Walking Dead Returns with More Zombies Than Ever

The Walking Dead rises from its mid-season break on Sunday, February 14, and its creators insist that the series is going to see some changes in the second half of its sixth season. Those changes include an unprecedented zombie count in the first episode, and the possible introduction of a major new villain in the season finale.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Greg Nicotero, who directed both the mid-season premiere and the season finale, says that Sunday's episode will feature the biggest crowd of walkers that Rick and the gang have ever faced.

"With reshoots and with additional photography and things," he says, "I think we were over 1,300 walkers for the episode."

Series creator Robert Kirkman told the Hollywood Reporter that the second half of the season has even more important changes in store, calling the back half of the season "a very big turning point for the series. The most likely pivotal development will the introduction of a new bad guy at the end of the season. Although the series' producers will not confirm speculation, fans assume that the new villain will be Negan, an adversary already well known from The Walking Dead comic.

Ratings for the first half of the series' season 6 were down across the board when compared to the previous season, and although audiences were still big, the downturn suggested to some that the popularity of The Walking Dead has moved past its peak.