With the next episode of AMC's The Walking Dead still far on the horizon, production is already well underway for season 6 of the zombie drama.
Although the actual storylines for the show are kept a tightly guarded secret, here are a few theories and speculations we've managed to dig up based on hints from cast and production crew interviews and on-set news for the show.
SPOILERS!!!
Read on if you dare venture where the dead walk. Spoilers for comic book storylines and the TV show are below. Let's see if our guesses hit their marks correctly.
New Characters
Although his character was introduced to the group much earlier in the comics, it has been announced that Corey Hawkins will play the role of Heath, an Alexandria Safe Zone runner who, in the comics, forms a relationship with the town psychologist Dr. Denise Cloyd.
Speaking of Denise, a casting call was announced for "a female psychologist" on the show. Could it be?
Then again, the casting could have also been for Allison, a female character who cares about people in Alexandria. She would rather live in safety and comfort inside their walls but may rise up once that safety net is pulled away from her. In the comic books, she helps save Carl's life (details further down) so she could turn out to be a major player.
There's also been a mystery casting call for "military types." According to the casting call, show producers are looking for a male Caucasian, between 35 and 55 years old, six feet or taller, and is overall the clean-cut military type.
A casting call was also leaked for two new characters, Kirk and his wife Hilda. According to the description, Kirk would be in his mid-20s to 30s. He was described as "a young, blue collar everyman from a small town, who worked a job, was married, and followed the golden rule." Until recently, "he's avoided being cynical and bottomline-minded—but the world seems to keep telling him to look out for number one and eliminate anyone in his way."
Meanwhile, his wife Hilda is a strong woman and not a passive behind-the-scenes player.
(It seems though that neither innocent Kirk nor his wife will live to see past season 6. Kirk was revealed to be one of the first "casualties" of the new season, with Michael Ausielo of TVLine saying that the as-yet-uncast Mr. Nice Guy will be "the first to crack." Also, even though most new characters have a requirement in their contract to be available for future seasons, no such requirement is stated for Hilda.)
Wolves a' Hunting
Both Greg Nicotero and Norman Reedus teased us about upcoming episodes with the savage Wolves.
"We set up the Wolves in Episode 16. I love those characters. The fact that you have people that are basically utilizing the people that they kill as ammunition to build a zombie army? We see them in Episode 9 when they get to Noah's neighborhood and we see the 'Wolves not far' in the background, and when the W-man at the beginning says to Morgan, 'Well, we're going to take you, too, but you're not exactly going to be alive,' we realize through the course of the episode that they are setting booby traps everywhere so that they can take people's possessions and then use them as a means to build the walkers in the traps, so it's kind of a diabolical plan," Nicotero said.
Reedus also had this to say in a separate interview:
"Terminus did horrible things behind the wall; they were wimpy and in a cowardly way tricked people [into] going there and then they did their evil business once you got behind their walls. These guys are roamers and they seem like a whole bunch of Daryls gone south who have gone really bad and turned into wolves. They're probably on the move; I don't think they're afraid to butcher people in front of people. They seem different than Terminus; Terminus was more cowardly. They would trick you into coming to Disneyland and then eat you."
Deaths
Glenn - He dies in the comic books but TV fans are hoping this is one character that the writers don't use the source material as inspiration.
Eugene - Oh, how actors Josh McDermitt and Michael Cudlitz teased us on Twitter! There was a bit of speculation on whether either of their characters, Eugene or Abraham, would die on the new season. Their Twitter banter certainly didn't help to alleviate those rumors.
McDermitt took to Twitter to explain that he has been absent from social media due to work on filming a new movie Middle Man, to which Cudlitz was quick to respond with his own tweet (which has now been deleted), telling his friend that he "had a blast" working with him—putting extra emphasis on his use of the past tense. Could it be because McDermitt is no longer at work because his character has already kicked the bucket?
Carl - Rick's boy was shot clean right through the eye in a comic book cliffhanger. Dr. Allison (who could be joining the cast) had to patch him up. Could TV Carl be following this same story arc?
We won't know any of the answers to these potential spoilers for season 6 until the show returns in the fall.
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