The Walking Dead

 

 

The Walking Dead is an American horror drama television series developed by Frank Darabont, based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman,Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. Andrew Lincoln plays the show's lead character, sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes,^[3] who awakens from a months-long coma to confront an post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies.^[4] Grimes reunites with his family and becomes the leader of a group he forms with other survivors. Together they struggle to survive in and adapt to a world filled with zombies and some humans who are even more dangerous than the zombies themselves.^[5]

The first season through to the first half of the fifth season are at first set within the Atlanta metro area and then the surrounding countryside. The second half of the fifth season mainly takes place in Alexandria, Virginia.^[4][6]

The Walking Dead premiered in the U.S. on October 31, 2010, on the cable television channel AMC^[7] and internationally in November 2010 on Fox International Channels.^[8] AMC has renewed the series each year because of its consistently increasing Nielsen ratings, which have been unprecedentedly high for a cable series, including averaging the most 18- to 49-year-old adult viewers of any cable or broadcast television series during its fourth and fifth seasons.^[9] The sixth season premiered on October 11, 2015.^[10] An AMC companion series, Fear the Walking Dead,^[11] debuted on August 23, 2015.^[12] On October 30, 2015, the series was renewed for a 16-episode seventh season to debut in October 2016.^[13]

The series has been well received by critics^[14][15] and nominated for several awards, including the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series^[16] and theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.^[17]

^{Session 1}

Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes is shot and wounded in an altercation with criminals. He awakens from a months-long coma in an abandoned and badly-damaged hospital. Rick leaves the hospital and discovers an apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, colloquially called "walkers" and "biters". He returns to his house to find his wife and son missing, then meets survivors Morgan Jones and Morgan's son Duane, who initially mistrust Rick but take him into their own house and explain the apocalypse. Morgan reveals that within minutes after death, all people now reanimate into mindless shells of their former selves, driven solely by instinct to spread the unknown pathogen by biting and eating any available living animal, especially other humans. Morgan's wife has been zombified and sometimes returns to the family's home, but Morgan cannot bring himself to kill her. Rick, Morgan, and Duane retrieve guns and ammo from Rick's sheriff station. Rick then travels alone to Atlanta, Georgia, wherein the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is said to have set up a quarantined Safe Zone. Instead, he discovers that the city has been overrun by walkers and soon finds himself surrounded by them. After being rescued by Glenn Rhee, Rick meets part of Glenn's group hiding in a nearby department store, including Andrea, T-Dog, Morales and Jacqui. Walkers overrun the store, forcing the group to leave behind Merle Dixon, an unstable and violent member of the group whom Rick had handcuffed to a ventilation pipe on the roof (T-Dog had since lost the key).

A few miles outside Atlanta, Rick's wife Lori and son Carl have been surviving at a camp with Shane Walsh, Rick's police partner and best friend. Other people at the camp include Andrea's younger sister Amy, Dale Horvath, whose RV is at the heart of the camp, Carol Peletier, her abusive husband Ed and preteen daughter Sophia, and mechanic Jim. Rick does not know that his family is part of the other half of Glenn's group. Shane unintentionally misleads Lori into believing that Rick is dead, as he himself believes. Thinking herself a widow, Lori begins an affair with Shane.

Rick tearfully reunites with his family and the rest of the group at the camp and begins sharing the command with Shane. Upon discovering that Rick is alive, Lori immediately ends her relationship with Shane. Rick decides to return to Atlanta to rescue Merle and collect a cache of guns Rick had left behind. Accompanying him are Glenn, T-Dog, and Merle's younger brother Daryl. The group discovers that Merle had fled aftersawing off his hand. They arrive back at the camp to find it under attack by walkers. Several group members are killed, including Ed and Amy. Jim is later revealed to have been bitten. The group decides to travel to the CDC headquarters in Atlanta in hopes of finding answers and a possible cure for Jim. Mid-journey, Jim asks to be left on the side of the road to die.

