Warning! This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead series finale!
series finale featured plenty of deaths, but there were several characters who survived that had seemed destined to die. During its 12-year run, has not been scared of killing off zombie apocalypse survivors, with main characters like Shane Walsh, Carl Grimes, and Glenn Rhee meeting their end along the way. With that in mind, it was inevitable that several characters would die in the final season of , and exactly who would be killed off was hotly debated in the lead-up to the finale.
The deaths of Rosita and Luke continued and several minor characters were also killed off in the series finale. Although a number of the cast were killed, it was surprising to see certaincharacters survive the final episode. When some characters were introduced it seemed implausible that they would survive, while more popular characters looked like they would be sacrificed for emotional impact. Here are the 7 characters who survived against all the odds.
Father Gabriel was introduced in ’s fifth season as a cowardly individual who locked his congregation out of his church during the onset of the zombie apocalypse and listened as they were devoured by walkers. After locking himself away for 18 months, Gabriel finally ventured outside but was horrified when he saw . Despite the initial tension, Rick invited Gabriel to live in Alexandria, only for Gabriel to secretly tell Deanna, the community's leader, that Rick's group is evil. The meek, back-stabbing Gabriel was one of 's most hated characters, so his death seemed inevitable.
But from season 6 of , things started to change for Gabriel. He finally killed a walker and then developed into one of Alexandria's most valuable citizens, playing an important role in defeating Negan's Saviors. Gabriel has held on to his faith in God but is wise enough to know when someone shouldn't be saved, which he proved by taking down several Whisperers and killing the dangerous Mays. In finale, for locking his old congregation out when he opens the gates to the Commonwealth to save hundreds of people from incoming walkers, cementing himself as a fan favorite.
Similar to Gabriel, Eugene was introduced as a cowardly deadweight in Eugene lacked practical survival skills so lied about being a scientist capable of ending the apocalypse so that others would protect him. Once he was outed as a fraud, it felt like it was only a matter of time before Eugene died. But as the series went on, Eugene proved himself to be a resourceful member of Alexandria, having developed technology to make life more comfortable and purposely producing faulty bullets to defeat Negan in .
Eugene was arguably to blame for most of the deaths during the Commonwealth arc because it was his discovery of the huge community that led to the Alexandrians moving there. The death of Eugene himself was teased for the final season of when he was sentenced to death by the Commonwealth after being blamed for Sebastian Milton’s death. However, he was broken out of prison by Michael Mercer, and a year after the Commonwealth conflict was shown happily married to Maxxine Mercer with a child.
Negan's redemption was a major focus of the final seasons of . With his new wife Annie, and made a huge effort to make things right with Maggie. Negan is clearly happy with Annie and excited to have a child with her, so it's strange that he is set to go to New York City with Maggie in aspinoff series. Had Annie died in finale it would have made more sense for Negan to pack up and leave, but with her still there is it an unusual decision.
Losing Annie could have also changed Maggie's perception of Negan. In finale, Maggie told Negan that she cannot forgive him for Glenn's murder, but respects the steps he has taken to redeem himself. If the pregnant Annie died, it could have helped Maggie realize that Negan has lost enough already. Still, even with Annie alive, look like they will be moving on from their dark history as they set off together in .
Elijah was introduced as the masked member of the Wardens, the group Maggie joined during 's six-year time jump. Similar to Luke, Elijah was an expendable supporting character and given he was one of the community's most willing fighters it would not have been a surprise to see him succumb to the walkers. Instead, Elijah was pushed into a romance angle with Lydia and the couple remain together one year after 's Commonwealth arc.
has killed off many beloved characters throughout its run, including , and Jerry was the next fan-favorite in line to be on the receiving end of a devastating death. Jerry is a popular survivor but needed his defining moment. Going into the final episodes of a shocking death was needed to spark the rebellion against the Commonwealth's Governor Milton, and Jerry would have been perfect for that. Instead, in stark contrast to Robert Kirkman's comic storyline, Sebastian was shockingly killed off which caused Pamela to turn on the Alexandrians.
AMC's has followed a similar story to the comic book series, but at times there have been significant changes. Some of those changes include huge moments from the comic happening to different characters in the show, like Denise taking Dwight's arrow to the eye rather than Abraham. Given that trend, it seemed as if Aaron was being primed to take because he has taken a leadership role in the community, and physically he looks almost identical to Robert Kirkman's version of Rick, including the prosthetic arm.
's final season did not follow through with a character-swap version of Rick Grimes' death, instead opting to kill off Sebastian Milton, Rick Grimes' comic book killer. Without Sebastian in the picture, there wasn't anyone else in the Commonwealth with the same level of entitlement and bitterness towards the Alexandrians, so the motivation to kill Aaron was not there. Aaron survived finale and never looked in much danger of dying, with the veteran survivor becoming a mentor to who also lost her arm.
The finale of had to kill off one of its main characters and only two survivors fit the bill, Rosita and Carol. With Daryl, Maggie, and Negan appearing in 's spinoffs, Rosita and Carol were the only two left to take the hit, and the show went with Rosita. Arguably Carol's death would have been the more impactful given her rise from a meek character to an all-around badass. Carol was initially planned to team up with Daryl in his spinoff, which may have been what saved her, but instead, she waved her friend goodbye in .
