Check out this chilling photo. This is how Season 7 of The Walking Dead will begin -- with the evil sociopath Negan preparing to bash in the head of one of our heroes with his cruel, cruel baseball bat, Lucille.
Lucille is wrapped in barbed wire. We'll find out which of our favorites dies -- and it promises to be gut-wrenching -- when the series returns at 8 p.m. Oct. 23 on AMC.
How did we get to this desperate moment? Find out by watching a special two-hour episode, "The Journey So Far," at 8 p.m. today on AMC.
The special will cover pivotal moments from the first six seasons of the immensely popular series beginning when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) wakes up in the post apocalyptic hospital, all the way to when Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) swings his bat.
Walking Dead cast members will tell their characters' tales from the moment they were introduced to where they were when last season ended. It will be the perfect opportunity for new viewers to quickly catch up and veteran viewers to remind themselves why they love the series so much.
Season 7 will be divided into two parts. The first half finds our intrepid band fractured, defeated and under the soul-crushing domination of Negan and his gang.
To remind you of where we've been, here's the briefest of overviews of the first six seasons. The special will fill in all the blanks.
Season 1: Consisting of only six episodes, the first season was a tremendous success. It begins when former deputy sheriff Rick Grimes wakes from a coma in an abandoned hospital to find the world filled with flesh-eating zombies. Rick heads for Atlanta in search of his family.
He joins Glenn and his group of survivors and eventually finds his wife, Lori, son Carl, and his former partner, Shane, who has become Lori's lover.
Season 2: The survivors shelter on the farm of veterinarian Hershel Greene. Shane is killed and the survivors are forced to flee when the farm is overrun by a herd of walkers.
Season 3: The survivors make a new home in an abandoned prison. We are introduced to the town of Woodbury and its evil leader, The Governor. There's a battle and Rick's group takes in the Woodbury survivors, but The Governor escapes.
Season 4: Life continues at the prison until The Governor returns with a new group and attacks. Hershel is executed, a battle ensues, The Governor is slain, and the prison overrun by walkers.
Members of the scattered group make their way to the alleged sanctuary of Terminus only to be disarmed and locked inside a railway car.
Season 5: Rick's group is horrified to learn the residents of Terminus are cannibals, but they escape and eventually end up near Washington at the Alexandria Safe Zone, a fortified suburban community, where they try to turn the naive citizens into capable survivors.
Season 6: The Alexandrians turn to Rick as their leader, but the community is attacked by a quarry full of walkers and the gang known as the Wolves. Alexandria is overrun by walkers, but the residents make a stand and triumph.
Alexandria begins to trade with the Hilltop Colony, but the Saviors, led by the unseen Negan, continue to extort both groups.
When Rick's group attempts to get the pregnant Maggie to the Hilltop, they are captured and taken to Negan, who picks one of the group to sacrifice as punishment and an example. The season ends with the screen going black amid blood-curdling screams.
Who died? We'll find out Oct. 23.
• Fun stuff. If you get BBC America, be sure to check out Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency premiering at 8 p.m. Saturday. The eight-part sci-fi detective series stars Samuel Barnett (Penny Dreadful) as fast-talking, eccentric, time-traveling detective Dirk Gently and Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as his reluctant sidekick Todd Brotzman.
The opening episode, "Horizons," involves murder most foul, a bevy of wild and dangerous characters, a sister afflicted with pararibulitis (not really a thing) and a tangled mystery.
It's a hoot. Check it out.
• The Simpsons. It's mind-boggling, but The Simpsons celebrates episode No. 600 with "Treehouse of Horror XXVII," airing at 7 p.m. today on Fox.
In the 27th Halloween special, Mr. Burns makes the children fight to the death for a day in his personal reservoir; Lisa's imaginary friend kills her real friends; and Bart is recruited to Moe's group of secret barfly agents.
Guest stars include Drew Carey as himself, Donald Fagen (co-founder of Steely Dan) as himself, Sarah Silverman as Rachel and singer Judith Owen as herself.
The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted show in the history of television. Despite that, Bart is still 10 years old. In real life, he'd be looking at 40.
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Style on 10/16/2016