The Walking Dead franchise has dominated the landscape of television for almost two decades. Starting with the original series in 2010, it plunged viewers into a brutal, unforgiving world crawling with the undead. Following its massive success, AMC then decided to expand the universe with multiple spinoffs, each exploring different characters, timelines, and corners of the zombie apocalypse.
While there are currently only two ongoing Walking Dead spinoffs, the higher-ups at AMC have already been discussing the franchise's future. But we all know that eventually, every story has to come to an end. That includes the beloved Walking Dead franchise, which has terrified, thrilled, and kept us hooked after all these years.
Fans have spent so much time theorizing, debating, and imagining how this universe could wrap up. Will we finally get that epic reunion with all the surviving characters? Many of them have been off doing their own things in their various spinoffs, but it just wouldn't be right if the franchise ended without bringing them all back together again. While we don't know exactly what that ending looks like, one of the franchise's most iconic stars has shared his own wild vision for how the entire Walking Dead universe should conclude.
Norman Reedus imagines a dramatic finale for The Walking Dead universe
Norman Reedus is best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Back in October 2025, Popverse got the chance to speak with him, David Zabel (Daryl Dixon showrunner), Greg Nicotero (Daryl Dixon director), and Scott M. Gimple (former The Walking Dead showrunner) at New York Comic Con. While discussing various topics, their conversation eventually turned to Reedus sharing his initial idea for how he envisioned The Walking Dead saga ending.
He explained that while shooting the original series, someone asked him how he wanted the show to end, and he vividly imagined a world in chaos. In his vision, nearly all characters would have perished, the world would be in flames, and a few remaining survivors would ride off into the unknown to see who was left.
Who are those remaining survivors, you ask? According to Reedus, it would be Daryl and Carol. Reedus even imagined slow-motion moments of different characters trying to save one another amid the devastation. Additionally, he stated that he had even put together playlists to match the tone of this final ride.
“I remember having a conversation early on. I think it was during the episode that [Greg Nicotero] directed in the snow, and it was [Angela Kang] or someone asked me, ‘How do you want this show to end?’ And I go, everybody dies. And the world’s burning, and all of our friends are in slow motion saving each other, and I go, ‘Carol, get on the bike.’ And we just take off. And we can’t go back because everybody’s dead, and we just go see who’s left. Let’s just ride and see who’s left in the world. We had playlists for it and all this stuff. That was early on.”
Overall, it's clear that Reedus had thought long and hard about how to give the series a send-off. But I doubt fans would be thrilled with an ending that leaves only Daryl and Carol standing. It’s a bold idea, but that kind of finale would probably set the fandom on fire. We want The Walking Dead franchise to go out with a bang, but not in a way that leaves fans totally wrecked.