The Walking Dead - What is left to be explored

This is my submission for comiconverse.com find it here: 

https://comiconverse.com/the-walking-dead-what-is-left-to-be-explored-24008

Season 8 of The Walking Dead didn’t leave us with a cliff hanger which is sometimes the route the writers like to take. I for one, am happy for the fact that there seemed to be a little bit of closure for this season. I think cliff hangers are great most of the time but when they become the norm it’s too predictable & loses its impact. I wasn’t too thrilled about how quickly the War was over. This has been built up for MANY episodes and then it was over that quickly? To quote a friend “lazy writing”.

We leave Season 8 with Negan being injured but patched up. Rick has told him he will be locked in a cell for the rest of his life. Will they follow the comic story for Negan? Who can tell but I don’t think he will be locked in that cell and leave it at that. Negan is too badass of a character and Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays this character too well to just let him sit in a cell.  It will be interesting to see how his prison term plays out.

By request of Rick, Morgan approaches the Scavengers’ leader, Jadis or Anne, and extended an invitation for her to join Rick & his crew. She was left alone in her junk yard after Simon killed all her people. He was mad at Negan and had to take it out on someone.  We end the season with Morgan extending the invitation to Anne to join Rick and his crew. She seems to be a survivor and might make a good addition. She has betrayed them multiple times, so I am a bit leery about her. There has been talk on the web that she could possible be Alpha from the Whispers. I am excited to see where the writers take Anne in season 9.

We finally see Maggie have some emotion where Glenn’s death is concerned. She wanted Negan dead to avenge Glenn’s death. Rick didn’t let him die & she finally had her break down about losing her husband. I was glad to finally see some emotion regarding the brutal loss of Glenn. She has been so hell bent on revenge that she really hasn’t taken the time to mourn him. And what about her baby? She has been under a HUGE amount of stress. Will the baby even make it? The final scene with Maggie, Jesus & Daryl makes us believe they are all turning on Rick & Michonne, I don’t believe that is the case. I think they all want Negan dead and that is what they will be planning. They have finally re-signed Lauren Cohen so Maggie’s story can continue.

The Saviors seemed to give up too easily. Are they just going to roll over, give up and be peaceful? I can’t see that happening. There were many of Negan’s followers who seemed to be just as brutal and die hard about their arrangements with neighboring groups as Negan. I just can’t see them happily planting vegetables are going about life peacefully.

Even though Daryl had every reason not to, he let Dwight go. His parting words were “Find her.”  Are we to assume Dwight understood the note Sherry left for him and will go off to find her? I imagine that will be the end of it, but I hope not. I think they could both be excellent additions to Ricks group.

The Kingdom saw the return of their King along with Jerry, Carol & Henry. Exciting things could happen there. Carol is an awesome character that the writers just kind of push off to the side & bring her out when they need some badassery. We will she come along side Ezekiel and become his Queen?

There are many other loose ends that would be interesting to explore. A few I would like to see more on: where the heck did Heath end up? That frickin helicopter? Is this all we will see of Oceanside? Filming has started on Season 9 and I am anxious to see what is coming next.