The Walking Dead season 7: Ezekiel's arrival teased by show's Instagram

His pet tiger, Shiva, was also teased

With National Pet Day in full swing, The Walking Dead’s social media team decided to get on board with the festivities, posting a photo of comic book characters King Ezekiel and his tiger Shiva.

Now, why are we reporting on this? Well, the Instagram account doesn’t really post comic book materials unless it is relevant to the show - such as snippets about Negan - implying the pair may be set to appear during the show's next season.

What makes this particularly relevant is that, in among all the hysteria caused by the season six finale, there were hints that The Kingdom (the survivors group led by Ezekiel) would soon be appearing in the show.

Members of The Kingdom appeared in season six, with Rick almost shooting one (luckily, Morgan was there to save the day).

Thanks to that act of kindness, Morgan and Carol look set to be taken to The Kingdom’s base where they will inevitably meet their leader and his tiger. Yes, you read that right, a tiger. The CGI budget has likely been upped for season seven.

As noted by Uproxx, Ezekiel also isn’t a fan of Negan and the Saviors, with the groups likely clashing in season seven. Until then, we’ll be left wondering a little longer who Lucille ended up killing.