Is Maggie and Negan's The Walking Dead spinoff secretly about finding a cure for the zombie outbreak? The Walking Dead season 11 brings AMC's zombie apocalypse centerpiece to an end... but the outbreak is far from over. Fear The Walking Dead will continue into its eighth season, Tales of the Walking Dead takes an anthology approach to undead mayhem, and a comedy is reportedly in the works also. Cherry-picking the main cast, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier are set for future adventures (assuming that's not just a ruse to cover Daryl's impending death), and Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes will (eventually) return on the big screen.

The most recent addition to The Walking Dead's roster of upcoming shows is Isle of the Dead - a spinoff starring Lauren Cohan's Maggie Rhee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan SmithIsle of the Dead will relocate the pair to Manhattan, New York, and we... have some questions. Why on earth would Maggie travel with the man who killed her husband and deprived young Hershel of his father? For what purpose do the pair head to New York? How does Isle of the Dead coexist with The Walking Dead's multi-faceted landscape?

Related: Walking Dead Answers A Daryl Question From Season 10 (& Causes An Issue)

Those questions are potentially answered by Walking Dead: World Beyond - a two-season spinoff that concluded in 2021, and featured Pollyanna McIntosh's Jadis in a villainous role. World Beyond's finale set the board for a whole heap of future storylines, and one particular unresolved thread could explain the weird premise behind Isle of the Dead. Are Maggie and Negan hunting for a zombie cure?

Walking Dead: World Beyond Teased A Zombie Cure

Lab in Walking Dead World Beyond

The Walking Dead: World Beyond teased a whole bunch of crazy stuff, but between fast zombies and blaming the apocalypse on France, the spinoff also foreshadowed a viable end to undead domination. The CRM (Civic Republic Military) is by far the largest civilization currently active in The Walking Dead, and harbors some of the brightest biologists still breathing. Said biologists have been charged with science-ing the world back to normality, and Dr. Leopold Bennett believes fungi could wipe out zombies on a mass scale by accelerating their rate of decay. Joined by his daughter, Hope, Walking Dead: World Beyond's finale showed Leo's scientists escaping their facility (the CRM is evil, in case you hadn't guessed), and setting up a secret base elsewhere to continue working. Ultimately, they succeed in growing a yeast-based fungus that turns zombies weak at the knees... and everywhere else. Applied on a large enough scale, entire hordes could be eradicated effortlessly.

Interestingly, that CRM facility is located in New York State. Is Negan and Maggie's Isle of the Dead trip actually a mission to make contact with the Bennetts and bring a zombie cure to the masses? It's worth bearing in mind that Walking Dead: World Beyond's underground lab is in Ithaca, NY - a good 200-mile drive from Manhattan, where Negan and Maggie's spinoff apparently takes place. Nevertheless, Manhattan could provide a meeting point between the two parties - like the train yard where Eugene first encountered the Commonwealth. At the very least, Negan and Maggie are heading in the right direction.

As things stand in The Walking Dead season 11, Maggie and Negan can barely stand each other, and let's give The Walking Dead's writers the benefit of the doubt by assuming the pair won't be brought together by some romantic stirring in their loins. What possible reason could Maggie and Negan have to visit the Big Apple? What could ever compel such mortal enemies to put their differences aside and go off alone - potentially even leaving Hershel behind? News of a potential solution to the world's zombie problem is one of very few motivations that actually makes sense.

Related: Walking Dead Season 11 Confirms A Gabriel/Reaper Theory

How Maggie & Negan Could Learn About The Zombie Cure

The walking dead season 11 Maggie and Negan spinoff

If Maggie and Negan's Isle of the Dead adventure is inspired by news of the Bennetts' research, the next question is how they learn about this fungal miracle simmering away underneath a shopping mall in Ithaca. Perhaps the missing link is none other than Rick Grimes.

Here's what we know with regards to Rick Grimes' mystery disappearance. In The Walking Dead season 9, a near-death Rick was taken by the CRM. Around 6 years later, Michonne uncovered evidence suggesting Rick had either departed or escaped the CRM but, for some unknown reason, hadn't returned home to his wife and children, despite being relatively close by. In World Beyond season 2, Jadis confirmed Rick was "valuable" to her employers, but wouldn't be drawn on what became of her helicopter co-rider over the intervening years. One popular theory suggests Rick arrived at the CRM, and quickly deduced his new friends weren't so friendly. Many Walking Dead fans believe Rick could be forming a resistance movement to fight them, and that's why he still hasn't returned to Alexandria. Though the truth remains to be seen, Rick leading an anti-CRM charge offers the most straightforward solution to his Walking Dead whereabouts.

According to another popular theory, Rick Grimes will return toward the end of The Walking Dead season 11. Whatever lies in AMC's future, the main show must still resolve Rick's fate. The Commonwealth arc is also moving with enough pace to leave room for some CRM action in the final 8 episodes. If Rick reunites with his Alexandrian friends and brings ominous tidings about the CRM, he might also reveal news of a potential cure being developed in New York. Maybe Rick then asks two of his followers to investigate those whispers, potentially explaining how Maggie and Negan get roped into Isle of the Dead.

Are Walking Dead's Spinoffs Building Toward An Avengers-Style Crossover?

The walking dead season 12 original plan rick grimes

If Maggie and Negan head to New York in Isle of the Dead chasing rumors of a zombie cure (on the say-so of Rick Grimes), that might provide some sense of where The Walking Dead's overall franchise direction is pointing. As the main show's finale looms, The Walking Dead's upcoming content looks, on the surface, like a collection of loose, disparate ideas with little rhyme or reason. You've got Morgan's Fear The Walking Dead crew, World Beyond's Bennett family, Maggie and Negan weirdly burying the hatchet on a trip to New York, Daryl breaking away with Carol, Rick transitioning to the big screen and, somewhere between all that, Michonne is wandering about.

Related: Walking Dead's Convoluted Stephanie Story & Identity Explained

The CRM and Rick Grimes can be the common threads linking those strands together. Morgan's group already clashed with CRM soldiers, and World Beyond's Iris Bennett was last seen on a mission to warn other communities about this looming threat. Rick's fate is inextricably tied with the mysterious enemy who flew him away, and Michonne's fate is inextricably tied up with Rick. If Maggie and Negan's spinoff is about searching for the Bennetts' zombie solution, maybe Daryl and Carol's journey is a second Rick-assigned mission. The formidable season 1 duo are expertly suited to stealthy recon, after all.

Is The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes movie the destination where these roads all terminate? A massive Avengers-style crossover featuring representation from all shows and spinoffs, where Rick's allies assembled across 10+ years of storytelling face off against the Civic Republic Military, with the fate of the United States on the line. Maggie and Negan heading to New York certainly makes that exciting prospect more likely.

More: Walking Dead Just Gave Negan His Comic Ending (Without Carl)