We Finally Know When The Walking Dead Season 10 Will Return

The Whisperers War has been won, and a series finale is officially in sight ... but in the interim, its seems there's still quite a bit of story to tell in The Walking Dead's 10th season. 

That's hardly fresh news for fans of AMC's The Walking Dead, as it was announced in July that not only would the series finally air its pandemic-delayed season 10 finale in October, but the season would be extended by a full six episodes. While the unexpected gift of six additional episodes no doubt delighted the fandom, the announcement was a bit frustrating as AMC was quite vague about when they would air, noting only "early 2021" as the premiere date. 

Now, finally, we know when we'll get to see Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the rest of The Walking Dead's good time gang back in action, as AMC just announced the final run of season 10 episodes would start airing on February 28, 2021. That news broke both on the official The Walking Dead Twitter account, and via an illuminating press release, which further noted that all six of the new episodes would also air on AMC+ the Friday prior to each network premiere. For AMC+ subscribers, then, the actual premiere for the new run of episodes will be February 25, 2021.

While the season 10 finale finally saw the return of fan favorite Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and the long-anticipated arrival of the Commonwealth, said press release teased that a few fresh faces are soon to join the undead landscape, too, including Robert Patrick, Hilarie Burton Morgan (playing Negan's deceased wife, Lucille), and Okea Eme-Akwari.

With new faces and new troubles facing the group, it should be beyond fascinating to see where they are headed after vanquishing the Whisperers.

If you're among the fans who watched this past season, you know the group's victory came at a cost the likes of which The Walking Dead hadn't really seen before. As noted in the press release, the Whisperer War saw the fall of the Kingdom, the decimation of Hilltop, and the essential abandonment of Alexandria. And while the fractured group ultimately came together to take out Alpha (Samantha Morton), followed by Beta (Ryan Hurst), and their horde of undead allies, the road to recovery will undoubtedly be more complicated than it has in seasons past.

Amid the destruction, hope remains for those who lived to fight another day, with Carol famously quipping, "We still have things to do here." True to those words, the AMC press release teases the upcoming episodes will see the group trying to rebuild a semblance of the relative peace the Whisperers so viciously took from them: "In these six new episodes, we find our survivors trying to pick themselves up by their bootstraps following the destruction the Whisperers left in their wake. The years of struggle weigh upon them as past traumas surface, exposing their more vulnerable sides. As they question the state of humanity, the state of their collective community, and the states of their minds, will they find the inner strength to persevere with their lives, friendships, and group intact?"

Not for nothing, but as The Walking Dead creative team barrels ahead towards its endgame, it certainly sounds like things are only going to get heavier for everyone involved.

Whatever the show's creatives have planned, fans will certainly want to tune in this coming February to witness what's likely to be the beginning of the end for The Walking Dead.