The Walking Dead ending explained

Fans of The Walking Dead were very emotional going into the series finale episode on November 20, 2022. There was much uncertainty on how the ending could be satisfactory with so much left to wrap up. Those expecting to be disappointed with the ending were pleasantly surprised by how things wrapped up and overjoyed at the coda scene that brings back two characters. But some are still a bit confused by that ending.

The Walking Dead universe is about to significantly expand with the development of several spinoff series in addition to the three already created. The finale of the flagship series ever so subtly set up Daryl Dixon’s (Norman Reedus) spinoff as he said goodbyes and rode away from the communities. He will eventually find himself in France, against his will, and encounter the variant zombies shown in the coda scene of The Walking Dead: World Beyond spinoff.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) had a gut-wrenching heart-to-heart where Maggie explains how she feels when looking at Negan. He did finally utter the words she longed to hear, I’m sorry, but even though she sees he has changed and he saved her son, she is unable to forgive him for Glenn (Steven Yeun).

The Walking Dead series finale ending explained

By the end of the finale episode, fans were emotional. Then, the reappearance of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michone (Danai Gurira) was precisely what many viewers longed to see.

The scene begins showing each of them performing the same tasks, lighting a fire, writing letters, she to their child and he to Michonne. While they stare into the fire, the scene almost appears they are together.

But when the camera pans away, viewers see that not only does Michonne have Rick’s possessions, but so does he. That is when it is evident that we are seeing two different timelines.

Rick is wearing a CRM (Civic Republic Military) coat, indicated by the three rings, and a wicked-looking weapon that eagle-eye viewers would recognize as a weapon used by Silas (Hal Cumpston) in World Beyond. It could be that he worked in a culling facility where the CRM rounds up walkers and kills them en masse, just like Silas.

Next, a helicopter is heard, and Rick puts the letter he wrote Michonne in a bottle and throws it in the water while throwing his bag on board a boat that is the same one that would wash up on  Bloodworth Island, be scavenged by Virgil (Kevin Carroll) leading to Michonne finding out Rick survived.

The helicopter tells Rick it is no use running, and he gets a smile on his face, which many believe means he recognized someone on board.

Michonne’s timeline appears to be in the present. We see her in a bada$$ new outfit that many have compared to her costumes for the character Okoye that she portrayed in the Black Panther films. She was journalling to her children, and she packs Ricks’s things, hops on a horse, and is last seen riding into a massive horde of walkers in a valley.

This is all good news as we now see Rick has been trying to find his way back to his family, and Michonne has yet to stop looking for him. It will be exciting to see more of their stories while they were apart in the new Rick and Michonne series, which will begin production soon.

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