What Does the End of ‘The Walking Dead’ Comic Mean for the Series?

Jim Halterman July 18, 2019, 9:00 am

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The zombie apocalypse is over… sort of.

The Walking Dead comic unexpectedly published its final issue on July 3. Here, some things to consider about how the AMC hit could be affected.

How alike are the comic and the drama?

The TV series both follows and veers from its source. Popular character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) never appeared in the comics. But Glenn’s (Steven Yeun) death by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) happened identically in print and on TV. Also, last season’s villainous Whisperers were “ripped directly out of the pages of the [comic] book,” says showrunner Angela Kang. However, “we have to mix things up, since we don’t have the same array of characters as the book.”

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How does the comic end?

Spoiler alert! A flash-forward reveals a grown-up Carl Grimes still fighting walkers and leader Michonne the equivalent of a Supreme Court justice. But on TV, Carl (Chandler Riggs) died in Season 8, and Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne, is leaving the series next season.

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What’s next for the TV survivors?

The Whisperers will continue to terrorize when Season 10 returns in the fall, while spinoff Fear the Walking Dead is currently airing Season 5. Plus, spinoff No. 2 is already set for 2020, with the TV-movie franchise about Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) still in development.