The Walking Dead: Maggie provides hints in season 9 promo image
The first promo of The Walking Dead season 9 features a look at Maggie, but there’s something more telling than her lack of baby bump in the image.
Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Maggie doesn’t look pregnant in the first look image of The Walking Dead season 9. Some fans expressed concern that the show will start up immediately following season 8, but one big clue tells us that this isn’t the case: Her hair.
The promotional image shows Maggie, Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Carol, and they all look a lot different than they did in season 8. (Except for Daryl, who, as usual, needs a shower and some new clothing) Rick’s beard and hair are much neater, for example. He looks a lot like he did in earlier seasons of the show, pre-Alexandria.
Of all the characters show, it is Maggie that shows the biggest transition of time in the most subtle way. When we see her in the season 8 finale, her hair is short. Her hair is past her shoulders in the season 9 image, which is an obvious sign that time has passed. It also explains why there’s no baby bump: She isn’t pregnant anymore.
It feels like Maggie Rhee has been pregnant forever on The Walking Dead, given that the show has now progressed two seasons past the ill-fated night in the woods with the wrong end of Negan’s bat. Though not much time has passed in the story, years have passed for viewers and that is one of many reasons some loyal fans are clamoring for the show to move beyond the All Out War story (which wrapped up in season 8) and move on to something else.
New showrunner Angela Kang already revealed that season 9 will feature a time jump, moving the story ahead so that we can skip the immediate aftermath of All Out War and into a new story. It’s not surprising, then, that the promotional image features a new location – Washington, DC – and a clear view of the helicopter we’ve glimpsed in previous episodes.
Next: Lauren Cohan's Whiskey Cavalier appears on SDCC trolleys
Fans will have a better sense of where things stand on The Walking Dead season 9 when the first trailer for the new season debuts at San Diego Comic Con on July 20.