The Walking Dead season 11c spoilers follow.
The Walking Dead's final run begins with one last mystery, perhaps the biggest this show has ever had to contend with: how will TV's most successful horror franchise finally come to an end? (Sorry to American Horror Story.)
While we haven't quite shuffled over the finish line just yet, season 11c's very first scene outlines almost exactly what's coming in the final moments of this show. Yep, really. So shall we?
Who is the mystery narrator?
Set to a range of clips chronicling the show's history, an unseen voice looks back on key events that have happened since Rick Grimes first left that hospital all those years ago.
"I’ve heard a lot of stories about when the world fell," the voice begins. "Some chose family. Others gave into darkness. That was a long time ago..."
Um, excuse me? When we last left our faves like Carol and Daryl at the end of season 11b, they were still heavily embroiled in the fight against darkness. And we're not just talking about those pesky walkers either.
Clearly, this narrator isn't recounting events as they happen in the present day. Instead, they're reflecting on a world that once was, a world that we're still very much a part of.
But who could this future voice belong to? Our money's on Judith, the daughter of Rick Grimes.
She's still young in these final episodes, but her unique outlook as a child of the apocalypse makes her the perfect eyewitness to look back one day on everything these survivors have endured. Plus, her brother Carl served a very similar purpose in the comics, but he's dead on the show now, so it's up to Judith to continue her father's legacy instead.
During a recent exclusive chat with showrunner Angela Kang, we of course had to put this suggestion to her. While Angela couldn't confirm our suspicions — "I can’t really say at this point" — she did explain why each episode in this final run begins with the same approach as the premiere:
"Obviously it’s our final block of episodes," says Kang. "We were all feeling a lot of nostalgia and emotion. One of the things that we were looking to do was to amp up the emotion in the last group of episodes, while still feeling tied to the themes of the story."
"Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple and I were talking, and he said, 'What if there were these montages at the beginning that sort of touch on some of the themes of the episodes, or certain characters?'"
Angela and the writer's room were all really "moved by that idea," so they took it "and ran with it" for each of the final episodes.
If you only watch the premiere, you might just assume that these flashback moments are disconnected from one another, but Angela reveals that there's a common thread that binds them all together:
"I wanted to make sure that it was telling one story, that it didn’t feel too choppy from episode to episode. But it felt like it tied very organically to the idea of the Commonwealth, which told people, 'You can only be who you were. Who you were, determines who you are now.'"
"For our people," adds Kang, "they’re thinking about: 'Haven’t we grown beyond that? Isn’t there further to go?' So they’re thinking about legacy, but also looking forward at the same time."
How will The Walking Dead end?
If we're right, these flashback scenes in the final eight episodes won't just remain flashbacks. Eventually, most likely in the final chapter, time will shift ahead to a grown-up version of Judith, or at least an older version, who sums this story up in a beautiful, touching. and perhaps gruesome epilogue.
Why are we so confident that The Walking Dead will end this way?
Well, for one thing, that voice sure does sound like Judith. But beyond that, it also seems certain that the final episode will tie in somehow with the comics. Yes, big changes have been made to the source material over these past eleven years, but it's hardly a coincidence that the series finale is named 'Rest in Peace' after Robert Kirkman's final comic book run.
In that volume, Rick Grimes is murdered by a Commonwealth assassin before Carl, his son, is forced to kill him again when he returns as a zombie. That's obviously not going to happen here because Rick will soon be seen again alive and (hopefully) well in a new spinoff with Michonne.
However, that painful loss was followed by one last issue, number #193, where time jumped forward to an adult Carl who's now living his life out with Sophia and their daughter, Andrea.
Walkers are far rarer in this future timeline, but when Carl spots one stumbling onto his property, he cuts it down with a very familiar looking sword.
It turns out that this walker was actually the property of Hershel, Maggie and Glenn's now grown-up son. He's visiting town with a carnival sideshow act where people can pay to see some walkers because it's pretty unusual to see them in this future timeline.
Carl's eventually punished for this "crime", to which he responds by killing the rest of Hershel's walker collection in the dead of night. And with that, he then ventures off on a journey to see Old Man Negan, as well as Eugene and Laura, before he finally returns to his family again.
There, Carl regales his daughter with the story of Rick Grimes and how his father helped build a better world for them all. And then, at the very end, father and child sit rocking happily in their farm house, safe from the threats that once walked this world.
The show won't — and can't — follow this thread exactly, but elements from the source material will undoubtedly be used to wrap this saga up once and for all. So don't be surprised if the final scene does end up with an adult Judith and her child reading together about the great hero that was Rick Grimes.
The Walking Dead season 11 airs on AMC in the US and STAR on Disney+ in the UK.
![The Walking Dead The Complete Seasons 1-10 Boxset [DVD] [2021]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1641396648-51p56wQDuzS._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Walking Dead The Complete Seasons 1-10 Boxset [DVD] [2021]")
![Fear The Walking Dead The Complete Seasons 1-6 Boxset [DVD] [] [2020]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1641396723-51D5TpwavLL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Fear The Walking Dead The Complete Seasons 1-6 Boxset [DVD] [] [2020]")
![The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1 [DVD] [2020]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1641396771-51dps9qaknL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1 [DVD] [2020]")
The Walking Dead: Daryl Funko Pop! Vinyl Figure
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
