But seriously, who cares what Gregory thinks?

"The Walking Dead" Season 7 returns in February, and we know Rick Grimes is finally ready to "rise up" and take on Negan. The return promo (see below) shows him talking about getting Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom to band together, since they all "serve the Saviors," but really don't want to.

TVLine shared a new photo from the Season 7 return, and it shows Rick, Maggie, Michonne, Carl, Daryl and Tara wasting time talking to Gregory at Hilltop:

They are presumably trying to convince him to join them to fight Negan, but this is Gregory we are talking about. He's sitting there behind his desk with a dang clipboard. This man is not the step-up kind. He's only likely to step up to sell them out. But if they convince him they have the numbers ... that might be the kind of argument Gregory would go for. But seriously -- just take Hilltop from him. Why isn't Jesus running the place anyway? Or Maggie, now that she has moved in?

The Season 7 promo, released after the midseason finale, showed Rick talking to Ezekiel, making what we assume is the same pitch -- that the communities have to band together to fight Negan.

The Kingdom already showed Richard arguing to Carol and Morgan that they have to rise up against the Saviors, so maybe the Kingdom will be an easier sell, once Rick and the gang show up and explain everything that happened. Carol still doesn't even know about her OG friend Glenn.

Do you think Tara will tell Rick about Oceanside, to try and recruit that group's support as well? They asked her not to tell anyone, but...

AMC recently shared 14 very cryptic images to tease the second half, so check them out here. Season 7 returns with Episode 9 on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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