SHOCKS: Two major Walking Dead characters to die

In the show, Rick Grimes is gearing up to take on super villain Negan in the next part of season seven.

The evil character, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, has caused havoc for Rick and the other Alexandrians since his introduction.

But in the comics, which run way ahead of the TV show, a huge change could be about to come.

The upcoming issue 163's cover shows an army of walkers reaching their hands into the sky.

There's also a mechanical hand which, fans of the comics will know, belongs to Rick after his hand was chopped off by The Governor.

Could this mean Rick dies and becomes a walker? And does that mean the lead protagonist could be headed for a similar situation on the show? An alternative cover for the same issue shows a completely different outcome for Rick, something many would happily watch.

Rick, alive, can be seen wearing Negan's clothes and holding his barbed-wire covered baseball bat Lucille. So instead of Rick dead, does this suggest it's actually the bad guy biting the dust?

The television show doesn't completely stick to the source material – Rick still has his hand on the show. The second half of season seven will return next month and newly released images and descriptions tease "all-out war with Negan".

If the bloodthirsty baddie is to die it could be suggested it won't be until at least season eight. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has confirmed he'll be "around for season eight", though with Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln, building an army against him, he may not still be in control.

The Walking Dead returns to Fox UK on February 13 at 9pm.

AS WE KNOW….

AMC has released the synopsis for the rest of The Walking Dead season 7 exactly a month before the show's return. The theme of the second half is "Rise Up" as Rick Grimes and his team try to gather forces against the ruthless ruling of the Saviors and their tyrannical ruler Negan.

The task of uniting people and societies against the sadist group's atrocities turns out to be more difficult than evading a horde of zombies. In the first part of the current season, Rick becomes submissive to Negan after he batters Glenn and Abraham to death with his baseball bat Lucille.

The synopsis teases a tough time ahead for the Alexandria Safe Zone leader as he suffers a major trust breach while trying to assemble forces in order to defeat Negan and his army. "The first half of Season 7 saw Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group broken by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), forced to fall under his will and brutally convinced to live under his rules.

"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," the midseason description 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", the synopsis adds.

Fighting Negan and his men will be no cake walk for Rick, Daryl and the rest of his team until King Ezekiel of the Kingdom and Gregory of the Hilltop are convinced that this is their only chance of survival in the post-apocalyptic world. "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," reads the description explaining the challenges Rick has ahead of the upcoming episodes.

The synopsis also teases the introduction of more survival societies and treachery by some trusted people. "We'll meet new survivors in incredible places. 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," the synopsis concludes.

The Walking Dead season 7 will return on AMC on 12 February.