The Walking Dead Mid-Season Finale Preview: Who Doesn’t Make It Out Alive?

The Walking Dead mid-season finale happens tonight and there will be blood spilt, but who won’t be making it out alive? We have our predictions….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

If you’ve never read the Robert Kirkman comics that The Walking Dead are based on you may want to stop reading this right now.

Okay — you’ve been forewarned so no yelling SPOILERS at me in the comments or on Twitter/Facebook, deal?

As The Walking Dead reaches its mid-season finale at 9pm on Sunday night several questions are up in the air about how The Governor’s return to the prison will be met by Rick and his band of survivors. The Governor was already scouting out the camp and pointing his gun directly at the head of Michonne, who took his eye and his zombie daughter Penny, so his thirst for revenge is palpable at this point.

But with a new camp at his back and a lady in his life, The Governor will obviously have to sell his new group on why it’s a good move to attack the prison and overtake their safe surroundings. As we’ve already witnessed, The Gov now has a tank and a tank operator at his disposal so crashing through the prison gates can be done with relative ease.

In the comic book version of the attack, The Governor takes out several key characters during the onslaught on the prison — most notably Lori, baby Judith, Tyreese and Hershel all perish during the battle between the survivors and The Governor’s Woodbury gang (obviously Woodbury went up in flames so the attack this time around is coming from a different group).

Now as we already know, Lori has been gone since the early parts of season three so she’s at no risk of being a casualty of The Governor’s attack this time around. That doesn’t mean baby Judith isn’t at serious risk of somehow getting caught in the line of fire as the survivors try to escape the attack from the outside. A child dying on TV, much less an infant baby, isn’t a subject that comes up too often so it’s hard to say just how far the producers behind The Walking Dead are willing to gamble that the public will react to this as an acceptable loss in the zombie apocalypse or a bad move to make.

The Walking Dead already took out young Sophia after she went missing in season two and returned as a zombie version discovered in Herschel’s barn of the undead. Would they try to go two for two and get rid of another child on the show?  It’s possible that Beth — the younger daughter of Hershel who has been caring for little Judith — could be carrying the baby in her arms the same way Lori did in the comic when shots are fired.  One or both could be gone by the end of the night. 

Tyreese is sacrificed during the siege on the prison after he leaves the secure walls to go on a search before the battle begins and he’s eventually captured and brought to The Governor as a hostage. The Governor threatens to kill Tyreese if Rick and his group don’t let them in, but no matter how much huffing and puffing he does, the former Georgia sheriff isn’t budging so that’s the end of his former No. 2. The Governor lops off Tyreese’s noggin in a brutal public beheading.

This go round, however, it’s tough to imagine Tyreese getting killed by The Governor and his clan. Fact is Tyreese is just now starting to get some actual story and dialogue added to his character, and it’s unlikely he’ll be exiting the series right now. Still, with new cast member Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) coming to the show sometime before the season is over he could be introduced sooner rather than later if Tyreese is gone.

Michonne seems to be the biggest target of The Governor and despite the fact that she’s not beloved by audiences yet like her comic book version doesn’t mean she’s going anywhere. The Michonne we all know and love from the comics still has plenty of story to develop and it’s doubtful no matter how much Kirkman and show runner Scott Gimple love to throw the audience off, her death would almost be too obvious given her past with The Governor.

Glenn already came close to death this season and Maggie won’t likely go anywhere without him attached to her hip. Carl is safe because he’s already gone through a life or death scenario in season two and if anything he looks like the next Governor if things keep going the way they have been lately for him. There are plenty of other side characters like Sasha, who could easily go down as a result of this attack. With Carol already gone, however, the core cast is really down to just a few people.

If the target falls squarely on anybody’s shoulders this season to not make it out of tonight’s episode alive it’s kind, old Hershel, who did his best to keep everyone alive during the first half of the season when he cared for all the sick when the flu was running rampant throughout the prison. Hershel has already lost a leg when a walker took part of his calf as a tasty snack, and with Maggie secure in Glenn’s arms it’s hard not to think that it’s time for her poppa to say his final goodbyes. Let’s not forget as the story goes currently, Hershel is outside with Michonne disposing of bodies so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that a stray bullet meant for her takes him out instead.

All we know for sure is that Gimple promises that this mid-season finale won’t end without some serious bloodshed for both sides and obviously leave a big cliffhanger for everyone to witness until the show returns in 2014.

“We’ve seen The Governor kill people to ensure the safety of his new family and we see him determined,” Gimple tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We see Rick is very much back as someone with a gun on his hip, ready to participate in the brutality of the world to keep his people safe. It’s a very explosive situation and it’s entirely possible that everybody doesn’t make it back. That sort of thing would be something that would affect these characters even more deeply.”

Gimple also teases that other characters like Abraham could appear ‘sooner rather than later’ so having them pop up before the end of tonight’s episode is a distinct possibility.

The only two names that would seem to be safe as this one-hour long episode unfolds are Rick and Daryl. Rick is the central character and now matter how frustratingly emo he gets as each episode unfolds, the show already snuffed the other character with this unyielding moral compass (see ya Dale!). As for Daryl – well I can’t put it any better than Grantland’s John Lopez who says ‘If Scott Gimple & Co. kill Daryl, they’d risk having their throats slit by Comic-Con badges.’

Ain’t that the truth! Norman Reedus will have a job for many seasons to come I’m thinking.

Weigh in now before the show starts — who doesn’t make it out alive of The Walking Dead‘s season 4 mid-season finale???