The Walking Dead Season 9 Will Have Its Own Red Wedding

Warning: contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead comics.

The return of The Walking Dead is almost upon us, and with it, we're being promised what's going to be the show's version of Game of Thrones' Red Wedding: The Fair.

The Red Wedding, which came as part of Season 3's The Rains of Castamere episode, is one of the most shocking moments in TV (and indeed book) history, with a number of key characters being killed off in stunning fashion. It makes sense, then, that The Walking Dead would want to do something similar.

This should certainly help the ratings, although it isn't just a shameless boost: The Fair is a key moment in the comics, and a huge part of the Whisperers War, a storyline that is now underway thanks to the events that closed out the first half of Season 9.

In the graphic novels, the various communities decide to host a fair as a means of trading goods, meeting new people, and generally being brought together in a sort of celebration of their life and work. It's meant to be a happy occasion, where different products can be bought and bargained for, and everyone has a jolly good time while doing so.

While the show hasn't been too clear on the matter, it has dropped a few references to the idea of hosting a fair, mostly coming from Ezekiel, which is quite fitting for a man who looks like he belongs at a Renaissance Faire. Now, showrunner Angela Kang has confirmed it's something we'll see in the back-half of Season 9, telling EW:

"Yes, we are going to see the festival. That becomes a part of the story for the back half of the season. We really dove into the idea of what this festival is in a real way for our people. The origins of these kinds of trade fairs were that people from far-flung communities would take a trek and trade useful goods because not every community had every single thing that they needed. It’s a place where people could learn new skills and pick up supplies that they needed. It’s also a chance for them to bond as different communities.

"In that context, we really get to see what each community is and how they’re even dealing with the very idea of this fair, because obviously, it’s been a point of some contention between the Kingdom and Alexandria. That’s a story that we see play out over the course of the back half."

That all sounds like grand ol' time, doesn't it? What's the big fuss?

Well, this being The Walking Dead, obviously the party can't last forever, and the events of the fair (in the comics) lead directly to one of the novels' most jaw-dropping, horrifying moments. By this point, tensions of have bubbling with the Whisperers, and especially their leader Alpha, for a little while, but it's at the fair where things boil over.

Alpha not only manages to infiltrate the fair, but also make it away with no fewer than TWELVE residents of the various communities. And what happens to those dozen denizens of the communities?

The answer is discovered by Rick himself, who is told by Alpha that a border has been created, marking the Whisperers' territory. And again, this being The Walking Dead, it's not a simple border. It's a row of pikes, each topped with a different head from the people missing from the fair, including Ezekiel and Rosita.

Obviously, the show will have some differences, especially since Rick's no longer around, but this is what Season 9 is building towards. It might not kill off 12 characters, it might not kill off the same characters, but fans should be braced to lose their heads in what'll be the series' biggest murder of 'the good guys' to date.

The official Twitter account even posted about it, with a picture of Ezekiel and the words 'The Fair Is Coming', in the Game of Thrones font. Potential copyright issues aside, it's a huge warning sign that the show's Red Wedding, or, er, Red Fair, is on its way, and things really don't look good for Ezekiel - the person who wants this fair more than anything else.

Are you excited for - or dreading - The Fair? Let us know down in the comments.