At the CDC, only one staff member, Dr. Edwin Jenner, remains. He is the widower of the former CDC director (the "Einstein of her field") whom he was forced to fatally shoot after she was bitten by a walker. He shows the video of her hours-long demise and eventual killing to the adults in the group to help explain the disease and its progression. All other CDC personnel have either fled or committed suicide. Jenner explains that he continued researching the pandemic only to fulfill a promise to his wife as he believes the outbreak is the human "extinction event". He suspects that the disease is caused by a microorganism – such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, or parasite – or possibly even by Divine Intervention.

Jenner concedes that he has been unable to find a cure, but adds that researchers at France's version of the CDC may have been about to discover one before their generators ran out of fuel, causing that facility to automatically self-destruct as it had been designed to do under such circumstances to prevent the escape of deadly pathogens. Lack of fuel for the Atlanta CDC's own emergency generators soon initiates building safety protocols similarly designed to destroy that structure and all of its occupants. Jenner and Jacqui decide to remain inside. Andrea initially decides to remain behind, but Dale coaxes her to leave under threat of him also remaining. Before Rick and the others escape, Jenner whispers something into Rick's ear which causes his face to register a look of shock. The remaining survivors escape just before an explosion incinerates the CDC building, killing Jenner and Jacqui.^[19][20]

^{Session 2}

The second season begins with Rick and his group of survivors escaping the CDC. They choose Fort Benning as their next destination. Along the way, they encounter a traffic jam of abandoned vehicles on Interstate 85. The group loots several vehicles, and assumes that all is well until a large herd of walkers approaches and they are forced to disperse and hide under cars. A walker chases Sophia out from her hiding spot and, with another walker, pursues her into the woods. Rick finds her but loses her again after drawing off the walkers. During the group's search for Sophia, a hunter Otis accidentally shoots Carl. To get medical help for Carl, Otis convinces Rick and Shane to bring him to a large, isolated farm owned by veterinarian Hershel Greene, then helps Shane look for medical supplies at the local high school. After finding the supplies, Shane injures his leg and then shoots Otis, leaving him for the walkers so that he can get away. The survivors then move to the farm while Carl recovers, trying to co-exist with Hershel's family, but dangerous secrets and disagreements over leadership cause tensions to rise. Lori is revealed to be pregnant (she is unsure whether Rick or Shane is the father), and Glenn builds a romantic relationship with Maggie, Hershel's elder daughter. Dale and later Rick confront Shane about his selfish actions, including his responsibility for Otis' death. Glenn also discovers then later reveals that the barn is full of walkers, some of whom are Hershel's family members and neighbors. An angry Shane releases the walkers, all of whom are quickly exterminated upon exiting the barn, including Sophia who is reluctantly shot by Rick.

Beth, Hershel's youngest daughter, collapses in shock over the barn incident, which included her face-to-face encounter on the ground with her mother-turned-walker who tried to bite her. Hershel disappears to grieve for his wife and other zombified family and friends killed outside the barn. Rick and Glenn find him drinking at a local tavern, then try to coax him to return to the farm. At the tavern, they meet two other survivors (Dave and Tony). The situation rapidly turns sour, so Rick is forced to kill the two men in a gunfight. The dead men's group quickly finds and opens fire on Rick, Hershel, and Glenn at the bar. The noise attracts a large herd of walkers, forcing all involved to try to flee, but one attacker, Randall Culver, is injured and left behind. Rick opts to take him back to the farm, at the risk that he is likely to reveal the farm's location to his own group. As Rick and the others deliberate about what to do with Randall, a walker bites Dale, forcing Daryl to euthanize him. The group later conducts a search for Randall, whom Shane had secretly released and murdered in the woods. Daryl and Glenn find Randall — as a walker — and kill him. Daryl concludes that Randall died from a broken neck (rather than a walker's bite or scratch) and subsequently reanimated.

