Saturday, New York Comic Con delivered its yearly early Christmas in the form of a Walking Dead Season 4 panel featuring the series' biggest stars like Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln, executive producer Gale Ann Hurd, new showrunner Scott Gimple, effects guru Greg Nicotero, and the man behind it all Robert Kirkman. Aside from the infinite good vibes and overload of fan excitement, the panel also gifted NYCC attendees two never-before-seen scenes from Season 4 and an appearance from one of two new characters. For Walking Dead fans in the 3,000 capacity auditorium, life could not be better if Norman Reedus was defending them from an onslaught of walkers with his crossbow and a necklace of ears.
The first of the two Season 4 footage sneak peeks was the opening to the season premiere, which airs Oct. 13 at 9 PM on AMC. In the scene, Daryl (Reedus) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), along with a few former Woodburians, are checking an old grocery store for supplies when they find yet another crashed helicopter, and thus remains of the civilization that we've managed to forget. Other worthwhile developments include Michonne's increasingly lively sense of humor, her newfound friendship with Daryl, and the promotion of yet another badass lady in charge, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) who appears to have a larger role this season. But that's something we'll all get to see come Sunday night.
Footage less fortunate fans will have to wait for came at the end of the panel, when executive producer Hurd introduced a clip from "later in Season 4." Of course, she left some mystery and refrained from telling us when we might expect the following scene this season:
Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, and Sasha are driving down the road together in a car that looks a lot like the Dodge Charger Walter White once left in the desert. They're getting fleeting snippets of chatter on the radio, but nothing complete. There could be someone else out there, but they don't get enough to go on just yet. But while Daryl drives and fiddles with the radio, he nearly hits a walker. When he swerves to miss the first one, he almost hits another and another and another until he simply has to stop the car.
The camera pans out as a herd of walkers surround the car, but it gets worse. Much, much worse. Then tension reaches higher as the camera pans out further, revealing a massive crowd of walkers stretching on for miles in front of the car. They're trapped. Immediately, Daryl begins reversing, mowing down walkers like traffic cones on a driving course until they pile up beneath his back tires. They're trapped again, this time with the rear of the car on a pile of walkers and Daryl attempts to spin his back wheels, only to have the tires plow through a walker's face like a puddle of fresh mud.
The scene is incredible and anxiety-ridden (just how we like it), but one thing is for sure, if Daryl and Michonne don't make it out alive, the producers and writers will have some very angry fans on their hands. Gurira and Reedus might have garnered louder cheers from fans than even Kirkman, the guy whose brain begat this apocalyptic universe.
Finally, the panel also introduced two new characters for Season 4. First up is Eugene, a former science teacher to be played by Josh McDermott, who Gimple promises will be "fully mulletted" in line with the comics. Second up is Abraham, played by Southland's Michael Cudlitz, who announced his inclusion in the new season by posing as a fan with a question, then demanding that Gimple include Abraham in Season 4 "unless you're a stupid mother fucker." While fans watched in horror and confusion at the actor's verbal assault on Gimple, panel host Yvette Nicole Brown finally revealed that it was all an elaborate ruse to introduce viewers to Cudlitz's Abraham, who's apparently replacing Merle as the resident piece of work.
While the actors all teased various other tidbits for Season 4, they kept most of their intel under wraps, leaving us with one parting impression of the next 16 episodes. "A lot of bad shit is about to happen," said Hurd. And with one final smirk, Maggie-portrayer Lauren Cohan riddled us this: "Beware within."
Season 4 of The Walking Dead premieres Sunday Oct. 13, and we'll be sure to thoroughly dissect Cohan's two-word hint until this season's big mystery reveals itself.
