With the Whisperers now just about to make their move into Alexandria and begin a fresh war among the communities, it’s time for The Walking Dead to progress further in the stories adapted from the comics. Some of the stories we’ve seen with the Whisperers have been a hit-and-a-miss, leading us to anticipate what we’re going to have in the future on the show.
While it’s entirely possible that showrunner Angela Kang decides to do her own thing and forget about the comics entirely, there are still some events from that material that excites us over the prospect of it adapted to the TV series. With this in mind, here are five things we’d like to see, and five we’re not holding our breaths for.
10 Want: Alpha Showing Her Human Side
We’ve seen Alpha mourn the loss of her daughter to the Alexandrians by now, but she’s still kept things strictly vicious when it comes to displaying her emotions around others. In the comics, Alpha couldn’t contain this anymore and let her true feelings out.
She did so in the company of Negan, as she found herself feeling comfortable around him and shared her immense sorrow at letting Lydia be abused by others and that she was wracked with grief at the thought of her daughter being away from her. This humanized her to the point where she finally seemed like a person rather than a living undead.
9 Don't Want: Negan Winning Back The Trust
Once Alpha had shown her true nature to Negan, the latter revealed it all to be a deception from his part and proceeded to dismember her. This was done to win back the trust from the Alexandrians as Negan took Alpha’s head as proof that he’d solved the community’s Whisperer problem.
We’re not fond of this happening due to the TV version of the Alexandrians being in the wrong in this regard, seeing as Negan did nothing wrong and yet was treated as the bad guy before he escaped. It’s better if the angle is flipped and the Alexandrians beg Negan for forgiveness instead.
8 Want: Negan And Beta's Battle
Beta was beside himself with anguish when he found out Negan killed Alpha and made it his mission to make Negan pay for what he did. We were then treated to an epic clash between these two behemoths in an all-out brawl.
When Negan came close to coming out on top by bashing Beta with Lucille, the bat broke in several pieces which led to Negan losing his mind as he recalled his wife’s death. Something like this on TV would be great to see as it would further Beta’s character and bring more details about Negan’s past.
7 Don't Want: Deaths Of Ezekiel And Rosita
Quite a lot of characters have met their deaths on the show who hadn’t in the comics, with Ezekiel and Rosita in particular living past their due dates since they were both meant to die in the pike scene.
However, we don’t want them biting the dust yet on TV just yet, as there’s more for them to do now that there’s a definite absence of major characters. Ezekiel battling a terminal condition and Rosita raising her daughter are storylines that feel new, meaning their fated demises as per the comics isn’t one to hope for.
6 Want: Walkers Overrunning The Communities
It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had zombies be the main scary point in the series, and any chance these things can come back and haunt the viewer is one we’ll be anxiously waiting for. To this end, we’re hoping to see Beta release that giant horde of walkers on the communities.
As it happened, Beta had enough playing psychological games and, in his bid for revenge for Alpha’s death, set all the zombies loose on the communities; this led to an apocalyptic situation that can easily fill up a half a season’s worth of material.
5 Don't Want: The Saviors' Return
The Saviors were shown to be largely left to their own devices, before they returned immediately after the zombie outbreak situation was finally cleared and attempted to once again take control over the heroes. They used the Alexandrians' weakened state to launch a hostile takeover, a story that lasted an entire volume.
Since the Savior storyline pretty much killed ratings for the TV series, we really don’t want to see this happening. So far, the show has presented the Saviors as having disbanded, but you never know if they’d like to bring in a twist by having this faction once again show up like they did in the source material. Here’s hoping the series avoids this angle altogether.
4 Want: Maggie Becoming The Commonwealth's Leader
Keep an eye out for the Commonwealth to appear soon enough, once the Whisperers storyline ends, as this was the final big plot angle the comics told us. By its end, the communities from Alexandria and its surrounding areas were shown to be merged with the Commonwealth.
Who was in charge of this civilization that numbered in more than 50,000 people after a time skip? That would be our very own Maggie Rhee, who was seen as the leader of the Commonwealth and calling all the shots. Since Lauren Cohan will be returning in Season 11, this just might on the cards for the near future.
3 Don't Want: The Predictable Villainous Turn At The Commonwealth
Before we saw Maggie become the leader, there was a drawn out plot that centered around the main characters exposing the corruption that ran through the Commonwealth. As you’d imagine, it turned out that the original leader was behind it.
However, we’ve seen this happen quite a lot in the series where a seemingly kind-natured leader turns out to be diabolical, with the Governor, Dawn Lerner, and Gareth all fulfilling this trope. It’s most likely the TV show will be reflecting the comic book story, but we’re not excited to see that unfold because of its predictability.
2 Want: The Far Future
Once the leadership position is usurped at the Commonwealth and Rick is killed (yeah, that happens), The Walking Dead chose to skip out all the ensuing conflict by jumping in so far in the future that Carl was shown to be pushing middle-age. A lot of changes were seen, which was the right way to overcome drawn out angles that would be a bore.
In the same way, the TV series should also feature a grand time skip that would push out the unnecessary fluff in the storytelling and give us a grown-up Judith and confirm where our heroes ended up. This is the only way The Walking Dead’s series finale would turn out to be satisfactory.
1 Don't Want: An Ambiguous Ending
The last issue of the series had a number of plot points that could’ve easily be expanded upon, but The Walking Dead ended with the fans having to make their own assumptions. Some of these included the adult Hershel being an antagonist, a definite tension in the Commonwealth between the new generation and the older one, and whether another conflict might break out.
We’re not anticipating having this kind of ending handed out to us in live-action, as it would mean our viewing experience of over a decade would be left incomplete. Considering The Walking Dead’s affinity to leave plot points hanging for the future, we just might see an ambiguous finale; that doesn’t mean it’s something to look forward to.