Meanwhile, Shane and Rick confront each other — the former having planned the fake search so he could try to murder Rick. Rick gets the upper hand and fatally stabs Shane in the torso. Carl arrives just in time to see Shane reanimate as a walker and shoots him down. The gunshot attracts a large herd of other walkers, who quickly overrun the area. In the ensuing battle and escape, Beth's boyfriend Jimmy and Otis's wifePatricia are devoured, and Andrea is left behind. Andrea survives on her own and is later rescued by a hooded woman carrying a katana sword and accompanied by two chained, armless, jawless walkers. The remaining survivors regroup but are forced to make camp when their vehicles run low on gasoline. Lori at first shuns Rick after learning that he had killed Shane. After hearing of Randall's fate, Rick finally reveals what Jenner had whispered to him at the CDC: every survivor is infected with the walker pathogen and will thus reanimate after death regardless of its cause. Rick also discloses to the rest of the group that he was forced to kill Shane in self-defense. Later that night, the group questions Rick's leadership, but Rick asserts a dictatorship-style ultimatum and solidifies his command of the group. In the final scene, a large prison is shown looming in a pan out.^[21]

^{Session 3}

The third season begins several months after the group had escaped from the farm, and Lori is in the final days of her pregnancy. The group stumbles on a prison swamped by walkers and sets about converting it into their new home. While securing the prison, Hershel is bitten in the ankle by a walker and Rick is forced to amputate his lower leg to prevent further infection. They soon find several surviving inmates who have been trapped in the cafeteria for months. Although mistrustful of them, Rick, Daryl and T-Dog help the inmates clear a separate cell block for them to live in. After the inmates make several attempts on his life, Rick kills inmate Tomas and locks inmate Andrew inside a walker-infested courtyard. Rick's group helps the surviving prisoners — Axel and Oscar — clear a separate cellblock, and exiles them from the group. A walker breakout later splits up the survivors into even smaller groups. Andrew is revealed to have escaped the courtyard that Rick locked him in and is the person responsible for the attacks on the prison. Oscar fatally shoots Andrew in the head and as a result he and Axel are accepted into the group. During the attack T-Dog is bitten in the struggle and sacrifices himself to save Carol, while Lori goes into labor and insists that Maggie perform an emergency Caesarean section to save the baby, suspecting that it will kill her due to the lack of necessary medical equipment and personnel. As a result of the operation, Lori dies, and Carl reluctantly shoots her in the head to prevent her reanimation, as he had promised her he would do. After several days of mourning, Carl and Rick name the baby Judith.

Meanwhile, Andrea and Michonne are taken to Woodbury, a heavily-fortified town. They meet The Governor, the town's leader, and learn that Merle has taken refuge there as well. Michonne is immediately suspicious of The Governor and the settlement so she decides to leave, but Andrea refuses to go with her because she believes it is safe and is infatuated with The Governor. Merle is ordered to hunt down Michonne, but only manages to wound her. He subsequently captures Maggie and Glenn while they are out scavenging. Michonne, who witnesses the abduction, eventually arrives at the prison and then guides Rick, Daryl, and Oscar back to Woodbury on a rescue mission. The team retrieves the couple, but Oscar is killed and Daryl is captured by the townspeople. Michonne investigates The Governor's apartment, where she kills his reanimated daughter Penny (whom he had kept chained in a back room). As a result, he attacks Michonne there, who stabs and blinds him in the eye with a shard of broken glass, then escapes. In the aftermath, The Governor calls an assembly and publicly accuses Merle of treason, reuniting him with Daryl in front of the angry mob and orders the brothers to fight each other. Rick and Maggie come back and rescue them, but after regrouping outside of town, Daryl decides to leave with Merle, as Rick won't allow Merle to rejoin their group.

Back at the prison, Carl meets another band of survivors — led by Tyreese and his sister Sasha — and shelters them. Rick returns, but while he is speaking to the newcomers, Lori appears to him in a hallucination, launching him into a rage and ordering Tyreese's group to leave. The two siblings eventually find sanctuary in Woodbury. The Governor and a small team attack the prison the next day, killing Axel and breaching the outer fence before retreating. Merle and Daryl, having decided to try to rejoin Rick's group, return and help him fight off attacking walkers. Rick and Carl, with Michonne in tow, return to the Grimes' hometown to gather weapons from Rick's sheriff's station. There, Rick finds Morgan again and learns that Duane was killed by his reanimated mother, whom Morgan couldn't bring himself to kill after she turned. Instead of joining Rick, Morgan chooses to stay behind. After being initially mistrustful of her, Rick and Carl accept Michonne into the group.

