The biggest mystery coming into Season 7 of The Walking Dead has been, of course, who Negan kills. Now, we’ve got five heads on the chopping block instead of six, as the latest clip shows that Rick has survived Negan’s barbed bat of death. Well, maybe not all of him.
During the clip — titled “Right Hand Man” — Negan coyly teases that the person he massacred was Rick’s second-in-command. That doesn’t exactly tell us a lot, because Rick doesn’t have a clear right-hand man or woman. However, something he does have is a right hand, and (spoilers) it might get axed off too.
The end of the clip shows Negan dragging Rick into an RV, hatchet in hand, preparing to do some serious damage. Given the title of the clip, the themes, and the implied carnage, signs point to Rick maybe losing his hand, as he did in the original comics. This would be an interesting development for his character, giving him a disability that would not only limit his ability to use certain weapons, but would also change how he interacts with the world at large.
Creator Robert Kirkman previously said removing Rick’s hand would be “impossible” on the show given the challenge of digitally cropping out the body part every episode. However, Kirkman later walked it back, saying it would be expensive but doable.
Season 7 of The Walking Dead premieres on October 23, with a special 90-minute The Talking Dead discussion afterward. If you’re way behind on the series and need an update, AMC is airing a 2-hour recap on October 16 called The Walking Dead: Journey So Far.
