Warning: Contains spoilers for The Walking Dead season seven.

Rick was a bundle of grins at the end of the latest episode of The Walking Dead (Picture: AMC/Fox)

The Walking Dead’s executive producer has detailed the reasoning behind Rick’s smile in the latest episode, along with where it may lead.

Despite scenes which saw huge zombie hordes surround the gang, it was perhaps Rick’s smile which proved the most unsettling sight in latest episode Rock In The Road after being circled by a new batch of survivors.

Executive producer Greg Nicotero has since explained the reasoning behind the grin, probably confirming what you’d expect.

Rick is struggling to find allies in season seven (Picture: Gene Page/AMC)

Speaking to Comicbook.com, Greg said: ‘He’s smiling because there’s his army. However you cut it, he’s gonna make sure that those people are on his side.’

Greg, who also directed this week’s episode, elaborated how he believed it was the perfect way to round off Rock In The Road.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: ‘It’s the perfect ending for the episode. When they are surrounded by that new and mysterious group that we’ve only caught a quick glimmer of, Rick sees soldiers. That’s why he smiles.

‘I don’t think he’s worried for a second. I think he looks, and he’s like, “okay, I need a win here, and there are a lot of people here, and they have weapons, and this is what I need.” So the gears are clicking. The gears start turning, and then, boom, we’re out.’

It makes sense considering the rejections the group faced from both Gregory at the Hilltop and Ezekiel’s Kingdom in gathering forces against Negan, with Rick perhaps gunning for anyone to help their plight – even if they’re incredibly hostile.

A trailer for next week’s episode titled New Best Friends has also arrived, and it teases how Rick may find the new group more troublesome than useful.