Andrea arranges a meeting between Rick and The Governor, who promises to end all hostilities in exchange for Michonne being handed over to him. Secretly, however, he plans to slaughter the prison group anyway. Andrea discovers the plot and attempts to escape back to the prison, but The Governor captures her. Rick tells Merle about the deal and agrees to do the "dirty work" of kidnapping Michonne and handing her over. En route to the meeting point where the Governor is, Merle and Michonne talk, and Merle has a change of heart and releases her. He goes on to foil The Governor's planned ambush and engages in a gun battle with his townspeople; the two men then get into in a violent physical confrontation which is won by The Governor. Daryl then finds Merle reanimated as a walker and is forced to kill his own brother.

The Governor orders his advisor Milton to kill Andrea, but when he refuses, The Governor stabs him and locks him inside a room with Andrea, so that he will bite her after he dies and turns. The Governor then leads his followers on a planned assault on the prison, but Rick's group stages an ambush and repels the attack. When the frightened, retreating Woodbury attackers decide to end their involvement with the assault, the angry Governor fatally shoots all of them except Martinez and Shumpert. Rick, Daryl, and Michonne find Karen — the massacre's only other surviving attacker — who joins them while on their way to Woodbury to finish off The Governor. Karen convinces Tyreese and Sasha to allow the group inside the town when they arrive. They then find Andrea alive but suffering from a bite from the zombified Milton. Andrea uses Rick's revolver to commit suicide with Michonne by her side. The season ends with Rick's group returning to the prison along with the remaining Woodbury survivors, while The Governor's whereabouts remain unknown.^[22]

^{Session 4}

The fourth season's story begins several months following the close of the third season's, where life has become relatively peaceful for the growing number of survivors at the prison. Due to Rick's emotional issues, he made the decision months ago to renounce his role as the leader of the group, and a council was formed as a replacement. The peaceful society is disrupted when a deadly flu-like disease ravages the population, killing many of the survivors. After being infected and quarantined, Karen (who has formed a romantic relationship with Tyreese) and another resident at the prison are murdered and their bodies burnt. When Rick realizes that Carol is the culprit, he exiles her from the prison to another town miles away. A scavenging team eventually returns with the medicine needed to contain the outbreak.

Meanwhile, a flashback reveals that The Governor was abandoned by his remaining henchmen following the failed attack on the prison and then depicts Woodbury burning at his hands, before forwarding to the present where he is shown disheveled and wandering aimlessly. He eventually runs into a small town and the Chambler family – Lilly, Tara, their terminally ill father David, and Lilly's daughter Meghan. The Governor adopts a false identity and performs numerous good deeds for the family. Following David's death, the Chamblers leave their home with The Governor and soon run into his former henchman Martinez, who is now the leader of a camp of survivors. The Governor kills him to take command of the camp and disguises his death as an accident. He rallies the group behind his cause for revenge against Rick's group.

The Governor finds Michonne and Hershel outside of the prison and takes them hostage. He arrives at the gates with his new-found army and threatens to kill the hostages. Refusing to surrender, Rick proposes that they coexist at the prison instead of fighting. Sensing that some of his group may be persuaded, The Governor decapitates Hershel with Michonne's katana, provoking a firefight between the two camps. Elsewhere, Meghan is fatally bitten; The Governor coldly shoots her in the head. Rick confronts and fights The Governor, who nearly kills him, but Michonne saves Rick in time by mortally wounding The Governor with her sword. An angry Lilly later shoots him in the head. The Governor's army is eventually defeated, but the defending survivors are scattered as the prison is overrun by walkers.

