‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 Spoilers: New Sneak Peek Video Raises Questions About Daryl’s Well-Being

There are still nearly two months standing between fans and new episodes of “The Walking Dead,” but AMC is doing everything in their power to ease the pain of waiting.

On Sunday, during a marathon of previously aired episodes of the show, a short preview for Season 7 was released and its focus may surprise you. The clip, which is less than one minute long, caught up with Dwight (Austin Amelio) who is riding solo since last we saw him. In the preview Dwight happens upon a gaggle of walkers while cruising by on his bike. He stops to take a closer look, but it’s what he’s wearing during the detour that has “The Walking Dead” fans buzzing. The Savior member appears to be wearing Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) vest which many have taken as a sign that the fan favorite, who has been on the show since its earliest days, may not have survived Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) wrath.

In addition to patiently waiting to see which of the main cast members was on the receiving end of the baseball bat attack that closed out Season 6, “Walking Dead” fans are eager to see what will become of Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira). During a behind-the-scenes interview, released by People magazine Aug. 8, Gurira and Lincoln opened up about their budding romance on the show. Gurira told the publication she was fairly certain Michonne had been “in love” with Rick for some time. Lincoln echoed those sentiments, saying he didn’t see the signs in the script until the moment he and Gurira’s characters kissed.

“I kept thinking, ‘Of course, it’s been right in front of me all the time,” he said. “It felt like a grown-up relationship that was always meant to be.”

Although fans are totally shipping Michonne and Rick — or Richonne, as they’ve come to be known — it wasn’t always the sword-wielding walker slayer that was set to play Rick’s love interest. In July, during New Jersey’s Walker Stalker Convention, Laurie Holden (Andrea) revealed to those in attendance that she was initially supposed to be the female love-interest of Rick. “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman laid it out that way in the comic books from which the show is based, but has been known to stray from the graphic novels in the show. Instead, Andrea was killed off in Season 3 and pieces of her storyline were assigned to other stars.

“I was supposed to end up with Rick,” she said according to Fan Fest. “ I got the call at 10 o’clock the night before, while I was shooting, from the showrunner who is no longer a part of ‘The Walking Dead,’ saying that they couldn’t write the episode and that he was killing my character…None of it was supposed to happen the way it did.”

Despite the uncertainty, it is known that Season 7 will pick up right where the previous season left off. Recall that before the final credits rolled on Season 6, Negan had just lined up a number of integral cast members and had them kneel before him before picking one to take out with his signature weapon. It remains unclear who the unlucky victim was.

“The Walking Dead” returns to AMC Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016.