This year’s ninth season of “The Walking Dead” promises to be an interesting one, which is great news because the show sure could use an injection of, well, “interesting.” We know that Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan will be appearing in only half of the season’s episodes, with their characters likely being written off in Season 9. We also know that the long-dead Shane Walsh will be making a return appearance, presumably in a flashback or dream sequence.

Behind the scenes, the series is being taken over by Angela Kang for Season 9, who will be the showrunner going forward. At an AMC press event this week, Kang spoke publicly about the upcoming Season 9 for the first time, notably confirming a storyline time jump.

“We’re playing with time in the season, so we get to jump forward in the story,” Kang revealed. Like the comics, we expect a jump of a couple years.

Kang further detailed, “We’re working on a season that has a really fresh look and feel. We come in on some pretty fun stuff. I’m really focusing a lot on the core character relationships in the show that have kind of been long-lasting, as well as all of our wonderful series regulars.”

“We’re going to see some really great stories with the women in our show, particularly,” she added. “And I think for people who are really invested in Michonne, Maggie or Carol, there’s such great material for them. For people who are looking for that specifically, they will see some really incredible work from our women.”

“The Walking Dead” will return in October.