5 Massive Questions The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s Finale Doesn’t Answer

Warning: spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s season 1 finale.

Despite bringing Rick and Michonne’s journey home to a close, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live leaves a slew of major questions unanswered. The Ones Who Live gives Rick and Michonne the happiest ending possible in The Walking Dead‘s gloomy universe, as Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira’s characters reunite with Judith and RJ after catching a ride alongside the newly-reformed Civic Republic Military. Despite having the outward appearance of a definitive conclusion, and not directly setting up The Ones Who Live season 2, many question marks remain as the final credits roll.

The Ones Who Live‘s ending alludes toward several conclusions without explicitly stating them. It is strongly suggested, for example, that Rick Grimes resumes being Alexandria’s leader and lives happily there with his family. The CRM helicopters carrying supplies in the final scene also provide a good indication of an alliance between the Civic Republic and the Alexandria-Hilltop-Commonwealth group. These are not unanswered questions, but assumptions the audience is invited to make. There are, however, other plot points that don’t even get the vaguest hint of resolution.

5
Will The Walking Dead’s Survivors Really Die Within 14 Years?

Experts Predict Humanity Is Doomed In The Walking Dead

The biggest elephant in the room during The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s closing scene is the ominous knowledge that everybody is going to die within 14 years – a massive downer on an otherwise happy ending. During Rick’s final confrontation with Major General Beale, the CRM leader reveals that human extinction will occur within 14 years in The Walking Dead‘s current timeline due to increasingly large zombie herds and a lack of food. Beale’s morals and methods may have been twisted, but the predictions made by his scientists are no less valid because of that. Every character in The Walking Dead will be dead within the next 14 years of the franchise.

The final moments of The Ones Who Live season 1 offer no clue as to how Rick Grimes and Michonne will overcome the 14-year death sentence hanging over their heads. Merely hoping that the combined wholesomeness of the Civic Republic, Alexandria, and the Commonwealth will allow them to muddle through is simply not good enough. Proper science folk have forecast the end of humanity, and that isn’t a question The Walking Dead can gloss over. The 14-year issue may ultimately be dealt with in The Ones Who Live season 2, or a separate Walking Dead show entirely, but Rick and Michonne’s family reunion ignores it completely.

4
Where Is Morgan After Fear The Walking Dead’s Ending?

Morgan Said He Was Going To Find Rick

Despite cameo appearances from The Walking Dead characters Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Judith (Cailey Fleming), and RJ (Antony Azor), the one familiar face widely expected to feature in The Ones Who Live was conspicuous by their absence. Shortly prior to Fear The Walking Dead‘s ending, Lennie James’ Morgan Jones left his spinoff buddies behind, deciding to search for Rick Grimes. Since his primary mission was finding Rick, it looked inevitable that Morgan would appear in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, especially since Lennie James’ character uncovered the CRM’s existence for himself during Fear.

Morgan must have got lost along the way, because a reunion with Rick has not yet transpired, and that raises big questions over his status in The Walking Dead. The most logical explanation is that Morgan returned to Alexandria, only to discover his friend was presumed dead. If Morgan took the news of Rick’s demise at face value, it may have prompted him to abandon his search and stay in Alexandria. In this case, Rick and Morgan would get together offscreen in the immediate aftermath of The Ones Who Live‘s finale.

Morgan acrimoniously left Rick Grimes behind after The Walking Dead‘s Savior War, then repeatedly expressed regret over doing so throughout his time in Fear The Walking Dead. Furthermore, Morgan was the very first ally Rick Grimes made after The Walking Dead‘s zombie outbreak began. As such, neither man’s story can truly be considered complete until they bury the hatchet and hug it out one last time. After The Ones Who Live, it remains unclear when that moment will come, if it ever does.

3
What Happened To The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s Survivors?

Did Poor Silas Get Blown Up?

