The ending of the TV programme adaptation of The Walking Dead will remain faithful to the source material, the comic books. The final episode of the long-running series will air on November 20, but chief content officer Scott M. Gimple has also stated that there would be significant changes to the traditional denouement. Gimple told Entertainment Weekly that the show’s conclusion to The Walking Dead would be both the same and different from the comic book. It’s almost like a mashup. The showrunner for the spin-off starring Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira’s Michonne Grimes remarked, “Some things just have to change, which I think is wonderful, because I loved the conclusion of the comic, but we get to see another version of it because we have to.”
According to the chief content officer, the finale will stay true to the spirit of the original plot penned by Robert Kirkman, but viewers will see it play out differently than they expect. The plot is still based on the work of Robert Kirkman, who created a fascinating world, but it is told in a totally different style and with a different climax. It’s somewhat of like the same thing, but not quite.
Gimple has informed fans that the number of characters who survive to the series’ conclusion would change significantly from the comic books. After emphasising that the long-running serial needs to tie up nicely for all of the remaining characters, he speculated that the show’s primary cast may be even larger than how the comic finished. To which I reply, “All of those characters have endings,” he stated. The final episodes are really stressful. The energy level is high throughout the whole show up until the last act. The gas pedal is down. Gimple has also claimed this will guarantee a satisfactory conclusion to the main series, with the many spin-offs set to debut in 2023.
In the end, “there is a pretty decisive ending for both the series and then each individual character.” Changes to the characters’ arcs throughout the course of the show’s eleven seasons—especially Rick and Carl’s—make it impossible to replicate the comic book finale. The series concludes in a more secure world twenty years after the events of the series, with Carl Grimes (played by Chandler Riggs), Rick’s son, reading a bedtime story to his daughter, Andrea. Carl reads from the book as he describes Andrea’s grandfather to her: “People are joyful instead of sad, safe instead of fearful, and polite instead of nasty.” It’s all because somebody had the courage to do the right thing.
As long as Rick Grimes is around, you may be assured that you and your loved ones will always be secure. Since Carl was slain in Season 8 and his future comic book bride Sophia Peletier (Madison Lintz) was killed in Season 2, it is impossible to reproduce this touching sequence in the television adaptation (who coincidentally is shot by Rick in the series). It’s also implausible that Rick and Michonne would have a granddaughter called Andrea, as the character who shared her name (Laurie Holden) was killed off in Season 4 and Rick started dating Michonne. Due to Rick’s survival throughout the series, the finale also cannot mirror the comics. Sebastian Milton is responsible for Rick’s death in the comics (played by Teo Rapp-Olsson).
In Season 9, however, we see the CRM helicopter Rick to safety, while in a more recent episode, Sebastian, who should spend the rest of his life in jail, is slain. Since Rick is still alive and well in the series, he could theoretically go back and read to his adoptive daughter’s kid (Judith Grimes, played by Cailey Fleming in Seasons 9-11), who, unlike the comic book version, survives. On Sunday, November 20, the series finale will air, and if Carl is replaced, we will find out who. AMC is currently broadcasting The Walking Dead.