The Walking Dead: Will Rick and Ezekiel be friends?

Rick is about to meet King Ezekiel in Season 7B of The Walking Dead. Will they be fast friends? How will Rick react to a man who calls himself King and has a pet tiger?

We only met King Ezekiel once during the first half of The Walking Dead Season 7. In “The Well” Carol wakes up to find herself in a shiny new world called the Kingdom. The Kingdom is ruled by an over the top man named Ezekiel who refers to himself as the King, and he sits on a throne with his beloved pet tiger, Shiva. Carol knows the truth about Ezekiel after they had a heart-to-heart talk; as it turns out, Ezekiel was a zookeeper before the apocalypse began, and he has created this grandiose character to give the people of the Kingdom an archetype they can hold on to.

At the end of Season 7A, Jesus tells Rick there is someone he needs to meet, referring to Ezekiel. But what will Rick think of the King?

Now that Rick has his fight back, let’s hope he goes into the Kingdom with an open mind and a clear head. His arrival in Alexandria caused a lot of controversy in the group, something that carried well into his stay there. If not for Deanna seeing the truth in Rick’s messages, it’s possible that Rick would have been ousted from the community.

Rick will likely find Ezekiel’s theatrics to be silly, but he should remember that Ezekiel has been able to manage a peaceful community living in [relative] harmony with the Saviors. Rick needs to respect that, and respect his place coming into the Kingdom to ask for help

With all of that in mind, it seems like Ezekiel will see the wisdom in Rick’s perspective, especially if Richard can provide further proof that the Kingdom needs to enter into the battle. It seems like both men will respect each other, especially if Carol and Morgan provide insight to both parties.

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The bottom line here is that Rick really needs to work on his approach when meeting new people. He’s arguably as beaten up now as he was arriving in Alexandria, but he won’t do himself any favors if he comes off as a loaded gun. Ezekiel can be a great ally in Rick’s battle against Negan, but Rick will have to do a good job explaining why Ezekiel needs to intervene in order to gain his support.