It’s hard to believe that 2027 is literally right around the corner. With a new year coming, that means one thing: the final season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is coming to our screens sooner rather than later.
And what we do know is that this season will see Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) facing some of their biggest challenges — like that crazy first clip that was just released of a literal zombie horde that runs — but you want to know what we don’t? If a reunion will happen.
However, as much as I want a reunion to happen, one thing needs to be addressed that’s bothering me—and is basically stopping a full-on reunion.
Dead City’s timeline is the bottleneck
Normally, this series would have smooth sailing. We’d have two cars moving through traffic easily, then trying to merge at the end for the reunion we’re all waiting for. We know that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are back at Alexandria after the events of The Ones Who Live. We even saw them reunite with Judith (Cailey Fleming) and R.J. (Antony Azor).
The only thing is that Judith and R.J. were still clearly young when Rick and Michonne got back, meaning the timeline hadn’t advanced much. Daryl and Carol are also the same age as they were when the series ended, because Daryl was out in Maine (which is what led him to the ocean in the first place), looking for Rick. He was also exploring, but Rick and Michonne were always on his mind.
Unless several years have passed since this, this timeline sets up a full reunion for these four. However, then here comes Dead City—the giant truck between the cars that prevents them from merging.
Dead City takes place about 4 to 6 years after the mainline series finale, since Hershel Jr. (Logan Kim) is a teenager. That also means Judith is a teenager now, since she was a little older than him. So… we’re so far ahead after The Ones Who Live that we’d have to make a major time jump for every person to be there.
On another day, I’d probably be okay with that if Daryl and his crew stayed in Europe longer. But from the season 4 preview, we know Daryl somehow found his way back to some American area, and someone says to him, “Welcome home,” in a hospital. And he’s clearly not four or six years older.
So how exactly is this going to work?
We need an explanation about Maggie and the Commonwealth
The big mystery of Dead City is that Maggie (Lauren Cohan) doesn't seem to care about the people back home at all. In the finale of Dead City season 3, she tells Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) he’s the closest thing to family she has aside from her son. And I’m sorry, but what?
That makes me even more curious. How is it that you somehow completely disregard the entire group of people who were there for you in some of your darkest moments and when you lost your husband? That makes me wonder what the heck happened.
Honestly, this kind of reunion could happen if Dead City season 4 offered an explanation, but the series hasn't been renewed, and I don’t know if we’ll ever get one. With that in mind, does that mean that if a reunion happens, Maggie just… might not be there?
I suppose fans of the show wouldn’t be too shocked, considering how things have played out. I think a good portion of viewers want to see Rick and Daryl back together, since they were the faces of the series for a long time. So, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose it doesn’t make much of a difference whether she’s there or not.
But at the same time, it is a shame we can’t get the whole crowd together again because of where Maggie is right now. And that’s… kind of sad. But I suppose a reunion with just Rick and Daryl is better than no reunion at all, right?
Imagine they all pull up into New York somehow. Now that would make for a good Dead City finale. But for now, a girl can dream.
You can stream all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix.
Add us as a preferred source on Google