One of the things that has defined AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead has been its traditional Romero-style zombies. However, we’ve seen some indications that a change could be in store for the upcoming Season 4.

The first clue has come from comments made from Producer Gale Anne Hurd. On several occasions, Hurd has said that after the shift in focus to the human threat in Season 3, zombies will return to prominence in Season 4.

“We are living in a zombie apocalypse, we’re living in an apocalypse where we know that unless someone has brain trauma, they’re going to come back,” she said in an interview with IGN. “Regardless of how they die, they’re going to turn into a zombie. So I think it would be a good bet to say that the zombies become more threatening in seasons to come.”

This is in itself isn’t that big of a bombshell. We’ve seen how deadly the undead can be in Season 1 at Atlanta and Season 2 when they overran the farm. But we’ve gotten our hands on a leaked photo reportedly showing a group of zombies from a scene in Season 4. Granted it’s a still photo, but it appears to show zombies moving at something faster than a shuffle.

Could the walkers become runners?