What Lies Ahead

"What Lies Ahead" is the first episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on October 16, 2011. It was written by Ardeth Bey & Robert Kirkman and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton & Ernest Dickerson.

Plot
Rick leads the group out of Atlanta. On the highway, they are stopped by a threat unlike anything they have seen before. The group searches for someone who has gone missing.

Uncredited

 * Jeremy Ambler as Highway Walker
 * Chance Bartels as Highway Walker
 * Ashleigh Jo Sizemore as Big-Eyed Walker Woman
 * Steve Warren as Walker in Church
 * Ashe Johnson as Blonde Walker
 * Charlie Leach as Woodchuck Walker
 * Jack Byrd as Church Walker
 * Karen Valero as Walker
 * Dan Riker as Walker
 * Tony Gowell as Walker
 * Christopher W. Brantley, Demetrice Jackson, Scottie Knollin, J.T. Seidler, Joe Hernandez, David Alexander, Triston Johnson, Jacque Tenpenny, Ashton Lee Woolen, Michael Koske, and Ylian Alfaro Snyder as Walkers

Deaths

 * 1 deer
 * Multiple unnamed people on the Vehicle Jammed Highway (Confirmed Fate)
 * Unnamed man (Confirmed Fate)

Trivia

 * As of this episode, Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) and Asa Butterfield (Jason Ross) has been added to the opening credits.
 * Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier), IronE Singleton (T-Dog) and Madison Lintz (Sophia Peletier) and Aubrey Plaza (Susan Ross) are upgraded from "Co-Stars" to "Also Starring" in this episode.
 * The title of the episode, "What Lies Ahead", refers to the dangers that lie ahead of the group as they leave Atlanta.
 * Originally, the episode was gonna be titled "Miles Behind Us", like Volume 2 of the Comic Series.
 * When Rick and the group go to the Southern Baptist Church, the sign has the phrase, "Revelations 16:17". If translated, this Bible passage reads, "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!"."
 * This is the last episode produced by TV Series creator Frank Darabont.
 * Initially, the episode would have started out differently. Rick and his group would travel to the city to return to the Atlanta Nursing Home, where they would find it completely destroyed, and all the residents dead. After recovering the weapons they had shared, they decide to leave the city to Fort Benning.
 * Neil Brown Jr. (Guillermo) was hired for this episode and several scenes were filmed in the location, but eventually the entire sequence was removed from the final edit and the pre-credits scene was re-recorded.
 * When Daryl retrieves a pistol from a tent, the dead man inside has a large button pinned to his jacket that reads, "No Excuse For Domestic Violence."
 * Grady Memorial Hospital, an important location in Season 5, makes a cameo appearance in the background during the opening scene.

Comic Parallels

 * Carl getting shot through the stomach in the woods is adapted from Issue 9.