Walking Dead midseason premiere: Robert Kirkman says it will 'pick up right in that moment'

When we last left Rick Grimes & Co., the survivors (and we use that term loosely) of The Walking Dead were in quite the pickle — covered in zombie guts and slowly making their way through a herd of flesh-eaters. So one would expect things to pick right back up there when the show returns for the second half of season 6 on Feb. 14, especially with this exclusive new image we have above, right?

“Yeah, we actually don’t get back to that for seven episodes or so,” Robert Kirkman tells EW. “It’s going to be quite a cliff-hanger.” Wait, what? Is this Glenngate all over again?! “Nah, I’m joking,” says the executive producer. “We pick up right in that moment. Alexandria is overrun. Rick and the kids are all covered in guts trying to get through the crowd. Everyone is where we last saw them, and things get worse from there.”

Of course, because things always get worse from there on this show. But if you’re looking for a sliver of hope, Kirkman may have found it for you. As the creator of the comic tells us, just because the town of Alexandria is currently overrun by zombies, that does not mean whoever survives will have to find new shelter.

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“It comes back to those plans of rebuilding Alexandria,” says Kirkman. “Assuming some people survive, and it’s a good bet that some do because they’ve already talked in the midseason finale that they’re not planning on leaving Alexandria. It’s a bump in the road, but there’s something special there, and they can turn this into an anchor that they can build upon. They actually have a chance at surviving long term and building a safe place, not going from safety to safety to safety the way they have for the life of the show. This isn’t the prison, and ‘Oh, we gotta move on from here and find another place.’ This is something different. And from there, there will be other things that expand their world in new and terrifying ways.”

Did someone say Negan?