Following the battle, the survivors are split into different groups traveling separately, with each encountering a variety of obstacles as they search for "Terminus", a place described as a "sanctuary for all" by the many signs posted along a network of railroad tracks. Michonne reunites with Rick and Carl. Carol meets up with Tyreese (not knowing that she had killed Karen) and they struggle to deal with Lizzie – an emotionally disturbed child who murders her younger sister, Mika – which results in Carol reluctantly killing her to protect Judith and the others. Carol eventually confesses to killing Karen in order to save the others from probable infection and death; however, Tyreese decides to forgive her, despite having previously promised that he would kill Karen's murderer. Beth, who was traveling with Daryl and taking shelter with him in a funeral home, is kidnapped during a walker attack. Maggie, Sasha and Bob Stookey (who joined the prison a week prior to the attack) travel together; Sasha and Bob form a romantic relationship. Glenn teams up with Tara to escape the prison and encounter three new survivors – Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa, and Dr. Eugene Porter – who are on a mission to Washington, D.C. in search of what remains of the government. Eugene reveals that he knows the cause of the walker outbreak but is unable to elaborate, claiming that the information is classified. On the way to Terminus, Glenn and Maggie's groups reunite. They are the first group shown to arrive at Terminus, where they are greeted by Mary, a friendly woman who welcomes them in and offers food.

Meanwhile, after losing Beth, Daryl encounters a hostile group of men led by Joe. He allows Daryl to join under the condition that he lives by their code – a strict set of rules punishable by beatings and even death if broken. They eventually find Rick, Michonne and Carl and hold them hostage, seeking fatal revenge for an earlier run-in with Rick that left one of their members strangled to death. Daryl arrives on the scene to stop the attack, and the bandits are eventually overwhelmed and killed. Reunited with Daryl, the group makes their way to Terminus where they run into the town's inhabitants, who assure Rick and the group that they are now safe. However, a conflict breaks out after Rick notices Hershel's watch, Glenn's riot gear, and Maggie's poncho being worn by several of the townspeople. Greatly outnumbered, Rick and the others are forced to surrender. Gareth, the leader of Terminus, orders them into a nearby railroad car where they discover Glenn and Maggie's group are also being held captive. The season ends with Rick proclaiming, "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out...they're [screwing] with the wrong people."^[23]

^{Session 5}

The group successfully escapes Terminus after Carol rescues them by arriving undetected with an army of walkers (whom she had lured) and creating a fiery explosion, the noise from which attracts even more zombies and results in a major diversion that aids in the getaway. Reunited with Tyreese and Judith, the group runs into and rescues a local priest, Gabriel Stokes, from a pack of walkers. Gabriel is entirely unequipped to defend himself and it is later revealed that he had refused to let people inside his church, causing them to be killed by walkers. He leads the group back to his church, where Eugene reveals his knowledge of a top secret biochemical weapon that can kill every living being on the planet, that he believes he can tweak to target walkers instead. Bob is kidnapped by Gareth, who with his group of cannibals, eats Bob's leg. Bob reveals that he had earlier been bitten by a walker, causing them to return him to Rick and the group. Daryl and Carol are assumed missing; they had previously departed to chase after a car that Daryl believed was involved in Beth's disappearance.

Some of the Terminus cannibals make it into the church but are soon killed by Rick and others. Bob dies the next morning, with Sasha at his side; Tyreese stabs him in the head to prevent him from turning. Tara, Glenn, and Maggie depart with Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene in a bus, headed for Washington, D.C., while the rest of the group remains at the church. When the bus crashes, the group decides to continue north. While camped in a library, Eugene reveals to Tara that he had purposely sabotaged the bus, fearing that he would have been abandoned if the group had made it to their destination and discovered hat he had fabricated the cure and mission in order to trick others into protecting him. The following morning, the group continues traveling in a fire truck but after it breaks down they encounter and kill hordes of walkers. While arguing about how they should proceed, Eugene admits his lies to the rest of the group. Abraham beats him unconscious, but the others stop the attack to prevent his death.

