The Walking Dead: will we see faster, stronger walkers in season 11?

The Walking Dead universe is bound to expand if the end-credits scene of the series finale of The Walking Dead: World Beyond serves a point. An extra scene at the end of that series sheds light on the apocalypse somewhere other than the US.

Scott M. Gimple made a statement regarding this coda, stating that it has to do with the past and future of the franchise. He said a bigger story is coming, and they can’t wait to tell it.

The scene took place in a French research facility where a woman was seen downloading videos filmed at the beginning of the outbreak. These videos featured a familiar face from season one of The Walking Dead. Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich) worked at the CDC in Atlanta. Dr. Jenner told Rick and his group that the French were the last holdouts and thought they were close to a possible cure. Jenner also mentions a variant the French seemed to have discovered but that the US hasn’t seen anything like that.

In the end-credit scene, a man enters, talks to the woman, and shoots her in the head. She reanimates after a headshot and has some impressive speed as well as what appears to be memory retention as she heads right for the door the man left from.

The Walking Dead walkers

Will this end credit scene have anything to do with The Walking Dead season 11? Most likely not. Gimple has stated that this is a story within the universe.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gimple had this to say:

"Is it a total redoing of everything we’re doing? No, it is not. And it’s specific to a story we’re telling in a place we’re telling it. Who knows after that, but right now we’re telling a story about things going on in a very specific place."

I take that to mean this could affect, say, the movies, but not the current Walking Dead series. And, this story will be elaborated on in some other way. Whether that is the movies or another series, we will have to wait and see.

Another interesting comment was what appeared to be super strength with this walker. Gimple says that is not the case. He noted that the walker didn’t have super strength and that the door that seemed to bow with each blow was relatively thin. One thing that stood out as I read the EW piece, once again, is that “But it’s not the end state of the walker. And I’m not saying that death is the end state of a walker.”

Come again? Not the end state? Perhaps these variants reanimate then something else occurs. But, what?

I have watched and rewatched the post-credits scene and read every interview and theory I can find on the subject. It is fascinating to think we could get a new story somewhere other than the US.

As far as the French starting the outbreak? Gimple also said, “But I guess I would say, don’t just flatly believe everything you read scrolled in paint. That might be true, but I wouldn’t say it’s true because it’s painted.”

Did he mean that” “Les morts sont nes ici,” which translates to “The dead were born here,” that was painted on the duct in the room isn’t true? Or perhaps not exactly true? What if the original virus wasn’t born there, but the variant was?

It would be difficult for the virus to travel from France to the US during the outbreak. Or, let me play devil’s advocate, the French group, Primrose, who was visiting Toledo, Ohio, brought it with them? Not the variant, but the original virus that caused the outbreak.

Regardless, the variant most likely had no way of crossing the ocean, especially since it’s been approx. 13 years, and the US hasn’t seen anything like the walker shown in the coda.

It is so much fun analyzing this video for clues, knowing that whatever we come up with is most likely way off the mark. Hopefully, we don’t have too long to wait until we see more of this story. We would love to hear your thoughts. Please tell us what you think in the comments below.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on February 20, 2022, with part two of season 11.