First pictures and synopsis for the second half of ‘The Walking Dead”s seventh season revealed

The first pictures and synopsis of the second part of The Walking Dead‘s ongoing seventh season have been released.

Spoilers for the current season of The Walking Dead lie ahead – proceed with caution

The latest season broke off for its traditional mid-season break on December 11, with eight episodes airing before Christmas. The final eight episodes of season seven will start to air weekly next month, with Rick’s group of survivors set to combat the force of Negan, the show’s brutal new antagonist.

The Walking Dead will return to screens in the US – where it is broadcast on AMC – on February 12, and, ahead of its return, the show has released three new pictures from the forthcoming episodes, as well as the synopsis.

“The second half of the season will focus on preparing for war and gathering the supplies and numbers to take Negan down once and for all,” AMC’s synopsis reads. “Rick’s group will find out yet again that the world isn’t what they thought it was. It’s much bigger than anything they’ve seen so far. 

While they have a singular purpose — to defeat Negan — it won’t come easy. More importantly, victory will require more than Alexandria. They need the numbers of the Kingdom and the Hilltop, but, similar to how Rick felt, Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Gregory (Xander Berkeley)  do not want bloodshed. To convince them otherwise will take more than speeches. The lengths Rick and the group will have to go to in order to find weapons, food and new fighters is nothing short of remarkable.

“We’ll meet new survivors in incredible places,” it continues. “We’ll see Rick and the group tested in ways we’ve never seen before. We’ll see treachery from people we trust.  Rick is confident as he will see his group and many others band together with the common goal of taking down Negan. But no amount of planning will prepare the group for all-out war with Negan and his army.”

See the first glimpses of the second half of The Walking Dead‘s season seven in the newly-released pictures below.

The first half of The Walking Dead‘s seventh season was blighted by falling ratings and criticism from fans, with a 7 million drop in viewers in the US by the time the eighth episode, ‘Hearts Still Beating’, aired in December.