'The Walking Dead' Season 6 Release Date & Spoilers: New Photos Released, Zombie Drama Series Welcomes New Characters

'The Walking Dead' Season 6
'The Walking Dead' Season 6 cast |

Entertainment Weekly has obtained a brand-new set of photos and character details from Season 6 of AMC's hit zombie drama series "The Walking Dead.'

Series showrunner Scott M. Gimple previously announced that Emmy award-winning actress Merritt Wever from "Nurse Jackie' will be portraying Dr. Denise Cloyd, a character from the "Walking Dead" comic books who pitches in to mend some very wounded people in the Alexandria community.

Meanwhile, TV veteran Ethan Embry from "Grace and Frankie' is set to play a supposedly complicated character known as "Carter.'

"Ethan plays a combo of a few characters that we actually haven't hit yet or weren't able to hit in other characters," Gimple explained. "He is an Alexandrian, and has been there the whole time, just quite busy."

Hawkins, who was first to be announced as the newest cast member of the series and will also appear Universal's NWA biopic "Straight Outta Compton,' will take on the role of Heath, Alexandria's supply runner who develops a romantic interest in Dr. Cloyd.

"He's terrific and I'm so excited to see him bring Heath to life," Gimple said of Hawkins. "It's been fun and he dove in with both feet. He's tough and skeptical when the cameras are rolling, and then when they're off he's just like a goofy fan. He's really, really excited to be there."

Meanwhile, fans believe that the series has a long way to go but creator Robert Kirkman is assuring fans that he already has a finale in mind when the AMC's hit zombie drama show comes to a conclusion.

"It's a very popular show, and [the executives at AMC] seem to want it to go for 50 seasons. And it may go for 50 seasons, but there is definitely an end point at some point," Kirkman told Marc Maron during a visit to the comedian's WTF podcast.

Maron asked Kirkman whether he would think about creating a solution to the zombie problem, and the series creator replied, "Maybe. You never know. I do hope that "The Walking Dead' goes on long enough that when it ends, it's like, "good thing we took care of those zombies.'"

The comic book writer also believes that, in spite of some viewers describing the series as a "very bleak" one, it remains a hopeful story about survivors overcoming the circumstances.

"There's a lot of new stuff that gets put into the show," Kirkman promised.

"The Walking Dead' is set to return for its sixth season on October 11, 9 pm, on AMC.