“Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo.”

These chilling words have haunted The Walking Dead fans for months after the Season 6 finale in April.

In the midst of an already thrilling TV show full of twists and turns in every new episode, it takes a lot to shock TWD fans. But it’s safe to say; a lot is what they’ve shown us. Season 6 ended in a gripping finale, the group of survivors we’ve come to know and love backed mercilessly into a corner by a notorious group of killers known only as Negan. Each member claimed this title as their own name, leading fans to believe that Negan was simply an idea, perhaps a title that a few survivors had undertaken.

But in the Season 6 finale we met face to face with the real Negan, a horribly lighthearted man with a baseball-bat wrapped in barbed wire as his weapon of choice. Negan then wielded this monstrosity, something he personally named Lucille, and started swinging. With a cliffhanger of enormous proportions, The Walking Dead left its fans in shock and horror in the culmination of Season 6, leaving viewers with the inevitability that one of their most beloved characters had been killed.

But now, after months of speculation and guesswork, Season 7 has premiered, and the long suffering wait is over.

DISCLAIMER: if you haven’t seen this episode, stop reading now.

So the episode opened with Rick announcing his intentions to kill Negan, the reveal of who was killed being drawn out for over 20 agonizing minutes, 20 agonizing minutes of Negan taunting them (and the audience). Then, finally, they showed Abraham, kneeling in the dirt in front of Negan.

He was killed in front of our eyes.

As the dust settled, we all thought that it was done. But then, in the wake of the reveal, Daryl attacked Negan, resulting in another bout of beatings. In a gruesome turn of events, Negan killed another character. As TWD writers tricked us into a false sense of security, sure that nobody else would die, Negan surprised us all and killed beloved character Glenn. This rampage of murder shocked and crazed fans around the globe, removing two much-loved characters from The Walking Dead universe forever.

Overall, the premiere of Season 7 could not have been more exciting, more devastating, or more enticing than it was. Season 7 promises to be perhaps one of the best in the shows history, and will surely not fail to surprise.