New photos revealed for The Walking Dead season 9

Even though the premiere of season 9 of The Walking Dead is still over a month away, AMC is already giving the audience a taste of what’s to come with a dozen new photos from the upcoming first episode.

A significant time jump between seasons to mimic the comics has been confirmed for some time and is especially evident in some of the photos.  A couple of changes like Rosita’s hairstyle or a close-up shot showing that Gabriel now to be blind in at least one eye are hard to ignore but the most obvious example to see is Rick.  In between seasons of The Walking Dead, it appears the hair on his head has begun to join his beard in going grey.

Conspicuously absent though from any of these photos is Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  

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Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything.  Given the ensemble nature of The Walking Dead, it’s not unusual for a cast member to simply not make an appearance for an episode or two.  

However, given the fan speculation that Negan could be killed off at some point this season, it’s not impossible to imagine that AMC would have a reason to play things close to the vest with Negan. Having said all of this though it’s hard to believe that he would be kept alive through ‘Wrath’ only to unceremoniously kill him off when it would leave so much less impact.  Also, given the show’s not so great record for keeping a lid on things, the rumors would probably be much stronger by now.  

Season 9 of The Walking Dead will premiere on AMC on October 7. Do these photos make you more or less excited for season 9?  Give us your thoughts in the comment section.