'The Walking Dead': Everything We Know Before the Season 9 Premiere

Supersized Premiere

Season nine is set to kick off on Sunday, Oct. 7, and while fans will be thrilled with the premiere date that is earlier than usual, they will also be thrilled with the extended run time. Episode 9x01, titled "A New Beginning," is scheduled to air from 9 p.m. ET through 10:26 p.m. ET, marking nearly a full 90 minutes of airtime.

This will not be the first time that the series has premiered a supersized episode. In fact, all of season eight's episode extended past the hour-long time slot.

Creative Change

When the credits roll on season nine, Angela Kang will no longer be listed as producer and writer. As Scott M. Gimple, showrunner since season one, transitioned to a new role of chief content officer of The Walking Dead franchise, Kang was been promoted to showrunner.

The change behind the camera will bring a change in front of the camera as well, with Kang bringing the series back to tones of earlier seasons, like four and five, which she worked heavily on.

"Angela has a very clear vision for the show and she has a great voice; she's got a unique voice," executive producer Greg Nicotero told Fandom. "Especially looking back at where our show succeeds the most — in terms of the characters that have the best chemistry together and the locations that [worked well]. It's always kind of nice to be on the road a little bit. Any time we're sort of situated in one place for too long…I feel like the show is kind of morphing back into a Season 4, Season 5 kind of vibe."

Time Jump

Fans will be transported into the future in season nine, with the premiere episode marking an 18-month time jump. That time jump, however, will bring with it a lot of change within the world that fans have come to know and love.

"Now, we see our survivors a year and a half after the end of the war, rebuilding civilization under Rick's steadfast leadership. It is a time of relative peace among the communities as they work together, looking to the past to forge the future, but the world they knew is rapidly changing as man-made structures continue to degrade, and nature takes over, changing the landscape and creating new challenges for our survivors," the official synopsis for the season reads in part.

Along with nature reclaiming man made structures, the band of survivors will also find themselves out of gasoline and ammunition.

Major Cast Exits

The Walking Dead is no stranger to cast member exits, but by season nine's end, the series will have said goodbye to two of the most beloved characters: Rick Grimes and Maggie Greene, both of whom have been staples on the series for years.

Although it is not yet known how either of the characters will be written off, or if they will succumb to the walkers roaming the earth, it is believed that Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln will make his exit by the fifth or sixth episode.

"This will be my last season playing Rick Grimes," Lincoln, who has been the lead of the series since the pilot, confirmed at San Diego Comic Con.

Lauren Cohan, who was introduced as Maggie Greene in season two, will make her departure as she moves on to ABC's Whiskey Cavelier.

Return of Shane Walsh

As Rick Grimes leaves, a familiar face will be brought back to The Walking Dead: Jon Bernthal's Shane Walsh.

Details regarding Bernthal's return are still foggy, though it is believed that he will only make an appearance in a single episode, presumably a flashback, with his appearance being teased as involving "some very cool, very heavy stuff."

Bernthal's character, who had been a former King County Sheriff's Department police officer and Rick Grime's partner, was killed in season two after becoming an enemy rather than a friend.

New Cast Members Issue in Comic Book Storylines

Although The Walking Dead is losing two actors, a number of fresh faces have been added to the cast, promising to bring several major comic book storylines to the small screen.

Sons of Anarchy alum Ryan Hurst will join season nine as comic character Beta alongside Samantha Morton's Alpha. Love, Simon actress Cassady McClincy will portray Alpha's daughter, Lydia. The trio comprise part of The Whisperers, first introduced in issue #130 of the comics, a group that disguises themselves among the dead by wearing "roamer" skin. They become a major adversary of the other characters in the series.

The 100 alum Nadia Hilker is set to join The Walking Dead as Magna, who was introduced in issue #127 of the comic book series as the leader of a small band of survivors from Richmond, Virginia. Into the Badlands actress Eleanor Matsuura will portray Yumiko, Magna's girlfriend. Lauren Ridloff will take on the role of Connie.

A Ship Will Sail

Sorry Carylers, but it turns out season nine still isn't your season. This time around, it's the season of love for Carol and Ezekiel, the leader of The Kingdom.

Fans have been rooting for the two's coupling ever since Carol first met Ezkiel, and the two appeared to form a closer bond throughout last season. The official trailer for season nine seemed to confirm their relationship when they were seen cuddling near the fire, and photos for the upcoming season confirmed that they had become a couple.

"We want to show what happens to people over time, the ways in which they change and grow," showrunner Angela Kang she told TheWrap. "We want to look at these, like, very long-standing relationships between the characters who are now all so, so different from when we first met them."

Unfortunately, love in the zombie apocalypse typically doesn't end well, and The Walking Dead has a running history of tearing couple's apart in the most painful ways (we're still reeling from the end of Gleggie).

Headed to Washington, D.C.

Years in the zombie apocalypse have taken the survivors to a number of new locations, with the series starting in Atlanta before eventually traveling to Alexandria, Virginia. Key art for season nine teases an entirely new location, though: Washington, D.C.

The characters heading to the nation's capital isn't much of a stretch, given that the series is currently set in the D.C. metro area, but so far, they have not ventured into the city. According to the key art, Washington D.C. is not excluded from nature's reclamation of the world.

Focus on Civilization

In the wake of "All Out War" and with Negan and his group of Saviors no longer posing a threat, the remaining group of survivors will find themselves focusing on rebuilding the world that has steadily been crumbling around them. Handling a new world with multiple communities will prove to have its own set of difficulties, however, and teasers for season nine have teased clashes among leaders as they attempt to restore order into a world that has been without law for years.

"We spent a lot of time tearing the world apart, the loss of institutions and civil norms," executive producer Dave Alpert said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "We're starting to see society come back now; it's not a smooth process. Seeing that come back is most exciting this season."