The Walking Dead TV series has been a staple of San Diego Comic Con since the cast and crew held a panel and showed off the Season 1 trailer way back in 2010. Since then, every year the cast and crew have been counted on to make an appearance and debut the latest trailer to an audience that's more ravenous for new footage than a newly reanimated walker is for human flesh.
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This year's San Diego Comic Con is expected to be no different, and after months of being starved of Walking Dead goodness following that cliffhanger, fans are hanging out for this trailer more than ever. The con will be held from July 21 - 24, and while the schedule is yet to be confirmed, from the look of past schedules, it seems likely that the trailer will be shown sometime on Friday July 22nd.
So what can fans expect to see (or not see) in the Season 7 trailer? Take a look below:
Which our of favorites (probably) won't be in the trailer?
Due to the fact that 11 main cast are currently caught up in that frustrating cliffhanger, it seems unlikely we will see many of our favorite characters in the trailer. Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Michonne, Aaron, Sasha, Abraham, Eugene and Rosita are all involved in the cliffhanger and each have the potential to be Negan's victim.
However, due to the fact that so many of the cast are involved in this scene, there's a possibility the trailer may have appearances from some of the characters who are least likely to be killed, basically characters like Rick, Carl, Daryl and Aaron.
Which of our favorites could be in the trailer?
While lots of characters can likely be counted out for the trailer, there's still a few main, and many supporting characters who could pop up.
Back at Alexandria Father Gabriel is holding down the fort with the help of baby Judith (let's face, she's more capable than half of Alexandria), Tobin, Spencer, Olivia, Eric, Enid, Scott, Bruce, Francine, Mikey and a handful of other residents whose faces we've only spotted in crowd scenes.
In addition to Alexandria, over at Hilltop we have a whole community of people including Jesus, Dr. Carson and also the creepy Gregory.
Meanwhile outside of the communities we have Heath and Tara who are out on a supply run, and Morgan and Carol who seem to have made some new friends. Which brings me to my next point...
Warning: possible comic and TV spoilers ahead!!
Who else might we see in the trailer?
A new community
As mentioned above, Morgan and Carol met a couple new friends in the Season 6 finale who look an awful lot like comic book characters who belong to a community called The Kingdom. There is a lot of speculation online that these characters and their home could feature heavily in the trailer to make up for the lack of main characters.
In The Walking Dead comic series The Kingdom is a community bigger than Alexandria, and smaller than Hilltop. It is based at a former high school and protected by a wall of buses and metal sheets.
A charismatic leader and a strange pet
The Kingdom is lead by a man who styles himself as 'King Ezekiel.' In the comic series Ezekiel is very distinctive looking, and a relatively important character, especially for Rick following Negan's murder of Glenn.
Ezekiel not only looks eccentric but he also keeps a very unusual pet: a tiger named Shiva. The Walking Dead producers have hinted that Shiva will be joining the show, and you gotta admit, an appearance from a tiger in the trailer would be absolutely amazing.
Another new community
But aside from the possibility of The Kingdom popping up in the trailer, there's also the chance another community could appear, Negan's compound, known in The comics as the Sanctuary.
While I doubt that the compound will be known as The Sanctuary in the TV series (due to Terminus being referred to as "a sanctuary for all" back in Season 4 and 5), I do think it'll make an appearance. In the comics the Sanctuary is in a large factory and houses many of Negan's Saviors (while some live at outposts, which is likely what we saw in Season 6, Episode 12) as well as his harem of wives.
More of the new Big Bad and his cronies
While we can count out seeing many of the main characters in the trailer due to the cliffhanger, it seems pretty obvious that Negan will make it out alive. And given that he's now primed to be the Big Bad for Season 7, it seems likely he will pop up in the trailer in some form or another. We could also see more of Dwight, who seems to be Negan's right hand man, as well as some of his other men.
What do you think we'll see in the Season 7 trailer?