The Walking Dead: No new episode on December 18; when will Season 7 episode 9 air?

The Walking Dead fans are in for a long wait before the next episode airs, as Season 7 episode 9 will return to AMC only on February 12. It's a long wait of two months to find out the answers to some of the mysteries that were introduced in Season 7 episode 8.

The show ended with the scene of an unidentified man spying on Alexandria Safe Zone and Rick and Daryl finally reuniting and deciding to take down Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan, who is said to be one of the most notorious villains to come out of The Walking Dead comics by Robert Kirkman.

So who is this unidentified man? Book readers were quick to assume that he was one of the Whisperers, another community of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, but according to The Spoiling Dead Fans, a trusted source for The Walking Dead spoilers and filming updates, the man belongs to a new group that is not featured in the comics.

"We believe 'Boots' belongs to the new junkyard gang we refer to as the Garbage Pail Kids (or GPK for short, and no that's not their real name). We know we'll see this group early in the back half of the season, so naturally it makes sense," the spoiler forum noted, adding that Father Gabriel will be seen with the group when the show returns in February.

"Now, how would Father Gabriel end up back with his people at a community he never knew about and why would he be there all of a sudden?" noted The Spoiling Dead Fans. "Well, last time we checked in with Father G, he was being spied on by none other than "Boots". Bingo. There's a connection. "Boots" is the reason Father G ends up at the junkyard. Now how that all goes down and if Father G goes with Boots willingly remains to be seen."