Spoilers for The Walking Dead are below.
With one of television’s biggest weekly audiences, The Walking Dead is coasting along, possibly past the point where the only thing likely to end it is an actual worldwide apocalypse where the dead rise upand turn humanity into a grungy skeletonof what it once was. But instead of having the “Which one of your friend group would be Rick?” conversation, we’re going to climb the watchtower to look as far as we can into the future, focusing specifically on Season 7 of The Walking Dead , which nabbed this recent renewalwhen Season 6 was just three episodes deep. Here’s everything we know about the upcoming season.
Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Season 6 of The Walking Dead or read through the corresponding arc of the comic book series, as a lot of that is covered here. 
What New Characters Will Be Introduced In Season 7?
When Season 7 is unleashed upon viewers, there are definitely going to be some new survivors coming into contact with Rick and the rest, with some virtuous and some not so much. It’s not known at this point who any of those characters are going to be, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some assumptions based on Robert Kirkman’ssource material and who popped in during the last couple of Season 6 episodes, understanding that some of the show’s characters may be altered or combinations of those from the comics. Plus, we’ll only really be getting to know Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan at that point, so he pretty much counts here, too. (More on him later, though.)Aside from that foul-mouthed tyrant, the most important character that we’ll likely meet is “King” Ezekiel, as seen above, and as made obvious by his speech bubble. His introduction comes not too longer after Negan left his initial skull crater, so we can maybe expect him in the middle of Season 7. Without getting too deep into where Ezekiel’s story goes, we can just say he’s another man-in-charge, and a very likable one at that. The Kingdomis his home, which is presumably also where those armor-laden guys that Morgan met come from. Ezekiel has a tigernamed Shiva, too, so have fun thinking about where the show will take that, since showrunner Scott Gimple is keen on the tigeridea himself, although he's not confirming anything just yet.
There are a couple of Hilltop Colonyresidents that viewers will hopefully get the privilege to meet soon. One is the local blacksmith – yes, a blacksmith – named Earl, who’s a genial guy that makes weapons and could possibly play a role in Carl’s future. Karen Ceesay’s Bertie, who has already made an appearance, is probably a stand-in for the comic character Brianna, who becomes one of Maggie’s closer friends; but if she isn’t, then expect that character to pop up.
The Saviors also bring out some more noteworthy characters as time goes by. There’s Mark, who suffers a facial fate similar to Dwight, and Amber, the girl on the other side of that awfulness. There’s Carson, another higher-up in the villainous group who has a pretty important function at some point in the future. (Not vague at all.) And there’s another memorable (and dark) scene in the comics that involves a douche named David, so he might show up.
And, of course, there are probably going to be several lower-tier characters that will also make up the background noise and serve as walker kibble later in the season.
Rick and Carl
What Happened In Season 6: Rick spent the jumbled first part of the season working with the half-riotous Alexandrians trying to drive away the massive walker herd that eventually invaded Alexandria anyway, while also developing a relationship with the widowed Jessie. Rick accepts full leadership duties when Deanna bit it, and went on to start up a relationship with Michonne after Jessie died. In the time after his grief-fueled walker-stomping marathon, Rick learned more about the outside world and set his sights on Negan. And as that gut punch of a final sceneshowed us, Rick has now finally come to the understanding that Negan's Saviors are far more numerous and crafty than he ever could have imagined.Carl, meanwhile, tried to be friends with the apathetic Enid, which only sort of worked, and became short-lived enemies with Ron, whose attempts to hurt Carl were fruitful when he (non-fatally) shot the younger Grimes in the eye. He is part of Negan's final line-up, but he's the least likely one to take any damage.
And in Season 7? From Rick, we can definitely expect a lot of drama with Negan, and not always of the “guys standing around having conversations about their feelings” kind of drama. Though that does indeed happen, since Negan likes to talk a lot. Rick will likely find more allies for his cause outside of what he's used to, and though things might not always go his way, sometimes that can have its advantages.
Carl will continue on a path to being a more interesting character, now that he’s been changed by his injury. We can expect him to mesh with Neganin a completely different way from other characters, although their comic relationship will take some detours, as other characters may get parts of that storyline.
Carol
What Happened In Season 6: Carol was barely the same person from one episode to the next in Season 6. The den mother-half of her personality fully gave way to the warrior side as she heroically took control during the Wolves attack. Though she initially threatened and denounced Morgan for his pacifist attitude toward killing, Carol’s emboldened attitude eventually gives way to Christian guilt as she starts regretting her immoral actions, eventually leaving the group behind because of it. She started smoking after being judgmental of Shelly about it early in the season, and also had the sweet beginnings of a romance with Tobin. But by the time the season finale ended, she was the subject of multiple gunshots and just wanted to be left alone, despite Morgan saving her life by breaking his own moral code.And in Season 7? Having no direct comic bookcounterpart, Carol has an undefinable future. I’m betting she shows off another couple of facets of her personality and kicks some ass, though. When she's healed up, that is. Somebody find another doctor!
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