‘The Walking Dead’ Announces Return of 3 Former Stars in Season 9

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang confirmed at New York Comic-Con on Saturday that Jon Bernthal, the late Scott Wilson and Sonequa Martin-Green will all appear in season nine, even though their characters have been long-since deceased.

“We were trying to lie and obfuscate for a long time, but we want to confirm that Jon Bernthal, who played Shane, will visit this season and come back,” Kang said, reports ComicBook.com. “We also have the wonderful Scott Wilson as Hershel as well as our wonderful Sonequa Martin-Green.”

When asked how Martin-Green and Wilson will re-appear in the series, Kang only said, “That’s for people to watch.”

Bernthal’s appearance was first reported back in June after he was spotted on the show’s set. It will be his first appearance on the show since a brief season three cameo during a vision Rick (Andrew Lincoln) had. The Punisher actor starred as Shane, who was stabbed by Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) shot him after he became a zombie.

Martin-Green starred as Sasha from seasons three to seven. She died in an ill-fated attempt to stop Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in Alexandria.

Wilson starred as Hershel from season two to season four. He was killed by The Governor (David Morrissey) and then killed by Michonne (Danai Gurira) as a zombie. This will be Wilson’s final appearance, filmed just weeks before his death, which was reported Saturday night, after the NYCC panel. Sources close to the situation confirmed the news to ComicBook.com. Wilson was 76 years old.

It is not clear how all the former Walking Dead stars will appear in the first half of season nine, but they coincide with Andrew Lincoln’s final appearances as Rick. Lincoln has been the face of the show since season one, but is leaving at the end of the first half of season nine.

Lincoln has teased a very bloody final episode for himself.

“I think it was about day two of filming and I asked Greg Nicotero, who was shooting the episode, ‘How many pints of blood does a human actually hold? Because I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the credit sequence,” he recently told Entertainment Tonight.

“The last day that he was in there, he was covered in blood, and I still won’t let him clean the chair,” Norman Reedus, who plays Darryl, said of Lincoln’s last day on the set during the NYCC panel.

The Walking Dead returns on Sunday, Oct. 7 on AMC at 9 p.m. ET.