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‘The Walking Dead’ Time Jump Length Revealed

There’s going to be a lot of change when it comes to this season of The Walking Dead. Some of those changes will be thrilling, such as the introduction of beloved comic villains The Whisperers, while other changes will be a bit tough to swallow, such as the departures of Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan. One change, however, that’s really exciting is that season 9 will be jumping forward in time, allowing for a fresh start and the opportunity for new stories to flesh out rather than build up.

[row]“We’re playing with time in the season, so we get to jump forward in the story,” Kang said at a Walking Dead panel earlier this year.[/row]

Well, thanks to The Walking Dead’s Preview Special this past Sunday on AMC, we now know just how long that time jump will be. While guest-host Yvette Nicole Brown was interviewing new showrunner Angela Kang, Khary Payton (King Ezekiel), and Tom Payne (Jesus), Payne revealed that the show would be jumping forward18 months” in the story.

While there is still a bit of mystery surrounding just where our survivors will all be after a year and a half, we do know that the communities are all thriving together in one common area, that Maggie will have finally had her baby (with the most perfect name), Heath may finally be coming back, and that some popular comic characters will be making their appearance. Fantastic Beast’s star Samantha Morton will be joining the cast as Whisperers leader, AlphaEntourage’s Rhys Coiro and The 100’s Zach McGowan will be playing Savior’s Jed and Justin, with The X-Files’ alum John Finn stepping in to play Earl, and Brett Butler will plat Tammy.

'The Walking Dead' Time Jump Length Revealed
Samanta Morton will be playing Alpha.

Despite the show entering an impressive ninth season with an 18 month time jump, the cast and creators can’t stop talking about how much the show feels like the early seasons that were adored by fans, especially in the upcoming premiere.

[row]“I think there was a lot of the pilot episode that was reminiscent of this opening episode and also a couple of other episodes, too. We have a few surprises as we both know, but we’re not allowed to talk about them,” Lincoln said.[/row]

Are you excited to see the show move forward in time and start fresh? Let us know!

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, October 7 at 9/8c on AMC.