Even if your favorite character survives all of the carnage of "The Walking Dead" Season 7 premiere, Ross Marquand is still pretty sure you're going to be affected "in a very profound way."

Profound is a heavy word for a zombie show, but it's just the latest tease to prepare/warn/hype fans for the October 23 premiere. At this point, if we don't end up in the fetal position by the end of the episode, we will have felt misled (and not for the first time).
Marquand plays Aaron, who is part of Negan's lineup of death. We saw the start of that scene in the controversial Season 6 finale and that scene will continue in the Season 7 premiere. And then we've been promised that things will just get worse from there.

"We've been really cognizant of the fans's emotions," Marquand told Entertainment Weekly. "And it's going to be an emotional episode. It's going to be a great episode, but it's going to be one that affects people in a very profound way. Whether your favorite character is Daryl or Rick or whoever, the death is going to really be brutal and it's going to affect you in a very visceral way."

However, he added that he hasn't seen the finished cut yet, so he doesn't know what camera angles they used to showcase the brutality. He just knows they spent 12-14 hours a day shooting all of this depressing footage. But he's proud of it. "It was the best work I think I've ever been a party to and witnessed. I think it was the best work we've all ever done."
And he did say it would be "a great episode," so hopefully once we're finished screaming at The Powers That Be we can appreciate the power of the story. Greg Nicotero directed the episode and he has gone out of his way to make us nervous, teasing still more heartbreak in the premiere after the Negan kill reveal. Like, something even worse, if that's possible.

If this is just overhype, well, that sucks but it's not the first time. If they are hyping this exactly right, well, that sucks but it's also going to be a memorable, powerful, shared experience. In that case, if the episode gets a little too painful to watch, just check out Twitter for a different kind of show.

"The Walking Dead" Season 7 premieres Sunday, October 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

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