Beth awakens in a hospital located in downtown Atlanta, greeted by city police officer Dawn Lerner and Dr. Steven Edwards. Beth soon meets hospital worker Noah, and the two attempt to escape; Beth is recaptured while Noah slips away. Meanwhile, Daryl and Carol are stranded in Atlanta while searching for Beth; they deduce that she is being held at Grady Memorial Hospital. Camped near the hospital, they encounter Noah, who confirms Beth's whereabouts. The cops from the hospital are then attracted, and they capture Carol after hitting her with their car. Daryl and Noah head back to the church to enlist help. Rick, Tyreese, and Sasha accompany Daryl and Noah to Atlanta to rescue Carol and Beth, while Michonne, Carl, Gabriel, and Judith remain at the church. Gabriel escapes into the woods, unintentionally leading a horde of walkers back from the school to the church. The horde is then locked inside the church as Abraham's group returns; when Michonne informs them of the rescue mission, the group departs for Atlanta.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Rick's group captures three police officers from the hospital to make a trade; one of the officers escapes but is soon run down and killed by Rick. At the hospital the trade is completed successfully, but Dawn demands Noah's return; Noah voluntarily complies in order to avoid a gunfight. Appalled by the demand, Beth confronts Dawn and stabs her in the shoulder, resulting in Dawn reflexively shooting Beth in the head, which she instantly regrets having done. Daryl immediately kills Dawn, ending the conflict. Daryl carries Beth's body outside the hospital, where they are united with Abraham's group. A distraught Maggie breaks down.

Throughout the first half of the season, Morgan is seen following Rick's trail. He finds Rick's warning about Terminus, before following a trail to the church left by Gareth and the cannibals on the hunt for Rick's group. At the church, Morgan is surprised to find Abraham's note written on a map addressed to "Rick Grimes".

Seventeen days after Beth's death, Rick, Glenn, Michonne, and Tyreese travel to Richmond, Virginia with Noah to reunite him with his family, in order to honor Beth. When they arrive, they discover that Noah's neighborhood is overrun with walkers. Tyreese searches Noah's house, is bitten on the arm by Noah's walker brother, experiences bizarre hallucinations featuring deceased characters, and later dies. The rest of the group is reunited, buries Tyreese and says their goodbyes to him. Convinced by Michonne, the group continues on to Washington, though low on supplies. While staying in a barn, Maggie and Sasha come uponAaron, a man who claims to be a "friend" bringing good news and wishes to speak to their group leader. Aaron tells the group that he is from the Alexandria Safe Zone and shows them pictures of it in an effort to convince them to live there. Rick, however, is still very untrusting. Michonne persuades him to go there, so he and the group begin their journey. Aaron is reunited with his boyfriend, Eric, along the way. The next morning, the group arrives at the Safe Zone's gates, feeling relaxed.

After passing through the gates, each member is required to surrender his weapons and is interviewed by Ohio congresswoman Deanna Monroe, the Safe Zone's leader. The group is given two neighboring houses to live in. Deanna appoints Rick and Michonne as the Safe Zone's constables, and Daryl is later delegated as a recruiter. While settling in, Rick becomes enamored with Jessie Anderson, a married mother. Meanwhile, Rick assigns Carol to surreptitiously retrieve guns from the pantry, which she does and offers one each to Rick and Daryl. Daryl refuses his, saying that he feels the residents mean them no harm, but Rick hesitantly accepts a pistol.

While on a supply run, Deanna's reckless son Aiden is killed and Nicholas, a cowardly member of the Safe Zone, causes Noah's death. Nicholas later blames Glenn for both deaths. Maggie overhears Gabriel telling Deanna that Rick and his group are demons who can't be trusted. Carol grows suspicious that Jessie and her son are being abused by her husband Pete, leading to Pete and Rick getting into a brawl. Rick nearly kills Pete and then threatens bystanders with a gun before Michonne knocks him unconscious for his own good. As a result, Deanna announces that there will be a meeting that evening to discuss what to do with Rick and his group, while Pete is forced to live in another home. While out searching for supplies miles away, Daryl and Aaron open up a food truck, which turns out to be a walker-infested trap set by the two Wolves who had tried to kill Morgan in the woods. They find refuge in a nearby car that becomes swarmed by walkers. Morgan rescues the pair and after showing Daryl the map from the church with Rick's name, joins them on their trip back to Alexandria.

