The Walking Dead: 10 Things To Expect When Season 9 Returns
3. The Series Tone Will Shift To A Much Darker One (If That's Possible)
You might think it hard to take a series about zombies and humans fighting humans to a darker place, but that's exactly what the Whisperers accomplish with their introduction onto the show.
The Whisperer's existence is a darker threat than any the group had previously faced because unlike the Governor, Negan, and all the rest of the humans they have gone up against, this new threat is different in a disturbing way.
The Whisperers are a combined threat of both the dead and a dangerous group of human survivors capable of slaughtering anyone they come across. They have no problem killing women and children, which was evident when they killed Rosita who was pregnant at the time of her death in the comics.
In a show that has to continue to step up the horror with each and every enemy, Negan proved a difficult obstacle to top. Robert Kirkman was only able to accomplish this by combining the dead and the living into a group the survivors couldn't have anticipated or overcome without increasing their own brutality and ferocity.