‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Air Date, Spoilers: New Rules Await The Militia; Robert Kirkman Confirms Rick’s Exit

The remaining leaders of The Militia alliance will set some new rules in “The Walking Dead” season 9. Meanwhile, creator Robert Kirkman has finally confirmed that series pioneer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is leaving.

Fans attending the San Diego Comic-Con on Friday have a chance to catch the world premiere of the official “The Walking Dead” season 9 trailer. But before that, a 25-second video teaser was released on Thursday revealing that Rick’s imminent departure calls for some new rules for The Militia alliance.

The short teaser shows fans a glimpse of the “HQ” or where all the allied communities under The Militia are camping. Later, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are seen in the middle of a very serious talk.

Michonne then proposes, “We need to start talking about making some rules and agreement between all the communities. Like this is how we treat each other. And this is what happens when we don’t.”

However, the “The Walking Dead” season 9 teaser also implies that the new rules might cause some internal disagreements among the allies. Some may even lead to physical altercations, case in point: Daryl (Norman Reedus) punching a new character, Jed (Zach McGowan). Other reports also speculate that Rick’s departure and the new rules in The Militia’s HQ might even cause a civil war.

Major changes are highly expected especially within the leadership now that Kirkman confirmed that Rick is leaving in “The Walking Dead” season 9. The news of Andrew Lincoln’s departure started out as a rumor in late May.

In an interview with IMDb published on YouTube on Wednesday, Kirkman hinted that they have filmed “something special” for Rick’s exit. So while the easiest way to remove a character from “The Walking Dead” season 9 is through death, Kirkman promised that an “amazing” plot still awaits fans.

Rick has been established as the survivor’s main leader in the series. So the fact that he is leaving would mean that other leading figures must take on that responsibility in “The Walking Dead” season 9.

But all changes can be difficult to handle at the beginning and that is likely the case in “The Walking Dead” season 9. “We’re gonna show a lot of stories about leadership with Maggie, with Michonne, with Carol [Melissa McBride],” showrunner Angela Kang said. “And they’re gonna go toe to toe with each other and with our men.”

“The Walking Dead” season 9’s exact air date hass yet to be confirmed. But fans can expect it to happen sometime in October.