The Walking Dead Season 4 spoilers on Michonne's past before the apocalypse

The Walking Dead returns from its midseason hiatus on Sunday, Feb. 9 with the first new episode since the Governor's assault on Rick and company's prison. The survivors are now scattered and homeless, and the last image of the episode was Rick and Carl feeling the infested, burning prison as father told son not to look back and to keep walking.

Fans have had more than a month to recover from the catastrophic events of that episode, and now we've got some spoilers on the next episode of the hit AMC series via the "Spoiler Chat" column at E! Online:

"We just got done watching the midseason premiere and we're not going to lie, it's definitely not one of The Walking Dead's most exciting episodes. However, we are going to get a deeper peek into Michonne's pre-zombie life. We were shocked to see that before our stern-faced character became a sword-wielding killer, she was just a regular woman who smiled a lot. Living in a post-apocalyptic world would definitely drain anyone of their happiness, but after learning more about her past, we're definitely more empathic with Michonne's cold exterior."

If the episode actually does go back in time to before the apocalypse, it would be one of the rare instances in which the show depicts the pre-zombie period. Some fans have also theorized that Michonne had a child (or children) before everything fell apart because she started to cry when Beth made her hold baby Judith. Perhaps we will learn the answers to that question in the new episode, as well.

What do you expect to happen, Walking Dead fans? Let us know in the comments below.