The Walking Dead: Creator Weighs In on Season 1's Biggest Mystery

[WARNING: The following story contains possible spoilers for Season 2 of AMC's The Walking Dead and definite spoilers from the graphic novels. Read at your own risk.]

It's the most talked-about whisper since Lost went to TV heaven: What did The Walking Dead's Dr. Jenner tell Rick just before the survivors left the Centers for Disease Control in the Season 1 finale?

In the episode's closing moments, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his not-so-merry men learned that the CDC headquarters, their safe haven, was set to self-destruct. But before Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich) blew the place sky-high, he whispered something to Rick. Judging by Rick's reaction, Dr. Jenner's final words seem to be vitally important... and somewhat of a shock. But what did he say?

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Although the show won't return until the fall, the suspense is killing us. So we did some thinking — and some careful reading of Robert Kirkman's graphic novel upon which the show is based — and came up with our two best guesses. Then we took them straight to Kirkman, who, to our surprise, told us that one of our theories isn't far off! But which one? See what you think.

THEORY NO. 1: Jenner said that Lori is pregnant.
We know that Rick's wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), thinking her husband Rick was dead, began sleeping with his best friend Shane (Jon  Bernthal) at the survivors' camp. And we doubt anyone thinks about contraception in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Since Dr. Jenner required a blood sample from all of the survivors before he agreed to house them, he could have easily done a pregnancy test.

THEORY NO. 2: Jenner told Rick that everyone is already infected.
The comics eventually reveal that all human beings have a virus that turns you into an zombie after you die — no matter how you die. So that means anyone can become a zombie, even if you're not bitten by one. If you die of a gunshot wound? Drop dead from a heart attack? You're coming back as a zombie until someone shoots you through the brain.  

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So, which theory is correct? Who knows? But Kirkman gave us the following cryptic clue: "It's possible that one is close," Kirkman said. "Your theories are maybe touching upon the larger piece of what [Jenner] said. ... One of [the theories] said part of the main thing that he said."

Good news though: Kirkman told us way back in March that the answer should be revealed in the new season. "We're very mindful of the audience's expectation," he said. "There's teasing the audience and there's torturing the audience — and there's a fine line. We're going to have a lot of other stuff to deal with, but we're definitely going to be dealing with [the whisper] soon and not torturing audiences with the mystery of that too much."

So, which theory do you like best? Or do you think there's still another possibility? Take our poll and hit the comments.