The Walking Dead co-star Tom Payne has confirmed how much time has passed between the action-packed Season 8 finale and the upcoming Season 9 premiere.

Having rounded off the "All Out War" arc of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's comic series in Season 8, the AMC drama is entering a new chapter. With a significant time jump, similar to the source material, audiences know a little more about what's changed since they left Rick Grimes and his band of survivors.

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Appearing Sunday on The Talking Dead's Season 9 preview, Payne spoiled that the premiere will pick up one and a half years after Season 8's "Wrath." “Everyone has to go back to basics. Farmers are really useful, and Hilltop, that was their whole deal," he said. "They were growing stuff and tending the farm animals, and so that community is maybe doing better than other communities."

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The comics picked up two years after the events of "All Out War" in Issue 127, which means of course the TV show won't have quite as big of a gap. That said, with Maggie having given birth and a more established world confirmed for The Walking Dead, that's enough of a time span for the status quo to have changed in meaningful ways.

There's a fresh start across the board for The Walking Dead, as an influx of new characters like Magna, Connie and Yumiko prepare to replace series staples like Rick and Maggie, with Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan preparing to leave the show.

(via Uproxx)