The Walking Dead season 9 preview: Daryl reveals ‘we just lost someone’

In a new preview for The Walking Dead, Daryl reveals a loss for the Sanctuary and the return of an old threat.

Death is synonymous with The Walking Dead. There won’t be a season without it. The key question is will those who die be background characters, or will we lose one of our core survivors, ones we’ve become close to since the very beginning?

In a new preview for The Walking Dead‘s ninth season, Daryl Dixon walks amongst the Sanctuary, presumably as its new leader. (Undead Walking has offered some weight to this theory.) He is visibly upset, and we learn it is due to the loss of someone from the community.

In the clip, Daryl is accompanied by Rick, Michonne, and Jerry. As they enter the Sanctuary, they’re met by Saviors who voice their appreciation for Rick, calling him the “man that ended the war.” Eugene comes to greet his friends, thus we can assume he’s still living there after the war. He and Laura update Daryl on the help they need plus info on a bountiful supply run. Laura urges Daryl to let everyone know, and he snaps back that he won’t get on a stage and “give a damn speech like him.” Daryl, a former prisoner of the Sanctuary himself, is obviously opposed to doing anything similar to Negan.

Realizing his response was a bit rude, he lets Laura and the rest know that “it’s a bad time. We just lost someone out there.”

Who died remains a mystery for now, but this scene takes a few potentials out of the mix of guesses. It could be a Savior, since Daryl seems to be overseeing the grounds to some degree and he may have been out on a run with a group when the death occurred. Since he as well as the others don’t appear that upset by the death, we can assume it isn’t a major character who died either, such as Hilltop’s leader Maggie (who we do fear for with actress Lauren Cohan’s stability on the show still shaky).

A death isn’t the only problem the Sanctuary is dealing with, as Michonne spots a foreboding message on the wall: “Saviors save us. We are still Negan.” She asks Daryl if that kind of graffiti happens often. Daryl reveals that it has “more and more, since the crops have been dying.”

If the community is in danger of less food, we can imagine some Saviors who still see themselves loyal to Negan may try to come out of the woodwork and convince the Sanctuary they should return to their old ways — pillaging other communities for what they need. The Sanctuary is, after all, an old factory, so growing crops isn’t exactly what its best suited for.

This preview paints a very different light than the recently released 5-minute teaser, which shows how Rick, Michonne and others are learning to grow and thrive in a post-Negan era.

Watch The Walking Dead‘s new season 9 preview here:

The Walking Dead season 9 premiere airs on Sunday, October 7 on AMC.