Walking Dead: Who does Lance Hornsby work for?

Lance Hornsby is a character in The Walking Dead who is portrayed by Josh Hamilton. Hornsby is the Deputy Governor of the Commonwealth that was first introduced in season 11, episode 5, “Out of the Ashes.” He was featured in the welcome video shown to newcomers to the community.

The next time he is seen is at the end of this episode after Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Princess (Paola Lázaro), and Ezekiel (Khary Payton) are apprehended for using the radio at the Commonwealth without permission. He enters the room with Fake Stephanie (aka Shira, Chelle Ramos) and orders the prisoners released. Stephanie then informs them that Hornsby will protect them, but they must pay for their crimes.

He is extremely charismatic, and the first impressions are that he is a stand-up guy. But, his attitudes are over the top, and viewers could see immediately that there is more to Hornsby than meets the eye.

The Walking Dead – Lance Hornsby

It was quickly revealed that Hornsby is a self-serving snake who will stab anyone in the back with his power-hungry manipulative ways. He took over the communities of Alexandria, Hilltop and Oceanside as he knows he will always be second to Governor Milton (Laila Robins).

As things quickly unravel for Hornsby in the most recent episode, “A New Deal,” he tells Milton, “You still need me. If something happens to me, certain alliances the Commonwealth has, certain stabilizing factors are likely to become a problem.”

This comment, of course, makes viewers wonder who these alliances are with, and the first organization that comes to mind is the CR (Civic Republic). They are the only known organization large enough to provide the Commonwealth with something they don’t already possess. And we know the workings of the CRM (Civic Republic Military) as they are the ones who took Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) away. And the CRM was heavily featured in the spinoff series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, where much was learned about this group and their ways.

If you remember back to season 11, episode 13, “Warlords,” Hornsby enlisted Toby Carlson (Jason Butler Harner) to look into some missing weapons. Hornsby then mentions a secret project and “that other thing.” It would be discovered that Leah (Lynn Collins) took them, but where did these weapons come from? It was assumed they were headed to our survivor’s communities from Commonwealth stores, but perhaps that isn’t the case.

Numerous people are missing from the Commonwealth. Could these people have been traded to the CRM à la Jadis style? We learned in season 9 that Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) had been trading people with the CRM for supplies for a long time. We know that several of the missing people were killed by doing Sebastian’s (Teo Rapp-Olsson) cash grab mission, but what about the others?

Could Hornsby, who longs to be all-powerful, have been promised some status or riches from the CRM in exchange for people? And, is the shipment of guns a payoff? Someone would have noticed if he took that many guns from the Commonwealth.

The CRM is known for wiping out communities. Perhaps Hornsby’s deal has something to do with preventing this from happening to the Commonwealth.

Then there are Hornsby’s two thugs, Calhoun (Michael Tourek) and Shira (Chelle Ramos). What is their end game? Why are they so keen to do Hornsby’s bidding?

We know Hornsby is cunning and a bit psychotic, so it will be interesting to see where his story goes in the final episodes.

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