The final season of The Walking Dead starts sooner than expected

The Walking Dead season 10 is back for six “bonus episodes,” starting last night, but it’s the brief trailer for season 11 at the end of the latest episode, “Home Sweet Home,” that has fans buzzing. The 10-second teaser features a single shot of a mysterious room before cutting to a title card that reveals the show will return sooner than expected for its final season:

The bonus episodes are designed to bridge the gap between seasons 10 and 11 while providing a testing ground for AMC’s COVID-19 safety protocols. With protocols in place, the cast returned to Georgia and started filming season 11 in February.

The Walking Dead has always had its season premiere in the fall, but the new trailer revealed a big surprise: The final season will launch this summer.

The Walking Dead season 11 premieres Summer 2021

It’s possible that the show is returning earlier than expected because the final season will feature 24 episodes instead of 16. If it premieres in August, then the show can run through December and be back on schedule. It looks like there will be some overlap when The Walking Dead: World Beyond returns for its final season and Fear the Walking Dead launches its seventh season. How they will all fit into the AMC’s schedule is anyone’s guess at this point.

The premiere date was exciting enough, but then there’s that mysterious room to consider. It looks like the kind of interrogation room you’d see in a police procedural. There’s a table and two chairs, with two video cameras set up to capture the action, and walls lined with two-way glass.

Where is this room, and what is its purpose?

Here’s where the speculation machine revs up. The show has already given us a glimpse of a new community: the Commonwealth, the final community from Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead comic books. Commonwealth soldiers recently captured Eugene, Yumiko, Ezekiel and Princess, and their story will continue in one of the bonus episodes. It’s possible the interrogation room is part of this storyline.

However, the more intriguing theory is that the room is tied to the Civic Republic Military, the group that whisked Rick Grimes away in a helicopter in season 9. The CRM has played into several stories in Fear the Walking Dead and features prominently in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The Civic Republic is made up of a community of over two hundred thousand people, the largest community the series has introduced to date.

Thanks to World Beyond, fans know that the CRM has been conducting experiments on people identified as “A” subjects. Thankfully, Rick Grimes was labeled a “B” subject when he was recovered.

If the room indeed involves the CRM, perhaps that group will play a part in the final season ofThe Walking Dead in addition to being on Fear the Walking Dead and World Beyond. And all of it could lead into the Rick Grimes movies that have been in development for the past few years.

While the teaser paints an intriguing picture of what’s coming, for the time being only one thing is certain: The Walking Dead will return for its final season this summer.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels