All The Clues You Probably Missed For What's Ahead In ‘The Walking Dead’ Midseason Premiere

The Walking Dead Season 8 midseason finale ended with a major — and tragic — departure from the comics. Major spoilers follow. A walker bit Carl and this reveal made fans even more anxious than normal for The Walking Dead to return from its midseason break. Although actor Chandler Riggs has already confirmed that Carl is going to die on The Walking Dead, you might still be hopeful that when the AMC series returns on Feb. 25, Rick's son will somehow survive. But along with teasing that there is much more war to come, The Walking Dead Season 8, Episode 9 promo offered a grim clue about Carl's fate.

Carl has a bite on his stomach, so the only chance of his survival would be if he is somehow immune. Yet, the promo for the Season 8 midseason premiere shouldn't make you optimistic about that already far-out-there theory. As for other characters, Enid and Aaron were also left in a pretty perilous situation at Oceanside during the midseason finale, "How It's Gotta Be." And Father Gabriel and Dr. Carson have a treacherous journey to make from the Sanctuary to the Hilltop. Yet, those four characters are nowhere to be found in the preview for the second half of The Walking Dead Season 8 that aired right after the midseason finale.

However, the promo does offer plenty of other clues about the second half of this explosive season. So here's what fans can anticipate when Season 8 returns — saving the worst for last:

Rick's Going To Relocate To The Hilltop

Maggie still sits high up on the Hilltop in the preview. And while Rick and Michonne are seen clearing Alexandria of walkers, you can assume that they — among the other residents of Alexandria and the Kingdom — will be seeking refuge at Maggie's colony. YouTuber MOVIEidol points to Rick wearing his old brown jacket as proof that he has packed up his things at Alexandria and moved on. Plus, a preview scene from Episode 9 that was shared on Talking Dead has Daryl confirming that everyone will move to the Hilltop.

Carol Will Help Ezekiel Escape

Ezekiel cornered himself in the Kingdom in order to save the remaining people in his community. But don't expect Ezekiel to die, since the preview shows Carol in stealth mode. Right before she is shown, Ezekiel and Gavin are surprised by an explosion in the theater; perhaps that's part of Carol's plan to get Ezekiel out of the Saviors' grasp. And Morgan's probably going to assist too since he heard Gavin saying he would kill Ezekiel in "How It's Gotta Be."

Dwight Is Playing Games Again

Although Daryl and Tara discussed killing Dwight in the first half of Season 8, they seem like they will be accepting him into their crew for the last half. And he's probably going to be risking his life again for them. It sounds like Michonne says to Dwight, "Please make them stop" and later, it looks like he's with a crew of Saviors, so he might try to convert others from Negan's crew.

Daryl & Rick Will Be A Team Again

Although the preview scene shared on Talking Dead proved that Daryl actually says, "Together, we'll be their worst damn nightmare" to Dwight, the promo has this voiceover occurring while he's looking at Rick. Rick and Daryl were their ultimate badass team in the beginning of Season 8 before Daryl went rogue. Now, it looks like he's going to be a team player again after he unintentionally helped the Saviors to escape the Sanctuary.

Siddiq's Sticking Around

Carl most likely got his zombie bite when he went after Siddiq, but it's not really Siddiq's fault. Remember that, since it looks like he will be working with Daryl in the latter half of Season 8. Let's just say Siddiq better prove that he offers enough to the group to justify Carl's death.

There's No Sign Of Carl

Speaking of Carl, he doesn't appear at all in the trailer for the second half of Season 8. Talking Dead confirmed that Riggs will appear in the Season 8 midseason premiere, but that'll probably just be a death scene and maybe a flashback or two.

But There Is A Grave

The trailer kicked off with Rick crouched down by a cross, so the most logical explanation is that Rick and Michonne are standing by Carl's grave. If that's too depressing of a notion for you, it might comfort you the tiniest bit to see that the grave looks like it's located at Alexandria, which MOVIEidol theorized could be a hint that Rick will rebuild Alexandria to be close to his dead son. This might help explain the Old Man Rick scene from the Season 8 premiere, but to be fair, the setting of Rick's vision of the future also looked like an amalgamation of Alexandria and the Hilltop, so Rick's vision is still a mystery.

If Carl really will die, then Rick's dream of the future was just that — a dream. And there's bound to be plenty more heartache where that came from as Rick attempts to defeat Negan once again in the second half of Season 8.