After debuting with a highly anticipated and utterly gruesome season premiere, "The Walking Dead" season 7 experienced a rapid decline in viewership, with many avid fans griping about the season's super-slow pace and all the death and misery onscreen. Fortunately, "The Walking Dead" star Andrew Lincoln recently confirmed that the back half of "The Walking Dead" season 7 will be "the exact opposite" of the front half.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, the actor said that he knows that fans have not been pleased with how events have unfolded in the first eight episodes of "The Walking Dead" season 7 and that it has made him "unhappy." "Obviously I've heard that people are not happy and that makes me unhappy because of the amount of work we all put into the show," Lincoln told the outlet. "There is a sense of a bigger story that's being told and I have absolute faith in [showrunner] Scott [Gimple], the writing team, and the producers of the show." "But I will say that I think the back eight are the exact opposite of the front eight," the actor added.
Meanwhile, the midseason finale of "The Walking Dead" season 7 aired this Sunday and finally gave fans of the post-zombie apocalypse drama something to look forward to. In the episode, titled "Hearts Still Beating," viewers finally got a break from the often-depressing season 7 episodes. The midseason ender featured both a long-awaited reunion and the promise of an all-out war when "The Walking Dead" season 7 returns.
In Sunday's episode, Rick (Lincoln) and the rest of the core group from Alexandria were finally reunited with Daryl (Norman Reedus), who had spent the first half of "The Walking Dead" season 7 as a prisoner of the Saviors. With help from Jesus (Tom Payne), Daryl was able to safely make his way to the Hilltop, where he and Rick shared a very emotional reunion hug.
The episode also saw the merging of the individual storylines in the first few episodes of "The Walking Dead" season 7, culminating with the Alexandrians beginning to join forces with the other communities to hopefully take down the Saviors in the back eight. Unfortunately, "Hearts Still Beating" wasn't true for both Spencer (Austin Nichols) and Olivia (Ann Mahoney), who were killed by the Saviors in the episode.
"The Walking Dead" season 7 returns to AMC on Sunday, Feb. 12. For the latest news on "The Walking Dead" season 7, stay tuned to GameNGuide.
