‘Walking Dead’ Season 4 Trailer: What New Secrets Are Hidden Within?

More and more, it’s starting to seem as if the prison has lost its capacity to keep everyone safe, even with its multiple fences. Rick and co. have clearly modified some of the perimeter fences and repaired the gate in the wake of the Governor’s attack, but walkers have begun to overpower the fences by sheer weight.

Judging by what we saw in the last trailer, it looks as if someone from the inside has been luring walkers into concentrated spots by “feeding” them, making points of weakness and reinforcements around the fence a common sight.

Showrunner Scott M. Gimple clearly states that 6-7 months have past since we saw the survivors last, similar to the 8 month time jump of season 3 (in order to accommodate Georgia weather and production schedules, most every season will likely time jump back to warmer months). Here we see Daryl entering an outdoor cafeteria of sorts, addressing a “Dr. S” on his way to see Carol. Might this be Dr. Stevens of the comic Woodbury, even though we previously saw a female “Dr. Stevens” in AMC’s version treating Andrea? Worth noting is that the comic Dr. Stevens’ death led to the town relying on retired Army medic Bob Stookey, who we know to have undergone some adaptation changes of his own.

Tyreese looks to have a love interest, apparently the same Karen we've seen in Woodbury before. Using the comics as a guide, we might intuit that this new relationship could replace Tyreese’s comic romance with Carol, who herself was somewhat younger in the books.

We see Tyreese bringing flowers in a later shot, recoiling in horror at what he finds, so we imagine AMC might have combined several significant prison arcs from the comics, including a serial killer on the loose, Tyreese’s clashes with Rick, and the death of a love interest.

With Sophia dead and gone, it looks as if Carl will have much more friends his own age migrating from Woodbury this year. Clearly, their different ages reveal different priorities and interests, but this four-eyed fellow "Patrick" seems shifty for a number of reasons. Not only do we see him scoffing at the invitation to story time, but he later in the preview seems to abruptly exit Carol’s class on knives. Be a team player, kid, there’s no pouting in the zombie apocalypse.

Keeping with the idea that the danger lurks within the prison somehow, we couldn’t help but notice certain shower shots and suggestions of the new threat to the survivors. We’d put our money somewhere between the outbreak of disease, and a killer on the loose, considering the acts of sabotage that spring up around the prison, and the isolated shots we see of survivors reacting to an apparent threat.

We saw Rick struggle with the “Ricktatorship” last year, abandoning the principle in favor of a more group-lead decision to fight the Governor, but is Rick moving toward giving up violence altogether? We see him opt to toss away his gun rather than shoot several ambient walkers, while Andrew Lincoln reveals that we’ll see the grizzled survivor torn between his responsibilities as a cop, and a father. Rick will certainly pick up where he left off in raising Carl and young Judith, but how long until the threat forces a more savage Rick to emerge once again?

Going back to the idea of a saboteur, we see Rick approaching what looks to be a dead (possibly dying) pig out in the wilderness. Might this have been a lure for someone to loose walkers on Rick, or has one of the prison livestock simply wandered too far away, and perhaps succumb to some of the disease we’ve seen teased in other shots? The animal doesn’t look terribly chewed up, so we have to imagine something more sinister is afoot than what we’re seeing.

Judging by some adjacent shots of Rick, Daryl and Glenn peering into what looks to be a cordoned-off cell, followed by Glenn and Daryl fighting off a walker that emerges from the same room, we’re guessing someone gets bit in the prison outbreak, but not badly enough to expire just yet. Bob Stookey remarks “I haven’t seen anybody be lucky in a long time,” but given Glenn’s later surprise, could it be that the walker virus has gotten aggressive enough to turn those with only limited injuries?

We’re guessing that Michonne will have quite a bit of time on her own this year in pursuit of the Governor, as Carl remarks that she seems to spend more time outside of the prison than in. In fact, the majority of what we’ve seen from Michonne has taken place outside of the prison, leading us to wonder if she might attempt to leave altogether, rather than attempt to fit in with the Woodbury influx.

Hooray for prosthetics! Despite multiple legs lost in the totality of ‘The Walking Dead,’ it looks as if AMC’s Hershel was the first to happen across a prosthetic foot, which actor Scott Wilson likely appreciates given the majority of season 3 spent on crutches with a green sock. We hope zombies like metal!

Not only does Carol seem to be a whiz in the kitchen, but the survivors have seen fit to task her with teaching the young Woodbury children in proper knife etiquette, among other weapons we imagine. Carol certainly seems to get close with the children, especially given the loss of her own daughter, so wouldn’t it be an awful tragedy if near all of them died from an inability to protect themselves? My, that’d be enough finally drive Carol over the edge, wouldn’t it? Just sayin’.

Now that’s an odd shot to slip into the footage, don’t you think? It’s hard to say who’s hand we’re seeing exactly, though we’d imagine it to be Rick given that Andrew Lincoln is seen sporting a similar watch in the very next shot, and gloves in another (plus headphones?).

So why point out the pipe? Hmm…running water, dead livestock, unexpected walker emergences, and a new threat the survivors can’t see or stab…wethinks we have an outbreak, folks! Or are we perhaps seeing a gun, discarded and buried for some unknown reason?