Everyone Is 'Axing' The Same Question About 'The Walking Dead' Season Premiere

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be."

It was all bloodbaths and baseball bats on the opening episode of The Walking Dead's seventh season; however, while some people were busy asking if Glenn's eye was going to pop back into place, or who will rock the handlebar mustache now Abraham is gone, others were asking:

"Where the f**k did that axe go?"

As well as wire-wrapped baseball bats, Negan's go to "weapon of the week" was a rather nifty little hatchet, which I have dubbed "Margaret." After seeing brains splattered and dreams shattered, we spent the rest of the episode wondering if anyone was going to get Jaime Lannister'ed and lose a hand.

'I need to axe you a question.'

Rick's hatchet made a brief (but memorable) cameo towards the start of the episode, and we continued to be drawn to the metal menace. It looked like Negan tossed his new friend aside and Rick was sent to go fetch like a little bitch:

"Hey Rick, go get my axe!"15 min into the Walking Dead and we still don't know who died, Negan is apparently magic and can throw an axe out of an RV onto the roof...— Alec Zamora (@AlecZamora1) October 24, 2016

It was a game of hide and seek, and it turned out that the elusive little hatchet was camping out on the roof of the RV. Is it a levitating axe, does it have free will, was it escaping the horde of walkers coming toward them?

Well if you look closely, Negan threw the axe up onto the roof, and not out into the swarming mass of undead surrounding them. Camera angles are an important part of any show guys – pull it together.

People began to question the cleanliness of the axe, or whether Negan had cleaned the blade properly before use. If you are about to have your right hand chopped off, the last thing your want is a gammy stump holding you back in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.

Give him a hand.

Was the show about to finally fulfil its long-awaited prophecy for giving Rick's hand the chop? It was troll level 100 when everyone left alive departed the premiere with all body parts intact (for now). It was touch and go for a moment, but at least Carl didn't lost his arm – the boy is staring to look like a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces missing.

Fans of the comic will know that Rick losing his hand is a key part of the story, and just like Carl losing his eye, it is probably coming someday. Admittedly comic Rick lost his hand way back in the prison when dealing with the eye-patched Governor, but with Negan as the new man in town, the story makes sense. Negan has already foreshadowed the lost of Rick's "right hand man," which could figuratively mean Glenn and Abe – but I'm not so sure. Andrew Lincoln told Comicbook.com that he himself had already championed the loss of the leader's limb a while back:

"You know, I campaigned two seasons ago when the Governor was around… I was saying, ‘You’ve gotta do the hand, guys!’ And Victor, who was in charge of special effects, just said, ‘No, no no no. Anybody else but not you. It’ll cost a fortune with green screen and blue screen.’"

With an average of 13.15 million viewers tuning in for Season 6, and as one of TV's highest-rated shows, I am sure there is some money around to "lend a hand" for some green screen. When you have lost your wife, your best friend, and arguably your leadership, what else is there left to lose? Rick still having a hand aside, let's take a moment to remember Margaret – I'm sure Negan will be swinging both axe and bat again before the season is out!