some humans who are even more dangerous.

So what can fans expect from the sixth season?

The price of peace

Season five of The Walking Dead saw the group of survivors take on ghoulish adversaries, fierce obstacles and heart-breaking challenges, which pushed them to their limits. They have evolved into powerful people, but at what cost? asks Den of Geek. The question is answered at the end of season five when Rick executes a violent fellow resident in the safe-zone of Alexandria, Virginia. Season six starts with the relative safety of Alexandria under threat, and the realisation that Rick's violence may be either what the people need to survive, or what will tear them apart.

Old friends – new foe

Rick is reunited with old friend Morgan, who has witnessed Rick's apparently cold-blooded killing. But while most of Alexandria accepts Rick and his compatriots taking over as self-appointed guardians with their kill-or-be-killed creed, Morgan doesn't seem to share his old friend's views.

Zombie hordes

AMC must have really opened the purse strings this season, says Jeff Stone on Indie Wire. We get plenty of overhead shots of the zombie horde's overwhelming numbers, "really driving home just how screwed Alexandria would be if the zombies headed their way". The town has been relatively safe until now, but something could happen to change that.

Thrill rides and cliff-hangers

Alex Straker in The Independent calls the series opener "a 90-minute thrill ride of tension and carnage". Even after six seasons, says Straker, The Walking Dead is "still capable of being playful and daring with its format", hurling viewers straight into an intense battle against the undead and forcing them to assemble all the pieces. Straker adds that viewers can look forward to an inventive episode "that makes good use of its accomplished cast and ultimately builds to a tantalising cliff-hanger".

• The Walking Dead season six airs in the UK on Fox tonight at 9pm