'The River' is returning, but all Mzansi wants to know is whether Zolani is alive

First the good news. Hit TV drama The River is coming back for a third season. Now the bad news. It seems someone has died, and it might be Zolani.

The new season will kick off on January 27 and was revealed in a short teaser from 1 Magic this week.

It's an action-packed clip, with drama, death and pure emotion. Viewers saw a funeral procession, intense mourning and a lot of flames.

While the streets were marking their calendars and making mental notes to tune in, many were concerned by what they saw in the teaser.

Lindiwe was crying like it was one of her children that had died.

Could Zolani be dead?

If so, how will we deal as a nation?

2020 is already too hard.

Soon social media TLs were filled with messages and memes fearing the worst.

As The River and Zolani trended on Twitter, fans threatened to boycott the show if it turned out that their fav was gone.

One eagle-eyed fan from FBI Twitter said the episode briefs still listed Zolani, so he might not die, but others weren't convinced.

Here are some of the reactions: