Robert Kirkman has described The Walking Dead as the zombie movie that never ends. “I’ve always loved zombie movies but I hated how they ended, and so I wanted to do the zombie movie that never ends,” the creator explained in 2016. “I think watching people survive over a long period of time, finding food, making relationships, trying to maintain those relationships in the face of a zombie apocalypse would be something that would be fun to explore as a storyteller for many, many, many years.”
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But after 16 years and 193 issues, Kirkman’s long-running Image comic series concluded in 2019. The twist: no one saw the ending coming. Only upon reaching the final page of The Walking Dead #193 did readers learn that the story being told since 2003 was over.
Kirkman told readers at the time that the sudden ending, which came without warning or fanfare, was because The Walking Dead “has always been built on surprise,” whether that was a sudden death that happened at the last minute or a page-turning shocker that left jaws agape.
AMC’s live-action adaptation of Kirkman’s zombie comic concluded not long after, ending its 11-season, 177-episode run in 2022 and transitioning to spinoffs like Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live. But like any good zombie movie, the original series had a horde of plot twists and shockers, some adapted from the comic book and others that caught even comic readers off guard. We’ve ranked some of those twists below (beware of spoilers).
10. Jadis and the Scavengers Betray Alexandria
After a half season of lead up to all-out war against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors, it seemed Alexandria found allies in their fight: Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) and the junkyard dwelling Scavengers.
The group spent most of season 7 forming alliances with other subjugated communities like the Kingdom and Oceanside, and convinced the Scavengers to rebel against Negan in exchange for guns. But when the Saviors arrived at Alexandria in the season 7 finale, “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life,” Jadis and the Scavengers double-crossed the group as they sided with Negan, leading to all-out war between the Saviors and Scavengers against the allied Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom.
9. Dante Is a Whisperer
In another betrayal, the season 10 episode “Open Your Eyes” revealed that Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) — a character who was once Maggie’s love interest in the comic books — was a Whisperer spy sent to infiltrate and sabotage Alexandria.
Not only had Dante befriended Alexandria doctor Siddiq (Avi Nash), but he was one of the skin-wearing Whisperers who had left Siddiq traumatized after he was forced to watch the beheadings carried out by Samantha Morton’s Alpha (more on that below). Once found out, Dante strangled Siddiq to death.
8. Rick’s Secret
It was one of the most asked questions of The Walking Dead‘s early seasons: What did Jenner whisper to Rick? When Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) led his group of survivors to the CDC in Atlanta, virologist Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich) whispered something in Rick’s ear in the “TS-19” season 1 finale. It would be over a year and another 13 episodes before viewers learned the secret Rick was keeping.
“We’re all infected,” Rick told the others after Randall (Michael Zegen) was found to have turned without being bit. “At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it.” Rick confirmed this when he was forced to kill Shane (Jon Bernthal), who then reanimated after being stabbed to death.
7. Carol Killed Karen and David
The comic revealed that a serial killer was among the inmates of the prison seized by Rick’s group, a plot thread that almost made it into the show. Instead, the season 4 episode “Infected” ended with a shocking discovery: Tyreese (Chad Coleman) found his girlfriend Karen (Melissa Ponzio) and friend David’s (Brandon Carroll) charred corpses.
Karen and David were quarantined with the flu virus that had begin to spread throughout the prison, so Carol (Melissa McBride) took it upon herself to prevent further infection by killing Karen and David. Carol was meek and unassuming, making it that more surprising that she could do something so cold blooded — even if she had started to come into her own after the events of season 2 (more on that below).
6. Terminus Cannibals
After the Governor’s (David Morrissey) assault left the prison in ruins in the midseason 4 finale “Too Far Gone,” the back half of season 4 saw the survivors separated. All roads led to Terminus, which had broadcast a message: “Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive.”
When the groups eventually converged at Terminus, Rick, Carl (Chandler Riggs), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) arrived to find the others had been rounded up like cattle into a boxcar. It was then revealed that Gareth’s (Andrew J. West) Termites were cannibals who would lure people to Terminus for slaughter. The season 5 episode “No Sanctuary” was as shockingly violent as it was ruthless, especially when Carol launched a one-woman attack on Terminus to save her friends before they could be slaughtered and eaten.
5. Eugene’s Lie
Later in season 5, the displaced group had a new direction when the cowardly Eugene (Josh McDermitt) claimed to have a cure for the walker apocalypse. Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) were escorting Eugene to Washington, D.C., on a mission to save humanity, with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) eventually joining them alongside Tara (Alanna Masterson).
But while en route to D.C. in the season 5 episode “Self Help,” Eugene confessed: “I’m not a scientist. I lied. I don’t know how to stop it.” Eugene believed that Washington was the most probable place for survival, so Eugene duped people stronger and more capable than him to shepherd him to safety. Still, with the group out of options, they headed to D.C. and eventually ended up at the Alexandria community in Virginia.
4. The Pikes
Lines were crossed during the Whisperer War. “The Calm Before,” the penultimate episode of season 9, ended with Daryl, Carol, Michonne, Siddiq, and Yukio (Eleanor Matsuura) at Alpha’s border marking Whisperer territory. Meanwhile, back at the Kingdom’s Fair of New Beginnings, dread set in as people went missing.
At the border, the group found the decapitated heads of 10 victims gruesomely displayed on pikes, including Tara, Enid (Katelyn Nacon), and, most shockingly, Carol’s adopted son Henry (Matt Lintz).
3. Eeny Meeny Miny More
The season 6 finale, “Last Day on Earth,” ended with Rick captured by Negan’s Saviors. In a season-ending cliffhanger, Negan introduced himself and played a game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe to pick the victim whose head he would bash in with his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille.
The lineup: Rick, Carl, Michonne, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Rosita, Abraham, Eugene, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), and Aaron (Ross Marquand). Although the episode left off with a death by baseball bat, Negan’s victim wasn’t revealed until “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” season 7 premiere. Negan bludgeoned Abraham to death, and just when Glenn seemed to be spared his comic book fate from The Walking Dead issue #100, Negan took a second victim when he pulverized Glenn’s head into bloody mush.
2. Sophia In the Barn
In the season 2 opener, “What Lies Ahead,” Carol’s daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) ran away from a highway walker horde and went missing. The group posted up at the Greene family farm and spent the first half of season 2 searching for Sophia, who would finally be found in the “Pretty Much Dead” midseason finale.
Despite holding out hope that the girl was alive, the group was shocked when a zombified Sophia — who had died and turned from a walker’s bite — shambled out of the barn with the dozens of other walkers wrangled up by Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) at a time that Hershel (Scott Wilson) believed they could be cured. Rick then stepped forth and shot Sophia in the head to put her down.
1. Carl’s Death
In the season 8 episode “How It’s Gotta Be,” Carl revealed to Rick and Michonne that he was bitten by a walker episodes earlier (in “The King, the Widow, and Rick”) while saving Siddiq.
It was the biggest deviation from the comic book, where Carl lived well into a 25-year time jump and survived the series. Carl’s death in season 8’s “Honor” midseason premiere is a twist that shocked not just TV viewers, but comic book readers, who believed Carl was as “safe” as someone could be in the twist-filled world of The Walking Dead.
