Walking Dead Season 9: 6 Unanswered Questions After Episode 15, "The Calm Before"

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead's "The Calm Before"

The Walking Dead season 9's "The Calm Before" shockingly killed off a number of main players; here are the biggest unanswered questions from the landmark episode. The inter-community fair is an event that The Walking Dead comic readers have been anticipating for some time, not because of the jovial atmosphere and spirit of togetherness, but because of Alpha's infiltration and subsequent murder spree.

As the celebration rolled on in the Kingdom, the Whisperers silently abducted ten revelers, beheaded each of them and then mounted their reanimated heads upon spikes to act as a "border" marking the group's territory. In an unexpected swerve, the selection of heads chosen for display on the AMC series was vastly different to those skewered in the comic books and the 10 unfortunate victims were revealed to be: Henry, Enid, Tara, Tammy Rose, Rodney, Adeline, Frankie, D.J, Ozzy and Alek.

Clearly learning from the poisonous reaction to season 6's Negan cliffhanger, The Walking Dead has seemingly taken a page out of the Game of Thrones playbook by filling the penultimate episode season 9 with death, doom and destruction, leaving one last hour to explore the fallout from those events. After such a momentous installment, there are naturally plenty of questions remaining. Here are the most pressing unresolved points coming out of The Walking Dead season 9, episode 15.

How Will The Allied Communities React To Alpha's Attack?

The Walking Dead's community fair gave the show's various leaders an opportunity to settle their differences and resolve to support each other moving forward. They also hammered out an agreement to stand by their fellow survivors in the event of an attack, stating that a strike against one community would be considered a move against all of them. The timing of this agreement could not have been better, as only a few hours later, Alpha's victims were discovered. The spiked heads came from all three of the major communities (Oceanside were clearly having a lucky day for once) but the newly-signed charter ensures that any future counter-attack will be a joint effort.

The closing moments of this week's episode saw Siddiq give an emotional and solemn tribute to the recently fallen characters, but, interestingly, his words were very far from a call to arms. As a result, and if recent The Walking Dead history is anything to go by, there will likely be some division regarding how to respond to the Whisperers' attack, with some wanting an immediate and strong rebuke, and others believing that further escalation will only result in more casualties.

This could lead to some interesting character splits in the near future. Carol, for example, is sure to be raging after Henry's death and determined to add Alpha to her lengthy list of victims but Ezekiel, on the other hand, has always been a proponent of peace. Will the King stand by his beliefs and clash with Carol, or will the death of his adopted son trigger the resurgence of Ezekiel's more aggressive side. Naturally, once the dust settles and all arguments have been had, there's only one course of action: war against the Whisperers. After all, no one watches The Walking Dead to see characters living in peace.

Will Alpha Unleash Her Horde?

Samantha Morton as Alpha in The Walking Dead

Alpha's row of heads wasn't the only memorable comic moment included in this week's The Walking Dead. In the source material, Alpha tries to threaten Rick into cooperation by showing him a huge crowd of amassed zombies that the Whisperers are able to steer and control. This scene was faithfully played out on TV this week but, with Rick having disappeared earlier this season, Daryl Dixon was the man on the receiving end of Alpha's chilling warning.

Daryl is now fully aware of the Whisperers' capabilities - both in terms of their large numbers and the monstrous horde currently being held ominous over his head. This could create an interesting dynamic, as Daryl is usually one of the first to opt for a strong and violent solution to any new enemies, but his awareness of the potential carnage Alpha could unleash may force him to advocate a more cautious approach for once.

Of course, Alpha has several reasons not to follow through on her destructive threat. Her daughter Lydia is now a resident of Alexandria and the horde is a card Alpha can only play one time. For those reasons, it's likely that the Whisperers will only resort to releasing their zombie collection after all other options have been exhausted. Unfortunately for the allied communities however, the laws of storytelling dictate that now the horde has been introduced, it's only a matter of time until it gets used. The real question is whether the show's remaining heroes can survive the onslaught.

Who Will Take Over At Hilltop?

The leadership position at Hilltop has emerged as somewhat of a poisoned chalice in recent seasons. Original chief, the cowardly Gregory, was executed by Maggie, who in turn left the community for reasons currently still unclear. Maggie's de facto successor, the man known as Jesus, became one of the Whisperers' first victims earlier in The Walking Dead season 9 and now his understudy, Tara, has ended up with her head on a spike. This leaves a sizeable question mark over who will now take charge of the Hilltop community and, perhaps more pertinently, who would even want to?

