Here’s everything you need to know about “The Walking Dead” series finale as well as the way the show will carry on with new spinoffs…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
There was a time when it felt like “The Walking Dead” would never end — and that’s not a knock on the show by any stretch of the imagination.
In fact, “The Walking Dead” had become such a staple that it already feels odd knowing that come next October, there won’t be any new episodes of a show that started all the way back in 2010. At that time, the series was basically pitched on a hope and a dream after Frank Darabont had a vision of adapting the comic book created by Robert Kirkman with a six-episode first season with no expectations that there would be a season two.
What actually resulted was a pop culture phenomenon as “The Walking Dead” became the most popular show on television for a time. Ratings went through the roof in a way that cable had never really seen before outside of a few sporting events.
“The Walking Dead” was arguably the most talked about TV series alongside “Game of Thrones” over the last 10 years, although it’s been criminally underrated when it came to awards. That’s one area where the Emmys and Golden Globes came up woefully short because like it or not, “The Walking Dead” should have walked away with at least a few statues.
Then again, the entire cast and crew behind “The Walking Dead” would probably rather have the rabid and devoted fanbase that followed the show over 11 seasons than the chance to look at a couple of Emmy awards on a lonely shelf somewhere.
Actors like Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira and Melissa McBride became household names. Iconic characters like Daryl Dixon, Michonne, Negan, Glenn, the Governor and Carl were transformed into the vernacular for the zeitgeist over the past decade.
And now it’s over.
Yes, “The Walking Dead” came to an end on Sunday night after 177 episodes and while the show will live on through numerous spinoffs — more on that later — the main series reached its conclusion in classic fashion.
There was plenty of action.
There were some heartbreaking deaths.
There were more than a few tears shed.
And yes, there was a shitload of zombies to satiate even the most extreme George A. Romero fan.
But how did it all end? Well let’s get to our recap for the series finale of “The Walking Dead” along with a few news and notes about where things go from here as we discuss “Rest in Peace”…
The Uprising
The battle for the Commonwealth raged on with the survivors infiltrating the city but also dealing with a flood of zombies that had crashed the gates after Governor Pamela Milton vastly overrated the defensive capabilities of the fortress she helped create.
For Daryl Dixon, his only concern was saving Judith after she was shot by the Governor during an attack on the courthouse, which was actually a trapped laid by Pamela for the invading forces.
Thanks to Daryl’s O negative blood type, he was able to give Judith a reprieve as she clung to life while the rest of the group attempted to stave off the zombies crashing through the doors. Outside, the survivors were overwhelmed with Jules suffering a brutal death after she was swarmed with walkers and eaten alive.
Luke nearly fell the same way, although ultimately it was just his leg that was bitten but that was still more than enough to take his life while Magna, Yumiko and those who first joined him on the road said a painful goodbye to their friend.
With the walkers bearing down on them, Daryl, Carol and the others had to devise a plan to escape while bringing Judith along in a hospital bed because she remained unconscious. Judith did wake up momentarily and managed to reveal to Daryl that Michonne had gone searching for Rick, who was still very much alive.
Judith had to survive because her mother and father had promised to come back to her so they could be a family again. It’s all quite shocking to Daryl but his main concern for now was saving Judith from an almost certain death if he couldn’t get her medical attention sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, the rest of the rebel survivor forces stormed the jail compound and rescued Mercer, who had been taken prisoner by Pamela Milton. That led to a reunion for Max and her brother and then the Princess and the man she loves.
After gathering up supplies and weapons, Mercer prepared to lead the team back into the main Commonwealth compound but not before the team was reunited with Aaron and Lydia, who managed to survive the swarm of walkers that were pouring into the city. They got separated from Jerry and Elijah but both of them managed to survive as well while lumbering along the huge herd of zombies.
As for Rosita, Gabriel and Eugene — they made it to the location where the children were being held captive but the building had already been overrun by zombies. A frantic Rosita rushed through the house to find her daughter only to see walkers feasting on flesh.
She eventually heard a baby’s cry, which led her upstairs to the room where the caretaker had been killed but she managed to overturn the cribs in an attempt to keep the children safe until hopefully someone would come along to save them. Rosita did just that as she killed all the zombies and rescued her daughter from certain death.
Unfortunately, the path to escape was cut off and they were going to have to climb up a separate building and go through a window in hopes of breaking free of the herd of walkers coming their way. Eugene and Gabriel made it but Rosita ended up falling back down into a sea of walkers.
