The Walking Dead season 4 plot line will employ the use of a time jump when the show premieres later this year.

A new spoiler report courtesy of TV Line indicates that The Walking Dead season 4 will be set a few months following the events that took place in the season 3 finale.

This won’t be the first time The Walking Dead uses a time jump to advance the story. Season 3 started a couple of months after season 2’s story ended. One of the biggest changes between the two seasons was that Lori had gotten to the end of her pregnancy.

In The Walking Dead season 3 finale we saw Rick moving a bunch of new survivors who were living at Woodbury into the prison, so presumably when season 4 begins we will see a well-established housing situation going on at the jail.

Another big question concerning The Walking Dead season 4 is what kind of mental state Carl will be at. When we last saw him he was keen on taking matters into his own hands and not listening to his father. Actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick, said in post-show interviews that Carl desperately needs a childhood. With the time jump, maybe we will see Carl making progress on that necessity. The large group from Woodbury may include a couple of kids Carl’s age who he can get along with.

The Walking Dead season 4 premiere date will be some time this fall. It’s likely that they will announce the exact date at Comic-Con San Diego this July as they have in years past.

The show just started production on season 4 earlier this week. You can watch a behind-the-scenes look at zombie training in our previous story.

Thanks, TV Line.