Who Will Die in The Walking Dead Season Seven Opener?

The Walking Dead returns this Sunday night for season seven, and is expected to begin with the resolution of the cliffhanger with which they ended season six. The new bad guy has captured eleven of our main characters and killed one of them -but the audience did not get to see who it was. Continue reading for the scuttlebutt on who might die, and why (which contains spoilers for those not current with the show). Otherwise, leave your predictions in the poll below. You may select more than one answer, but be reasonable and don’t select all of them.  

When we left our post-apocalyptic survivors on The Walking Dead, they were on their knees listening to Negan drag out the decision of who to kill. His barbwire-wrapped baseball bat finally inflicted a painful, messy death to one of them. It’s been too long since a main character was killed off, and while some fans have spent the summer speculating on who the victim may be, others were completely turned off by the cliffhanger. After all, The Walking Dead wouldn’t have lost any fans by letting us know who it was in the season finale. The stunt of having Glenn thought to be dead earlier in the season felt like a bait-and-switch, and dragging out this particular crime seemed way too gimmicky. And that anger will be exacerbated if Sunday night's premiere gives us twenty minutes of Carol and Morgan (who are not in the captured group) before we find out who Negan kills. So who will it be? The odds are on Glenn or Abraham, with a possibility of Daryl. Here are the individual cases.  

Rick

Not a chance. Rick is the main character, the eyes through whom we see more than any other. Besides, he’s already been shown in a promo scene that occurs right after Negan kills whoever.

(YouTube link) 

Carl

Nope. Negan already declared he wasn’t going to kill Carl.

Daryl

Possibly. Daryl’s usefulness to the arc of the story has diminished. In the first few seasons, he was the only one with the survivalist skills the group needed, but by now they are all skilled. And his odd personality in the first couple of seasons has been blunted by contact with the close-knit group. Besides, Daryl blew away an entire group of Negan’s men with a rocket launcher, but it’s not clear whether Negan knows that. Some clues point to Daryl being the victim of the bat, but they may be deliberately planted to create excitement. Actor Norman Reedus was on the set during the filming of season seven to make the birthday tape -more on that just ahead.  

Glenn

The odds are high. Glenn was the one Negan kills in the comic books. Sure, the TV series veers widely from the comics, and they had the audience believe Glenn was dead for several weeks last year already. Whether or not he is the victim is a matter of playing with audience expectations. But then we have that video that the cast sent to Demi Lovato on her birthday in August. Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and Norman Reedus (Daryl) appear on the recording, and there’s a weird, brief shot of Steven Yeun (Glenn) that looks like it was inserted after the fact, possibly to throw us off about his absence on the set during season seven filming.  

Maggie

The process of elimination leaves more than one blogger thinking it will be Maggie. After all, she is sick, pregnant, and might die anyway. She has an extensive story arc past this point in the comics, but it would be simple to give that story to another character.   

Michonne

Not likely. Not only is Michonne a fan favorite, she and Rick finally became lovers after years of being best friends. And Rick already had one new girlfriend killed out from under him in season six. Then again, it would be an unexpected wrench to throw into the story. However, we’ve heard hints a few times last year that Negan doesn’t normally kill women because he’d rather take them as wives. That wouldn’t apply so much to the pregnant and possibly dying Maggie, but it would to Michonne, Sasha, and Rosita.      

Sasha

Barring the fact that she’s a woman, Sasha falls into the middle of the probabilities. After all this time, her character is still not as developed as most of the core group, but she is part of the core group, having been there since season three. Her new relationship with Abraham doesn’t really affect the odds of her death, because her death or survival would both be fodder for Abraham’s emotional state.     

Abraham

Very possible. Abraham was killed off in the comics by a bolt through the head, a death that Dr. Denise took in the TV series (and Tara doesn't even know yet). And then there’s the orange crush theory that overanalyzes tiny clues that point to Abraham kicking the bucket soon. Those clues could be mere coincidences, or could be the producers trying to throw fans off the trail. Or they could be true.

Rosita

Rosita is pretty much a superfluous character that we still don’t know much about. Her death wouldn’t affect the audience or the rest of the group strongly enough to make all this waiting worth it. Besides, keeping her alive would give us some tension in the Abraham-Sasha-Rosita triangle later on in the season when they have the time. And Negan would likely have his own plans for her.  

Eugene

Let’s hope not. Eugene has come a long way toward becoming a brave warrior, but he’s still the only comic relief in a dismal world. He needs more screen time.

Aaron  

Probably not. He’s a great character, but he’s relatively new and hasn’t had much screen time, so no one would care enough about his death.   

More Than One

There’s a possibility that more than one character will get the bat. One could only imagine that Glenn or Maggie will react violently to the other’s death and get themselves killed as well. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan, hinted at that in an interview, although that quote turned out to be a misunderstanding. Maybe.

There are quite a few characters that aren’t in any danger at all. Carol and Morgan are on their way to the Kingdom, Gabriel and Spencer are guarding Alexandra (heaven help them), Enid was locked in a closet, and Tara and Heath went on a supply run and are due back any time. I don’t hold much hope for Heath to last more than an episode or two. Corey Hawkins, the actor who plays Heath, got his own show that will begin airing in February. The Walking Dead season premiere is Sunday night at nine on AMC.