The Walking Dead season 9 first image teases time-jump and new Washington DC location
Andrew Lincoln will depart the series midway through the AMC series' forthcoming run
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Your support makes all the difference.AMC has released a first-look poster of The Walking Dead's forthcoming ninth season which is teasing big change.
It's been known for a while now that the new batch of episodes will feature a time-jump with events taking place many months after the end of All Out War - the biggest the show has had since it began (six to nine months by our calculations)
Everything seen in the poster hints at the passage of time perhaps most notably in the absence of Maggie's baby bump. It seems little Judith will no longer the youngest person on the series when it returns later this year.
Look closer and fans will see that the time-jump won't be the only big thing taking place in season 9 - this brand new image confirms a pretty huge location switch-up also. The show has been set in the same place for multiple seasons now, but thanks to a dilapidated Capitol Building, it seems the series will be upping sticks to Washington DC under the guidance of new showrunner Angela Kang.
How will they make it there? That's when that helicopter which reared its head a few times during the antics of season 8 will most likely come in handy. You can see it between the heads of Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln), which the more analytical of you will probably decipher to be hinting at a future plot twist.
Let's talk about Rick: as ever, he takes centre stage here but for the last time considering Lincoln will be departing midway through this season. He's had a shave, a haircut and is looking closer to Old Man Rick than ever before which perhaps hints at a happy ending for the character. Based on nothing but our hopes, we're predicting that perhaps Rick and Maggie - who will also depart - end up living with mysterious new character Georgie whose community we're assuming is based in DC (maybe Atkinson is playing a future version of House of Cards' Secretary of State, Cathy Durant?)
Still, this poster only hs time for the major players with Carol and future lead character Daryl (Norman Reedus) also appearing. This poster seems like a considered move to assure fans that, while some of the old guards will be departing, they're not forgetting its past entirely as the show evolves in its biggest way yet.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC and FOX in October
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