The Walking Dead finale: Who dies and survives?
AMCThe Walking Dead finale brought the long-running zombie series to a close – but who died, who survived, and what was left of them?
For those who’ve stuck with The Walking Dead since Rick Grimes’ first horseback ride into walker-infested Atlanta, you’ll proudly brandish the emotional scars from some of the show’s most brutal deaths.
This includes, but isn’t limited to Glenn and Abraham’s death at the hands of Negan, The Governor killing Hershel, Beth’s accidental death in Season 5, and Noah’s horrific demise in the revolving door.
So, it was fair to expect some deaths in The Walking Dead finale, so here’s a rundown of who dies and survives by the time the credits roll. WARNING: Spoilers for The Walking Dead finale… obviously.
The Walking Dead finale: Who dies?
Luke, Jules, and Rosita die in The Walking Dead finale.
The episode picks up in the aftermath of the penultimate installment, with Luke and Jules facing down a herd of walkers that cornered them in a Commonwealth alley. Jules is eaten alive almost immediately, while Luke manages to make it to hospital before passing away as a result of his injuries.
Rosita’s death is one of the finale’s biggest moments, and it pretty much adapts Andrea’s original death in the comics. It comes as Eugene, Gabriel, and Rosita try to escape the Commonwealth’s children’s home. As they climb a pipe, Rosita falls into the undead but manages to get onto the ambulance and jump to safety – alas, it wasn’t enough, because she was bitten in the struggle.
She keeps it to herself to allow everyone to flee without the distraction, before revealing she doesn’t have long left. “I’m glad, it was you in the end,” she tells Eugene.
Speaking to TV Line, The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang spoke about the decision to kill off Rosita – and it came from the star herself.
She explained: “Christian Serratos volunteered! I was talking to her about our plans for the finale, and I kinda made a joke about blah, blah, blah deaths – unless people want to volunteer. And she was like, ‘Are you open to the idea of maybe Rosita dying at the end?’
“Then she laid out a really passionate argument for how she felt that was the right choice for her character’s story, how bravely she would do anything for her child. So she told me to think about it.
“I did, then I talked to the writers and the network and Scott [M. Gimple] and said, ‘I think we can do a really beautiful version with Christian.’ So it started with her.”
The Walking Dead finale: Who survives?
Well, everyone else really: Daryl, Carol, Judith, Maggie, Negan, Eugene, Gabriel, Connie, Annie, Ezekiel, Mercer, Governor Milton – even Rick and Michonne.
Negan offered to kill Milton for Maggie to protect her from the consequences of such a death. She even kills Lance, now reanimated, so she can’t kill herself with a zombie. However, she’s given a fate “worse than death”: being arrested for high crimes against the people of the Commonwealth.
Kang was asked in the interview if there was ever any temptation to kill off more characters. “We talked about every iteration of it,” she said.
“In some ways, doing more carnage makes each individual death seem less meaningful. Also, this is a story that in the source, the leads die. It’s sort of about how that cycle of life ends, and then the next generation is left, right?
“So I was like, ‘If you’re really going to be taking all these other figures off the table, I don’t know that you even get the same impact from killing someone who is further down the tier.’ Rosita sort of gives you that, symbolically.”
You can read more about what happened to Maggie, Negan, Rick, Michonne, and Daryl here.