The Walking Dead season 9 synopsis paints a picture

The Walking Dead returns for season 9 on October 7 and the official synopsis from AMC reveals a hint at what’s to come in the new season.

The war is over, time has passed and life in the zombie apocalypse is slowly developing into something else in season 9 of The Walking Dead. Looking ahead to the season that will change everything given the impending departure of Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan. AMC has released the synopsis for season 9 and it reveals a lot about what fans can look forward to in the new season.

New showrunner Angela Kang has big plans for the new season as the Whisperers make their long-awaited debut as role change and communities rise from the ashes of All Out War.

Here’s the full season 9 synopsis:

"Last season brought the culmination of “All Out War,” which pitted Rick Grimes and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their cunning leader, Negan. With Negan’s life in his hands, Rick had a character-defining choice in front of him. By making the unilateral decision to spare Negan, Rick upheld the values his late son, Carl, championed in order to build for the future, but created conflict within his group.Now, we see our survivors a year and a half after the end of the war, rebuilding civilization under Rick’s steadfast leadership. It is a time of relative peace among the communities as they work together, looking to the past to forge the future, but the world they knew is rapidly changing as man-made structures continue to degrade, and nature takes over, changing the landscape and creating new challenges for our survivors.As time passes, the communities confront unexpected obstacles, danger, and of course, walkers, but nothing quite prepares them for the formidable force they are about to encounter, which threatens the very idea of civilization that our survivors have worked so hard to build."

The biggest challenge with building communities is developing rules. Each community might have its own set of rules, and so an action in one could be an infraction in another community. And there’s nothing like having to enforce those infractions when you care about the person who broke the rules. (We saw this in Fear the Walking Dead when Madison declared that murder was an immediate ouster from the resort, and when Travis killed someone it meant he was out even though she tried to excuse his actions)

As Rick and Maggie move on, the groups will need new leaders as the threat of the Whisperers looms large. Back at the Sanctuary, some of the residents believe that things were better for them when the Saviors were in charge. As the communities flourish, any imbalance in resources could lead to frustration and even upheaval from the Sanctuary residents. And then there’s Negan locked away in his jail cell.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the new season of The Walking Dead, which premieres on October 7 on AMC.