The Walking Dead season 6 finale: Convincing fan theory whittles Negan's potential victims down to four

...and upon closer inspection, the analysis makes one unlikely character the prime candidate

(AMC)

Not one week has transpired since a controversial cliffhanger ended The Walking Dead's sixth season and fans have gone into theory overdrive.

The producers' decision to cut to a POV shot in the episode's closing moments - thus holding back the identity of the character Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bludgeons to death - apparently warrants what's to come in the season seven premiere.

Intense dissection of the positioning of characters in the antagonist's deadly line-up - which ended with one getting their brains bashed in by a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire - may seem hopelessly futile considering the scene is yet to be shot.

However, one logical fan theory has caught our eye - and excitingly, it whittles down the list of 11 possible victims - which we've compiled here - down to just four.

Distressingly, it places an unlikely character in the firing line.

The episode, titled "Last Day on Earth," begins with a dreamlike sequence of darkness and blurred lights that recur throughout the episode; ahead of the final scene, however, it becomes clear that the scene is located in the trailer where four characters - caught by The Saviours in the previous episode - are being held.

As the final scene begins, it becomes clear that these moments were actually POV shots coming specifically from someone inside that trailer (you see where the theory's going with this...).

Perhaps the POV used in both these moments and the episode's climax was in no way coincidental?

Showrunner Scott Gimple has since claimed the finale was filled with clues surrounding the identity of Negan's victim - and nothing would make sense more than opening and closing the episode from the same character's POV.

This would limit the list down Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rosita (Christian Serratos).

Depending how much you trust this theory, it seems you could arguably eliminate another character - namely Daryl; the POV shot clearly bases him in front of the doomed person.

Intriguingly, we don't really see where Glenn and Rosita are based in relation to the shot adding an air of ambiguity to the theory, but from what can be gathered, it posits Michonne as the most likely candidate to have been on the receiving end of Lucille.

Will our favourite samurai-wielding heroine be no more as season seven begins? Fret not - we've only got seven months to wait.

Many are working under the assumption that Negan's words directly before committing the murder rule out both Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs).

The Walking Dead returns to FOX in October.