Just when it appeared that she was doomed, Rosita exploded out with her spiked paddle sword, wiping out zombies and protecting her daughter like the mama bear that she is. Rosita eventually reunited with her friends after leaping from the top of an ambulance to the pipe that carried her up to the window where Eugene and Gabriel were waiting for her.
Save Us All
When the groups finally reunite with plans to get Judith to the hospital where Tomi can give her medical attention, Mercer notices that Pamela has cordoned herself off in the luxury gated community part of the Commonwealth while the rest of the citizens were dying as the zombies continued to pour into the streets.
Upstairs, Rosita shared a moment with her daughter but when Eugene offers to look after little Coco so her mother can get some rest, he finds out that no one truly walks away from this world unscathed. That’s when Rosita reveals to him that she didn’t actually survive that fall into a pit of walkers — her shoulder was bitten, which means the clock is ticking to her demise.
Rosita asks Eugene to keep it a secret for now so she can share these final moments with her daughter and her friends as they attempt to take out Pamela Milton.
As for Judith, she gets to Tomi in time and he’s able to remove the bullet and save her from further harm, which is welcome news for Daryl. When she wakes up, Judith apologizes for not telling Daryl sooner about Michonne’s plan to find Rick but now he knows the truth.
Downstairs, the group prepares to roll out but Mercer insists that he has to go back into the city to help the people now abandoned by Pamela Milton. Like or not, these people counted on him for protection and he refuses to leave them in their greatest moment of need.
Ezekiel then offers to stay and help Mercer as well because what good is it to save themselves if the rest of the people in the Commonwealth are sacrificed. In his mind, Ezekiel believes this place is worth saving and that includes all the people.
The rest of the survivors agree to help as well as they prepare to take on Pamela and her army of soldiers.
While all of this is happening, Maggie has been quietly plotting her own assassination attempt against Pamela after taking a sniper rifle from the armory. She’s soon interrupted by Negan, who takes the gun and plans to shoot Pamela himself in order to stop Maggie from basically committing suicide so she can eliminate the Governor of the Commonwealth.
Negan finally takes this moment to come clean over his guilt about killing Glenn and he apologizes rather profusely to Maggie for taking away someone who meant the world to her. He never quite understood the pain of that moment when he put Glenn on his knees and beat him to death in front of Maggie but when he was about to sacrifice his own life and thought that his wife and child were going to suffer the same fate, it finally all made sense to him.
Now Negan wants to take out Pamela as one last gesture of apology to Maggie but she won’t let him do it. Instead, Maggie invites Negan to join her on the roof where they will kill Pamela together.
Outside, Mercer and the survivors launch their attack against the gated community where Pamela is literally hiding in her mansion while people from the Commonwealth are locked outside with a herd of walkers storming towards them. Just when it looks like there’s going to be a fire fight “Reservoir Dogs” style with nobody surviving, the people serving Pamela finally realizes that they’re defending the wrong person.
Gabriel is allowed to open the gates to allow people inside before the walkers reach them while Pamela is placed under arrest for a multitude of crimes including her responsibility for the numerous deaths of people that just disappeared under her watch. As Daryl points out to her — Pamela tried to recreate the old world inside the Commonwealth and that’s the fucking problem.
In that moment, Pamela decides that perhaps life behind bars is a fate worse than death so she begins walking towards the gate where the zombies have amassed. She spots a dead Lance Hornsby, who has come home again and she’s stumbling towards him, essentially resigned to meeting her bloody end when a shot rings out. Lance is killed and Pamela is saved — and the bullet came from Maggie’s rifle.
She wasn’t going to let the Governor attempt to martyr herself rather than actually paying for her many crimes.
With the Governor under arrest and the people saved, the survivors now have to figure out what to do about the horde of zombies that’s storming through the Commonwealth. Ezekiel and others hatch a plan to deal with the walkers, which involves turning on some rather loud music — “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour to be exact — to lure the zombies inside the gated community that was so coveted by Pamela Milton.
At the same time, all of the people from the group are rigging explosives and gas cans that will hopefully wipe out the herd in one massive explosion. The strategy works after the walkers come pouring into the gated community, drawn by the loud music reverberating throughout the Commonwealth.
A second later, a fuse is lit and the walkers all go up in a blaze of glory.
The day has been saved, the Commonwealth spared and the people who actually made the city what it was have been spared.