While the likes of Daryl, Alden and Magna could all be considered potential candidates, truthfully there are no obvious contenders to take over from Tara, with Daryl a notorious loner and the others relatively new additions to The Walking Dead's cast. Because of this, it's possible that Hilltop will remain without a leading figure, at least for the time being. With war very much now on the horizon, the community could exist under the command of Alexandria or the Kingdom.

Such a scenario could also pave the wave for Maggie's eventual return. Reports have always suggested that the current intention is for Lauren Cohan to return in The Walking Dead season 10 and if Hilltop hold off on appointing a new leader straight away, they may just find their old one returning in time to save the day. As has already been speculated, Maggie's return may then lead directly into the comic books' first post-Whisperer arc, the discovery of the Commonwealth.

Page 2 of 2: More Questions After The Walking Dead's Shocking Season 9 Episode 15

Matt Lintz as Henry and Cassady Mcclincy as Lydia in The Walking Dead

What's Next For Lydia After Henry's Death?

The Walking Dead season 9 has positioned Henry as a replacement for Carl Grimes, taking over the latter's relationship with Lydia in the comics. As such, Henry's death at the hands of Alpha in "The Calm Before" was undoubtedly one of the more surprising elements of the episode and signals in no uncertain terms that Henry had fulfilled his purpose on the show and is now surplus to requirements.

However, Henry's death also has the side effect of leaving Lydia in distinctly unfamiliar territory. In The Walking Dead's comic series, Lydia is very much defined by her relationship with Carl. Rarely is the young girl seen without her one-eyed boyfriend and there has been precious little development of the character outside of her relationships to Carl and Alpha. Consequently, readers don't have a strong idea of what Lydia's character looks like as a single lone entity.

This is something the TV adaptation will now be forced to explore. While Lydia has been granted asylum by Alexandria, her status within the allied communities is still fragile and many still look at her with distrusting eyes. Henry always managed to deflect most of this negativity but without him, Lydia seems alone and vulnerable and could easily become a scapegoat for Alpha's attack. How Lydia responds to this will be new territory for the franchise and will define the character's future in the series.

Will Eugene's Radio Bring Friends Or Foes?

The trigger for the current conflict with the Whisperers goes right back to when Eugene and Rosita ventured into uncharted land looking to set up a signal booster for their radio communications project. Naturally, recent events have forced that particular plot point into the shadows but this week's episode saw the return of the radio system, with Eugene working diligently on it so the newly reunited communities might have some way of communicating with each other remotely.

In the comics, however, Eugene uses his radio to make contact not with established friends, but with an entirely new group known as the Commonwealth. This massive community can't truly be considered either an enemy or an ally at present, but their debut certainly kicks The Walking Dead's rebuilding of civilization into an entirely new gear. As mentioned previously, the Commonwealth may also prove to be where Maggie is currently based after her acrimonious departure from Hilltop.

The reappearance of Eugene's radio this week is a solid indication that the Commonwealth arc is coming to The Walking Dead, but as demonstrated by Alpha's choice of victims, the series is still capable of springing surprises, and it's impossible to discount Eugene contacting an entirely new group of survivors previously unseen in the comics, leaving the Commonwealth to be introduced via Maggie.

What Will Happen With Rosita's Baby?

One of the biggest departures "The Calm Before" took from the source material is with the fate of Rosita. In The Walking Dead comics, Rosita and Eugene are together, but she falls pregnant with another man's child (later revealed to be Siddiq) and although her partner promises to raise the baby as his own, both men are left devastated when Rosita's head is found upon one of Alpha's spikes. When Rosita's pregnancy was revealed on TV, many assumed this to be a sign that her screen incarnation would meet a similarly tragic end.

That has ultimately proved not to be the case, as Rosita lives to see another day following the inter-community fair. Much like Lydia, the character of Rosita now finds herself in unfamiliar territory and the birth of her child could prove to be a key event further down the line, especially since babies have a habit of arriving at the most unhelpful of times in TV shows. Rosita's survival also suggests that the love square featuring Gabriel, Siddiq and Eugene is set to rumble on for some time yet.