Walking Dead season 7
Rick Grimes looks shattered after witnessing the murder of one of his team members at Negan's hand AMC

Come Sunday (23 October), all speculations regarding Negan's victim will finally end as the premiere of The Walking Dead season 7, will reveal who was bludgeoned by him. While it is certain that a major character's death will be disclosed by the end of the episode, fans are still puzzled about the fate of Alexandrian Safe Zone leader Rick Grimes.

The sneak peek released by AMC, not only uncovered the horror created by Negan's barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille, it also imposed more questions about Rick's ruptured future in the post-apocalyptic zombie thriller.

In the promo, Rick was seen warning the Savior leader that he will kill him some day. But instead of taking his threats seriously, Negan gave a brief lecture to him about the advantage of having a "right-hand man" in the post-apocalyptic world and then dragged him to his van with his axe. The intense heart-stopping scene sparked fear among fans that the disgraced Alexandrian leader could lose his hand.

If the speculations come true, it will be another major twist other than the death of a major character. Earlier, show creator Robert Kirkman said that season 7 will follow the graphic novel in many ways.

In Kirkman's comic book, Rick's hand was chopped off by the cruel governor (who appeared in season 3 and 4 of the show). But the series did not follow suit as it needs time and money to render the special effects to show Andrew Lincoln minus his hand. Here is what executive producer and visual effects master Greg Nicotero told Comicbook.com: "I think it's safe to say that the ax could play a prominent part in the episode."

But as told by the show creators and producers, the seventh season will be different in multiple ways and there has been a strong warning from them about the gruesome plot twist of episode 1. Hence fans may have to brace themselves for much more than the death of a beloved character.

The Walking Dead season 7 will premiere on 23 October on AMC.