Opening Minutes TWD 909 pic.twitter.com/SFBZwYEx82 — spoiledrottenfans (@spoiledrottenwd) January 28, 2019

AMC has released the opening minutes of The Walking Dead's Mid-Season Nine premiere episode.

The Walking Dead Episode 9x09 is titled, "Adaptation." The official synopsis for Adaptation reads, "The recent loss of one of their own drives the communities to band together. New leaders rise when a disturbing and dangerous threat is unmasked. An escaped captive revisits his past."

As seen in the video above, the episode will pick up with the Mid-Season Nine finale left off in 2018. The shocking death of Jesus rattled the survivors to their cores and the Hilltop's leader is still left laying on the ground with no signs of life after being stabbed by a Whisperer. Meanwhile, the group contemplates what just happened, as what they thought were walkers are now carrying weapons and fighting back.

As Michonne sends some of the group back behind the gate, she and Daryl elect to talk out the comprised of a Whisperer and walker mix. Eventually, the whole group flees. It's a dark start to 2019's run of The Walking Dead episodes but certainly a sign of things to come.

"The Whisperers story in the comic is one of my favorites from the comic," Kang said. "That storyline was coming out in the comics as I was working on the show. We were literally reading - we get the individual issues in the office and we were reading them and were like, 'What is he doing? What's happening? What's happening?' We were literally, 'What's happening? Could this be it?'"

Kang is aiming to keep a steady, interesting pace along with a level of interest within the AMC series which she took over as showrunner in its current season.

"And then it's like, I just feel like the answer was so much more strange and rewarding than I thought it would be," Kang said. She stayed true to this vibe in the Mid-Season Nine finale which took Tom Payne's Paul "Jesus" Rovia from the land of the living but will inevitably have to deviate as certain comic book characters are no longer alive on the TV series. "So that's really fun, I think to delve into," she said. "So I'm really excited for the people who don't know the story to hopefully see the twists unfold."

The Walking Dead returns for the back half of its ninth season on February 10, 2019 at 9 pm ET. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com's After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.