New ‘Walking Dead’ Showrunner Angela Kang Confirms Season 9 Time Jump

AMC’s The Walking Dead is undergoing a major shake-up. Following Scott M. Gimple’s move to Fear the Walking Dead as executive producer, new TWD showrunner Angela Kang confirmed big news as to what’s coming for the ninth season of the hit zombie show.

Speaking during the “Kick-Ass Women of AMC” panel at an AMC press event Wednesday, Kang said that The Walking Dead  Season 9 would indeed go through a time jump once it premieres this fall. In a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Kang’s statement confirms that the show will now follow the comic book source’s timeline after the “All-Out War” arc. In the Robert Kirkman-created comic, the events of the zombie apocalypse fast-forwarded to two years after Rick defeated Negan and the Saviors.

Gene Page/AMC

Back in May, Walking Dead set photos posted online seemed to hint at the debut of “The Commonwealth,” a new community that will collide with the Alexandrians, Hilltop, and the Sanctuary.

Kang, however, did not spill details or comments about the possible exit of The Walking Dead’s lead, Andrew Lincoln, and fellow cast member Lauran Cohan. Despite that, Kang gave the audience the big picture for season 9. “We’re working on a season that has a really fresh look and feel,” Kang said. “We come in on some pretty fun stuff. I’m really focusing a lot on the core character relationships in the show that have kind of been long-lasting, as well as all of our wonderful series regulars.”

Gene Page/AMC

Kang also revealed that there would be a larger narrative for the women of Walking Dead. “We’re going to see some really great stories with the women on our show [in Season 9],” she said. “I think for people who are really invested in, say, Michonne, Maggie, [and] Carol, there’s such great material for them.” Although we’d still get to see great action from Rick (Lincoln) and Daryl (Norman Reedus), Kang stressed, “people who are looking for that specifically will really see some incredible work from our women.”

That said, no official word was revealed as to how long Lincoln and Cohen will stay in the season, but the rumor mill seems to suggest that both actors will only be in six episodes. It’s unclear if either this number transcends the entire ninth season or only for the first half, which is until the eighth episode. Cohen has a new action comedy series, Whiskey Cavalier, coming up on ABC.

Earlier this week, set photos of The Walking Dead Season 9 hinted at the return of Jon Bernthal’s Shane Walsh.