A New Day
In the aftermath of saving the Commonwealth, Governor Pamela Milton is locked up behind bars, although she warns her captors that running the city won’t be as easy as they expect. Carol and Daryl respond by telling her that there will surely be problems along the way but they’ll figure it out just like they always do.
As for Maggie, she finally sits down with Negan to have a heart-to-heart about his apology and she tells him honestly that there’s no way she can ever forgive him. Watching Glenn die in front of her is a grievance that can never be settled but she also accepts that Negan has changed.
Maggie doesn’t want to continue carrying around that hatred in her heart and she certainly doesn’t want to pass that along to her son. She tells Negan that they’ll never be friends and there are going to be days where she looks at him with disdain in her eyes but he’s also earned his place in this community.
The entire group then gathers together for a giant dinner but a somber Rosita barely feels like celebrating because she knows her hours are numbered. She finally shares the news with Gabriel, who is understandably shaken.
With her health failing, Rosita is helped upstairs so she can say goodbye to her daughter Coco before she lays down in bed where she’s joined by Eugene, who at this point is her oldest friend in the world. They’ve saved each other many times over the years but now Eugene has to be there for Rosita in her final moments before she shuffles off this mortal coil.
The story then fast forwards to one year later as the Commonwealth is back to thriving again with our survivors now embedded as part of the community.
Ezekiel now serves as governor over the Commonwealth with Mercer as his lieutenant governor. Eugene and Max have welcomed a baby daughter into the world and named her Rosie after their friend who died.
Meanwhile, Judith receives a package with a compass inside and a note from Negan returning the gift she gave to him back when they were both living in Alexandria and he had to escape jail to avoid a torch and pitchfork toting mob that was coming for him. She gives her the compass back so now she can find her way just like she helped him all those years ago.
Maggie decides that there’s still a whole lot of world out there to explore and they need to go beyond these four walls to see what still remains. With that, Daryl decides that he needs to leave to leave and explore but not before saying goodbye to Judith and R.J. while promising that he’ll do everything possible to find their mom and dad during his travels.
Daryl then says a heartfelt goodbye to Carol, who is staying behind in her new role as a right hand to Ezekiel and Mercer as they help to run the Commonwealth. He rides off into the sunset bound for parts unknown while everybody he loves stays behind to try and put the pieces of this broken world back together again.
What Comes Next
The epilogue to the final episode ends with a teaser for the upcoming limited series that will finally see Rick Grimes and Michonne return to “The Walking Dead” universe.
It’s a rather beautiful moment as they each write letters to their loved ones — Michonne to her children while promising to return to them with their father while Rick does the same as he tries to find the loved ones he’s lost. It’s finally revealed that they aren’t together but rather Michonne is still hunting for Rick somewhere out there.
These days, Michonne is sporting some serious armor as she rides off on horseback with her sword in tow as she continues the search for Rick.
As for Rick, he’s somehow managed to escape captivity from the CRM — the Civic Republic Military that we met several seasons ago and the same group that appeared prominently on “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” — but they aren’t letting him go. Instead a helicopter appears on the horizon after Rick literally tosses a message in a bottle down to the river in hopes that maybe this will make it back to his family.
Rick is somewhere near a major city with skyscrapers decorating the background but he helicopter announces that he won’t get away and it’s futile to try and escape them again. It’s clear that he’s being held against his will but where is Rick exactly and what do they want with him?
That will only be revealed when the Rick and Michonne spinoff series debuts at some point in the future. The series is still currently being written and developed with Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira working hand in hand with “The Walking Dead” chief creative officer Scott M. Gimple to create the story for this spinoff.
Meanwhile, Norman Reedus is currently in production on his new series “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” which will take him to Paris of all places. How exactly Daryl ends up in Europe remains to be seen but that’s where we’ll next find hm when that series debuts.
Finally, Negan and Maggie are destined to team up again with “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” which just recently wrapped production. This series will take place a couple of years after the conclusion of “The Walking Dead” as Maggie and Negan team up on a mission set in New York City.
There’s no telling how these two end up together or why they’re in New York but it appears enemies will become friends again, at least where surviving the zombie apocalypse is concerned.
The closing moments of the episode — featured along with Rick and Michonne’s return and a vignette of all those who were part of “The Walking Dead” universe both past and present — agree in one united voice that “we’re the ones who live.”
With that, “The Walking Dead” comes to an end — until “Dead City” arrives, most likely in late 2023.
