The Walking Dead's next episode could feature a Game of Thrones-style Red Wedding massacre

The Walking Dead season 9 has recovered well from losing Rick Grimes early on, but that sense of loss could be upped a whole lot more if the show’s own official Twitter account can be taken at face value. It’s teasing something in line with Game of Thrones’ Rains of Castamere, the episode better known as the Red Wedding. So, yeah: expect deaths. Lots and lots of deaths.

Just yesterday, the official Walking Dead account took to Twitter to post a sinister photo of Walder Frey. Remember his face but can’t quite place him? He’s the awful guy who, you know, helped kill half of the remaining Starks in cold blood. It was the moment Game of Thrones went from a pretty interesting show to a “Holy shit, did you see that?!” one.

It’s a bit of an odd choice to outright reference a competitor on a rival channel, but it goes to show the scale of the Whisperer backlash we should be expecting. But can The Walking Dead match it? If you know your comics, the upcoming Fair – which has been mentioned with the subtlety of a sledgehammer in recent weeks – is going to be pretty damn traumatic. No spoilers here (and with the show’s tendency to mix things up anyway, it probably wouldn’t matter), but the Red Wedding comparisons probably aren’t too far off.

The Walking Dead has had its fair share of shock deaths – think Andrea, Carl, and Glenn – but nothing has quite matched the bodycount of a Red Wedding or even a typical Thrones season. That might be about to change as the final two episodes of the season hurtle into sight.

The Whisperers, as seen at the very end of The Walking Dead season 9, episode 14, are right at the Kingdom’s gates. We’ve already seen how far Michonne will go to save her child – but just how far will Alpha go? This Sunday we’ll find out, but fair warning: It might just make the Red Wedding look tame by comparison.

There's a whole bunch of new TV shows coming your way very soon, but not many will leave as many bodies in its wake as The Walking Dead is teasing.