The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 9 Exclusive Clip

This Walking Dead article contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead season 9 returns this Sunday in the aftermath of a tragedy. The group’s first encounter with a mysterious faction of murderous zombie-flesh-wearing maniacs claimed the life of one of the most important members of the Hilltop, and now Daryl and Michonne, along with the rest of the survivors, have to deal with the fallout.

With Jesus dead and a new enemy stalking the communities, it’ll be up to leaders like Michonne and Ezekiel as well as the loner Daryl to protect Alexandria, the Kingdom, and Hilltop from the Whisperers. But as you can see from this exclusive clip from the midseason premiere, Daryl isn’t quite ready to stick around and help the Hilltop:

There are a few major mysteries still looming in season 9, including where Rick was flown off to during his farewell episode in the first half of the season. While we’ll get that specific answer in a series of movies on AMC, there’s also the matter of what happened during the time jump to drive a wedge between the three communities. Showrunner Angela Kang has said that the second half of the season will dig into that mystery, as well as how Daryl and Michonne got those matching scars. The story is apparently very dark. 

Until then, it sounds like our heroes have plenty to contend with in the present, as the Whisperers inch closer to the walls of the communities, likely out to avenge the deaths of their fallen comrades. If you’d like to learn more about the Whisperers, we have a whole spoiler-filled guide that should give you everything you need to know about these new enemies. And if you really need to know where the hell Rick is, we have some theories about that, too. 

Read more about The Walking Dead season 9 right here.  

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.