The Walking Dead has transformed Stephanie from a background comic character into a TV series highlight - and Eugene's Savior callback proves it. The Walking Dead season 11, episode 18 ("A New Deal") finds Josh McDermitt's Eugene and Margot Bingham's Max feeling uneasy about the episode's titular arrangement. Irked that Sebastian is walking free, Max is determined to bring the Commonwealth's heir to justice whatever it takes, telling Eugene, "I knew Sebastian was bad news and I just went along with it. You don't know what it's like to feel that kind of guilt." Eugene solemnly replies, "I'm fairly familiar with guilt's burden."
Eugene has plenty to feel guilty about in The Walking Dead. Not only did he lie about being a scientist who could cure the apocalypse, the rambling romantic later joined the Saviors. Though he came good eventually, Eugene was at one time totally loyal to Negan, and the memory of this period no doubt weighs heavy upon his conscience - even in The Walking Dead season 11. It's always fascinating when The Walking Dead harks back to past seasons (something that seems to be happening often in these final episodes), but the reference also serves to highlight how Max has become an infinitely better character compared to her comic book counterpart.
How Max Improves The Walking Dead's Stephanie Character
Stephanie physically debuts in The Walking Dead #176, but her narrative impact is incredibly limited. Aside from a small note of character development when her hair is revealed as a wig, Stephanie's purpose in The Walking Dead is paying off Eugene's radio romance and stoking the embers of Commonwealth rebellion. Appearing in only a handful of issues (sometimes only as a bystander), Stephanie then gets the ignominy of dying off-screen during a time jump.
Margot Bingham's Max is, in essence, the comic books' Stephanie, but The Walking Dead successfully morphs her into a major player. Never really moving beyond Eugene's love interest in the comics, The Walking Dead season 11 shows Max with her properly developed motivations, goals, family complications, and regrets. She's a fully-formed entity and truly becomes one of "the gang." Were The Walking Dead's ending not imminent, you'd expect Max to become a series regular in season 12 and beyond, and nowhere is this evolution more obvious than during her guilt conversation with Eugene in "A New Deal." The comics' Stephanie isn't Pamela Milton's assistant - she really does work on the Commonwealth's radio system. By splitting Max's loyalties between doing the right thing and serving the villainous Miltons - then having her regret said association with the villainous Miltons - Max gets a character arc completely independent of Eugene.
Will Max Die In The Walking Dead Season 11?
Based on Stephanie's fate in The Walking Dead comics, Max should die at the end of season 11. AMC's TV series offers two big indications that won't happen in live-action. For starters, Max's bolstered characterization means an off-screen exit as a final episode footnote would be deeply unfulfilling. If Max does die in The Walking Dead, her story demands something more impactful, emotive, and befitting her prominence in season 11's Commonwealth arc. Secondly, The Walking Dead already shot its "Max is gonna die" shot en-route to killing Sebastian. Episode 18's ending dangled the possibility of Max being eaten by walkers, only for Eugene to make the last minute save. While characters have close calls all the time in The Walking Dead, Max dying for real so soon after a fake-out would lack punch, suggesting she's scheduled for a happy ending.
Another huge boost to Max's prospects is her sibling connection to the Commonwealth's one-man zombie-killing machine, Mercer - another TV-fresh addition to Stephanie's character. As big brothers go, Mercer is a useful one to have protecting you in a zombie apocalypse, and anyone, alive or dead, who seeks to hurt Max in The Walking Dead season 11 will surely face the daunting prospect of going through him first.
The Walking Dead continues Sunday on AMC.