Warning! Contains spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11!
After a brutal farewell in The Walking Dead season 11, justice for Rick Grimes has finally been delivered over three years late in the form of the Sebastian Walking Dead death. Rick Grimes' death in Robert Kirkman's original The Walking Dead comics is every bit as devastating as it is inauspicious. After liberating the Commonwealth from Pamela Milton's tyrannical rule, Rick is visited by a gun-toting Sebastian in the dead of night, and his journey in the zombie apocalypse quickly comes to a grinding (and bloody) halt. Since the Sebastian TWD character is hardly a criminal mastermind, he's quickly uncovered as the culprit, and Carl Grimes must decide the boy's fate. Following his late father's example, Carl chooses mercy, and noble though the decision may be, the sniveling Sebastian's survival leaves a bitter taste.
Any The Walking Dead readers hoping the Sebastian TWD character might finally get his comeuppance will find their long-held wishes granted in season 11's "A New Deal." Echoing the comics, Sebastian is pushed over the edge when his lavish lifestyle comes under threat, and he attempts to murder the person responsible - in this case Margot Bingham's Max. Unlike the comics, he doesn't get away with it. A well-aimed shoulder-barge from Eugene Porter sends Sebastian careering into a nearby zombie, and absolutely nobody rushes to help him, condemning the mini-Milton to the Sebastian Walking Dead death. It's a sweet kind of revenge for the TWD comic book Rick Grimes — made even more apt when his TV daughter, Judith, arrives to watch Sebastian's labored final breaths. You can almost hear her muttering, "That one's for my black-and-white dad."
How Sebastian's Death Changes The Walking Dead's Ending
Andrew Lincoln already exited The Walking Dead back in season 9, briefly returning for the series finale, and is confirmed to reprise his role as Rick Grimes in an upcoming TV series alongside Danai Gurira as Michonne. The chances of Teo Rapp-Olsen's live-action Sebastian murdering Lincoln's live-action Rick Grimes were, therefore, always remote. Nevertheless, The Walking Dead season 11 certainly could've transferred Rick's comic death onto a different character, and many viewers were perhaps expecting the Sebastian TWD character would gun down a different protagonist during the final episodes. That obviously didn't happen after Eugene fed Sebastian to the undead, taking a major comic moment off the menu for The Walking Dead's ending.
The Sebastian Walking Dead death changed The Walking Dead's finale on a thematic level too. In the comics, Pamela and Sebastian both survived, with the Commonwealth's former governor visiting her jailed son into old age. Mirroring Rick's refusal to execute Negan, this demonstration of mercy proved civilization was making a comeback. Sebastian's death in The Walking Dead's "A New Deal" meant the semi-happy ending of the comic books didn't happen, and instead, audiences got a more violent conclusion to season 11's Commonwealth arc.
So, Who WAS The Walking Dead's Final Villain?
Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic books don't have a traditional "final villain." You could argue it's Pamela by merit of her being the Commonwealth's ruler, or Sebastian because he kills Rick Grimes. However, neither is comparable to the Governor, Negan, or Alpha as a main antagonist. The Sebastian Walking Dead death set The Walking Dead season 11 on a different path. With her son killed (rather than just jailed), Laila Robins' Pamela Milton became bitter and twisted - especially in pursuit of the newcomers from Alexandria. Losing a child was certainly enough of an emotional trigger to transform Pamela from a slightly loathsome politician into a properly sadistic enemy for The Walking Dead's finale. Luckily her arc has officially ended just as satisfyingly as Sebastian's. Mercer arrests Pamela for her crimes, and in response, she tries to feed herself to zombified Lance. Maggie swoops in and takes Lance down, realizing that prison is far worse a fate for Pamela than being eaten.
The Walking Dead Remembered Zombies Are The Antagonist
While Pamela was definitively The Walking Dead season 11's human antagonist, the finale was all about the different factions banding together to defeat the zombie hoard. Over the course of the series, TWD has seen some incredible human villains (with some turning into allies) such as Negan, Alpha, and even the Governor. Though, somewhere along the way, the focus of the series changed from the Walkers being the main opposing force. The Walking Dead instead made the politics and various factions of the living become the real villains. Part of the reason that The Walking Dead finale was so satisfying is that it felt like the show returned to its roots. Yes, it's liberating to see people like the Sebastian TWD character get their comeuppance in the end, but the TV show started out with a simple zombie vs. human premise, and it was completely forgone in later seasons. Even though nearly no one from The Walking Dead season 1 is alive to see it, the group has finally arrived at a stable and peaceful community, free from the dangers of the Walkers.