Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 20 and Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic series.The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple says the main show's ending will have a similar feel to the comic series' ending, while also presenting its own unique finality. The Walking Dead television series has maintained a decent amount of accuracy when it comes to the bare-bones stories it adapts compared to its comic book source material. While there have been some altered translations from comic to show - such as Lance Hornsby being an antagonist during the Commonwealth arc - The Walking Dead has always presented its televised version of events in the same order and with the same general storyline as the comics.
However, The Walking Dead show has also made plenty of alterations that make it impossible for a one-to-one adaptation of the series to be seen onscreen. Carl and Sophia are now dead in the show, despite the duo surviving through the end of the comic series and getting married after a 25-year time jump. The show also features characters that have survived long past their original death dates in the comics, such as Carol, Rosita, and Ezekiel, all of whom are dead before the war with the Whisperers begins in the comics. Protagonist Rick Grimes' fate is another major change in the show as well. While Rick was captured by the CRM in season 9, episode 5, the second-to-last issue of the comic sees him die at the hands of Governor Pamela Milton's son Sebastian.
In an interview with EW, The Walking Dead's chief content officer Scott M. Gimple teased the differences between the show's finale and the comic's final issue. Gimple stated that, while the show would not have the same ending as the comic series, it would still take inspiration from it to some capacity. Check out what Gimple said below:
It's like a remix. Some things simply have to remix, which I think is awesome, because I loved the end of the comic, but we get to see another version of it, because we have to.
It still takes Robert Kirkman's really cool story and tells his story, but in a very different way and with a different ending. It's like the same, but different.
I think the cast of main characters on the show might even be a little bigger than how the comic ended. All of those characters have endings. It's a very intense last few episodes. Up until the finale, it is just full intensity. The throttle is open.
How The Walking Dead Could End
Gimple went on to say that the finale will offer "a really definitive conclusion" for the show and its characters. The number of changes to character fates and motivations in The Walking Dead show underscores how the series won't end in the exact same way as the comics. However, Gimple's remix comments indicate the show could use different characters as stand-ins during big moments pulled from the comics. Perhaps a major character like Ezekiel will get a reimagined version of Rick's comic death or be killed similarly to Dwight, a former Savior who is currently romping through Texas with Morgan in Fear the Walking Dead but dies during the comics' Commonwealth arc.
Given Gimple's insistence that The Walking Dead will have a definitive ending, it puts into question how - or if - the show's finale will set up the 3 upcoming spinoffs slated to air in 2023. Daryl, Maggie, and Negan are all confirmed to be leaving the Virginia area, with Maggie and Negan drawn to New York while Daryl is taken to France by force. Meanwhile, Rick and Michonne, who left the main series in seasons 9 and 10 respectively, will have their own journey to go on as well. With the threat of the CRM looming over The Walking Dead universe, it will be compelling to see how Gimple's promised ending to the show honors the comics while opening up the wider zombie world being set up.
Source: EW