Meanwhile, Nicholas attempts to murder Glenn outside the walls but fails, yet Glenn spares his life. Gabriel leaves the gate to the Safe Zone open which allows walkers to roam in. Rick notices and hunts down and kills the walkers before arriving at the meeting with one on his shoulder. Rick tells the community that they must change to survive in this violent apocalyptic world when an enraged and intoxicated Pete shows up with Michonne's katana. Deanna's husband Reg tries to calm him down, which results in Pete fatally slashing his neck. Abraham immediately relieves Pete of the sword and pins him to the ground. A crying Deanna then tells Rick to "do it" and he complies by fatally shooting Pete in the head with neither hesitation nor reluctance. Morgan, Daryl and Aaron arrive just in time to witness the execution with Morgan and Rick staring at one another with shocked looks on their faces.

At the same time, the two Wolves members who had attacked Morgan in the woods arrive at the food warehouse and use loud music and flashing lights to lure the walkers back into the trucks, resetting their trap. While perusing photos of Alexandria, one Wolf notices a snapshot of Rick and Carl.^[24]

^{Session 6}

Morgan begins to settle into Alexandria, when he and Rick come across a rock quarry filled with walkers. Rick holds a meeting on how to deal with this imminent threat, as the walkers will soon break free of the quarry and make their way to the Safe Zone. While making plans, a resident named Carter tries to overthrow Rick and take back Alexandria, but fails. The plan to lead the walkers opposite of Alexandria seems to be effective, when a blaring horn is heard in the distance, caused by The Wolves, and attracts half of the herd of walkers toward the safe zone. Back at Alexandria, the Wolves attack the Safe Zone and begin slaughtering the residents. All members of the Wolves are killed except for a few that Morgan allow to leave, and one that he knocks unconscious. Meanwhile, Rick runs to a near RV while Michonne, Glenn and a few Alexandrians try to head back to the Safe Zone. They reach a town where Glenn and Nicholas attempt to find a nearby building to set on fire in hopes of attracting the herd. Michonne and others leave the town, with a few of the Alexandrians being killed. Glenn and Nicholas are cornered in an alley and jump onto a dumpster. Unable to escape, Nicholas commits suicide, causing Glenn to fall from the dumpster where he is seemingly devoured by walkers. Back at the RV, Rick is attacked by the Wolves that left Alexandria and kills them.

Morgan speaks to the Wolf member he knocked unconscious and tells the story about how he was changed and found peace before coming to the Safe Zone. The Wolf then reveals that he has a deep wound and that they attacked the Safe Zone in hopes of finding medicine and then says he will kill everyone in Alexandria. As Morgan leaves the sealed room, he hears Rick screaming in the distance to open the gates, who is being followed by half of the walker herd. They let Rick in as the Safe Zone is now surrounded by hundreds of walkers, trapping the residents inside of the walls. Rick rallies the Alexandrians to stay strong, reminding them that with only half the horde present, they cannot break through the walls. Maggie and Aaron, after hearing about Glenn, go into the sewer tunnel underneath Alexandria in an attempt to find Glenn. They are soon stopped and head back as Maggie breakdowns, revealing that she is pregnant. Deanna, not sure on what to do with the situation at hand, tells Rick that Alexandria needs him, and appoints him as the new leader.

Future seasons

Executive producer David Alpert said in 2014, that the original comics have given them enough ideas for Rick Grimes and company over the next seven years. "I happen to love working from source material, specifically because we have a pretty good idea of what Season 10 is gonna be", Alpert said. "We know where seasons 11 and 12 [will be]... we have benchmarks and milestones for those seasons if we're lucky enough to get there."^[25]