‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7, Episode 2 Spoilers: “The Well” Reveals Khary Payton’s Ezekiel; Jeffrey Dean-Morgan Considered Quitting After Gory Sequence

‘The Walking Dead’ season 7’s episode 2, entitled “The Well”, is set to introduce Ezekiel and his Kingdom. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Dean-Morgan, who plays the new villain Negan, admitted that he considered quitting after filming episode 1’s gory sequence.

The short synopsis for episode 2 posted on Cosmic Book News stated, “For a number of familiar faces, a new, well-established community seems too good to be true.” It seems that the survivors will have to deal with new struggles in the aftermath of Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean-Morgan) murder of Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun). It would be interesting to see how Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group would deal with losing two of their members, especially since Rick is under Negan’s psychological torture.

The “well-established community” stated on the synopsis may refer to King Ezekiel’s The Kingdom, according to the Independent. Khary Payton’s Ezekiel is one of the most highly-anticipated characters set to make his debut on the series on season 7.

In the original comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Ezekiel is an extravagant and flamboyant man who distances himself from the community by acting superior. However, his eccentricities hide that fact that he struggles with communicating and forming bonds with others.

He has a pet tiger named Shiva from when he was a zookeeper prior to the apocalypse. He rescued Shiva after finding her with serious injuries and the tiger has remained loyal to him ever since, even defending him from several threats during the zombie outbreak.

Ezekiel already has ties with other familiar characters on the series, specifically Paul “Jesus” Monroe (Paul Rovia), and is a fried to the Hilltop Colony who he trades goods with. New photos posted on Melty reveal that Morgan (Lennie James) may be the first to encounter him.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Dean-Morgan admitted that he considered quitting the series after filming season 7’s gory premiere episode. According to the Daily Mail, he said, “That whole episode was hard, and also because I did go through and smack everybody with Lucille at a certain point. Everybody took a hit.”

He continued, “All of that was hard. It got to the point where I didn't want to do it anymore… Emotionally I was completely drained—all of us were, I would imagine.”

‘The Walking Dead’ season 7’s episode 2, entitled “The Well”, is scheduled to premiere on AMC on October 30, 2016. It was directed by Greg Nicotero.