Now that the frustrating season six finale of The Walking Dead is behind viewers, it's time for speculation about season seven.
One thing fans know for sure: someone will turn up dead, probably in the first episode. The last episode of season six had the infamous Negan swinging his spiked baseball bat and connecting it directly with someone's head. That scene frustrated viewers when the show ended without revealing who was actually on the receiving end of that hit.
Now, new reports about season seven state that another character from the comic books, Ezekiel, will appear in season seven. However, in the comics, Ezekiel doesn't wander through the zombie-infested world alone. He has a companion, Shiva, a tiger, and that feline might also play into events onscreen when The Walking Dead returns to TV. Because, apparently, the writers didn't think that crazy Negan was enough to terrorize survivors.
This news comes courtesy of The Spoiling Dead, a Facebook fan page dedicated to turning up rumors and reports of what's going to happen next on the popular AMC series.
"Filming for episode 3 will resume tomorrow," the page wrote. "We expect them to be back at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta for continued filming at The Kingdom. It probably won't be a great day for sightings, but if you're going out please keep us posted! Ezekiel and his faithful pet tiger Shiva have arrived! We are not sure who was cast as Ezekiel yet, but we'll continue to track it. As for Shiva, it's unclear how much of the giant kitty we'll actually see, but she's here! Rumor has it that she'll be a mix of animatronics and CGI. Rawr!"
In the comics, Ezekiel is the leader of a place called The Kingdom, another community of survivors. Ezekiel was once a zookeeper, though, and he kept Shiva around after the zombie apocalypse. Shiva doesn't do a lot in the comics, although she does take down some zombies and an enemy or two.
ComicBook.com reports that the season seven trailer for The Walking Dead should show the tiger: that trailer premieres at July's San Diego Comic-Con.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October.