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1’s final episode involves Rick and Michonne preventing the CRM from destroying Portland, then exposing the organization’s crimes to the wider Civic Republic. This is exactly what the survivors of The Walking Dead: World Beyond were attempting to do after their spinoff ended. Iris Bennett was leading a group to Portland to warn the community of the CRM’s true nature, while Silas embedded himself into the CRM’s ranks as a soldier, looking to change the villains from within. While The Ones Who Live does reference World Beyond heavily, there is no sign of what happened to Iris, Silas, or the others.

The Ones Who Live also provides no further details on Hope Bennett and the scientists who escaped CRM captivity to continue their research into the zombie virus. When World Beyond ended, these ex-CRM scientists were on the verge of a breakthrough, having unearthed a way to rapidly increase undead decay using fungus. Despite the villainous elements of the CRM being destroyed by the end of The Ones Who Live, the season 1 finale offers no information regarding how this research is progressing. Following Major General Beale’s downfall, Hope and the scientists could return to the Civic Republic and share their findings freely. Whether they do so is not revealed.

2
What Happened To Heath After His Walking Dead Disappearance?

And What About That “PPP” Card?

Aside from Morgan, another The Walking Dead character viewers might have anticipated appearing in The Ones Who Live was Heath. Heath mysteriously disappeared in The Walking Dead season 7 when actor Corey Hawkins landed a leading role in 24: Legacy, but what happened to the character has never been clearly explained. It is presumed that Jadis’ group found Heath and shipped him off to the CRM as part of the arrangement the two groups shared. This theory has been endorsed by The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang (via BusinessInsider), but what happened to Heath after being abducted remains unknown.

Based on Jadis’ deal with the CRM and Okafor’s explanation about what A and B mean in The Walking Dead, it is entirely possible that Heath was assigned as a “B” survivor and made to serve his six years consignment before becoming a citizen of the Civic Republic. The Ones Who Live had a perfect opportunity to confirm this, but omitted Heath entirely. He may be living peacefully in the Civic Republic, or he might have been killed.

The Walking Dead‘s Heath mystery is actually far bigger and more significant than it seems. Heath left behind a card with “PPP” on it, which The Walking Dead has never explained. The plot point was, however, developed in Tales of the Walking Dead, which showed Jessie T. Usher’s character carrying a similar “PPP” card. This enigmatic token proves that Heath’s disappearance carries a much deeper importance than just a side character being spirited away offscreen.

1
So, Was The CRM Connected To The Commonwealth Or Not?

What Is Designation 2?!

In The Walking Dead season 11, it became apparent that Lance Hornsby of the Commonwealth was secretly working with a larger force behind the scenes, sending troublesome prisoners to somewhere known as “Designation 2” via a train track. The Walking Dead never revealed what “Designation 2” was, but the CRM seemed like the logical solution at the time, with Lance potentially having the same arrangement that Jadis did, sending captives in exchange for supplies. The Ones Who Live makes this theory highly unlikely.

At no point does The Ones Who Live reference Designation 2 or the Commonwealth in any way. More importantly, Rick’s story makes it very difficult for the CRM and Commonwealth to have a connection. The Ones Who Live‘s plot depends on the CRM not knowing about Alexandria, since this is the leverage Jadis holds against Rick to make him cooperate. If the Beale Brigade was working with Lance, a CRM reclamation team would have been sent to the Commonwealth as soon as Lance’s messages stopped. The CRM would have discovered the Commonwealth had been taken over, and wiped out the new inhabitants to prevent them learning whatever information Lance was privy to.

The CRM having no idea about Alexandria in The Ones Who Live all but confirms Designation 2 is something else entirely. Perhaps whatever group lies on the other end of Lance’s train track will become The Walking Dead‘s new villains after the CRM’s defeat. This, in turn, might also be the reason Carol sounded so worried on the radio in Daryl Dixon season 1. Either way, Designation 2 is another major question that goes unacknowledged in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

Sources: BusinessInsider