AMC monster smash 'The Walking Dead' consistently leaves us with a tantalizing glimpse of the season to come, but season 4 finale "A" gave us our most direct cliffhanger yet, as Rick and the others arrived at the ever-mysterious "Terminus." Now, series creator Robert Kirkman has offered up a few clarifications of when season 5 will pick up, what new characters will join the group, and just how deadly Terminus really is.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman confirmed what many had suspected in that the season 5 premiere will pick up almost directly after the events of the recent finale, rather than endure the usual 8-month time jump that covers 'The Walking Dead''s summer production start, and any visibe aging of younger characters like Carl. "Carl found giant pills in the train car," Kirkman joked of any observable change to Chandler Riggs in season 5.

And while Kirkman remained shy about confirming that the villainous leaders of Terminus in fact practice cannibalism, as a group of hunters from the book were memorably known to do, the executive producer at least teased that we'd learn relatively soon of the true threat they pose:

In our first episode, it’s very much going to focus on the story of Terminus. There’s a lot of big revelations that haven’t really come out that I think people are gonna be pretty startled by. There’s a couple other revelations that I think people might’ve gotten a little bit of a lead on. We’ll definitely be defining those in some cool ways and confirming some theories and shooting down others, which is very exciting.

I think the coolest thing about coming back to season 5 is that we really hit the ground running. What I mean by that is that we very quickly deal with the situation that we left them in — this trapped, victim situation where they’re kind of at the mercy of the people of Terminus.

Finally, Kirkman acknowledged the presence of 'The Wire' vet Seth Gilliam in a mysterious new role, but coyly denied having seen recent set photos that portrayed the actor in a priest's outfit, almost undeniably confirming the actor as 'The Walking Dead''s adaptation of comic character Father Gabriel. At the very least, Kirkman offered that "He’s playing a character that’s very integral to the future of The Walking Dead. Who he is is possibly a very large hint to where the story is gonna go, if you’ve read the comic book series."

Hmm. Something to do with this unsubstantiated report, we wonder?

Elsewhere, we know of ‘The Walking Dead’ season 5 that existing stars Christian Serratos (Rosita), Alanna Masterson (Tara) and Andrew J. West (Gareth) have all been upgraded to series regulars. The fifth season of AMC’s monster-drama is expected to pick up immediately after the events of season 4 finale “A,” and will eventually divulge the fates of missing characters Beth, Carol, Tyreese and Judith.

Well, what say you? We'll learn more (and see a full trailer!) from the AMC drama's Comic-Con 2014 panel in the coming weeks, but in the meantime tell us what you want to see from the show's return in the comments!

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