AMC’s The Walking Dead has released its first promotional art for season nine. There are five characters featured in the picture. The image has Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) at the front and center of the image, and he looks like ‘Old Man Rick’ with the gray hair ad bread. Next to him there is Michonne (Danai Gurira) to his right, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to his left, as well as, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) at the edges.

Here is the image that was released on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TheWalkingDead/status/1014982250578898944

Emphasized in the background is Washington D.C. with a destroyed White House. There is also the helicopter (between Rick and Michonne), which has been seen at times through all of season eight. It has been foreshadowing a much larger world and mysterious world that is connected to the benefactor of the Hilltop, Georgie (Jayne Atkinson). Based on the fact that the chopper has made an appearance in the promotional art, it is likely that the mystery of it will be revealed in season nine.

While the helicopters might have been more noticeable in season eight, they have actually been around since the very first episode. So far, we know that the choppers are connected to Jadis’ Hilltop and Anne (who Jadis is) is connected to them. Also, because of how early the helicopters have been seen, they might have been following Rick from the beginning. But for now, they are mainly a mystory that has yet to be solved.

During the San Diego Comic Con on July 20th, AMC will show the first The Walking Dead season nine trailer. The helicopter will probably be shown in this as well, and it might give some answers but will most likely continue to tease the audience on its meaning. A theory for the chopper is that, it might be how Rick (Lincoln) makes his official exit from the show. Maybe he gets on the helicopter and flies off into the sunset.

Scott Gimple (chief content officer for The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead) warned his audience that in season nine, “the stakes are much, much higher. That leads to very different types of stories and different sorts of conflicts.”

Jon Bernthal will also be making a return to The Walking Dead by reprising his role as Shane Walsh. Shane was killed in the second season of the series, and his last appearance was in a hallucination. According to ComicBook.com, he will be seen in the first half of the season. It is possible that because of his death, he will return in a similar way in the form of a hallucination connected to Rick’s death.

Recently, Bernthal has been the star actor in The Punisher on Netflix, where he was also introduced in the second season of Daredevil. Even though his appearance in the ninth season of The Walking Dead is most likely a cameo, many fans of him and the show will be glad to see him come back even if it is only temporary.

It’s time to start counting down the days to Friday July 20th to get our first trailer view of season nine of The Walking Dead.