Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 5.
Carol’s cameo in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’s episode 5 teased the potential for The Walking Dead season 12 to happen after all. After concluding the main series of The Walking Dead after 11 seasons, its latest spinoff may have just suggested another season could be on the horizon. With the franchise currently exploring the path of spinoff shows, it hasn’t completed the overall narrative and has split things into their plots. While this has proved a success so far, it could all lead to an overarching story that needs at least one more season to wrap up.
There are other ways this could happen, like ending The Walking Dead franchise with a movie. However, given the previously canceled Rick Grimes movies became a series instead, something in the TV format seems more likely. An overall conclusion may not be imminent with multiple spinoffs renewed for a second season, but Daryl Dixon’s recent cameo starts to set up something bigger. With huge storylines still unfinished in The Walking Dead universe, they may get addressed in individual spinoffs. It is more likely though, that the biggest mysteries and stories will be built up through the spinoffs and finally addressed in one last season of the main series.
Carol’s Daryl Dixon Cameo Teases Another Main Walking Dead Villain
Carol’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 5 cameo teases the potential for a major villain to appear in the main Walking Dead story. Daryl’s phone call with Carol may not have revealed much on the surface, but it certainly sets up much more for the future. The radio call happens in a flashback sequence when Daryl is still in America. He is quickly able to sense that something isn’t quite right with Carol who answers rather cautiously and with plenty of doubt on her voice. After this is questioned twice by Daryl, Carol eventually reveals “he came back” although the person’s identity isn’t revealed.
The mystery around this call leaves plenty of questions. It could be referencing Rick Grimes and his Walking Dead fate. Equally, it could be someone like Negan given the exact timeline between the main series’ finale and the radio call being difficult to pin down. There is the potential though that the person in question is a villain, likely one the audience hasn’t seen yet. The chances of it being any major antagonist featured in The Walking Dead’s main show is unlikely given most of them are dead. Introducing a new threat that may have already caused the survivors problems off-screen, however, is not out of the question.
Who The Walking Dead’s Mystery New Villain Could Be
If Carol’s appearance was a tease for a main villain, then that leaves questions about who this enemy or enemy group could be. The most likely candidate would be the CRM. The Civic Republic Military was the main antagonist of The Walking Dead: World Beyond but given the number of people the Civic Republic has as well as the CRM’s shady intentions, their influence could extend beyond the spinoff. Elizabeth Kublek oversaw the CRM until Jadis took over, but both answered to Major General Beale who could be the “he” Carol referred to and the group’s influence may have finally reached the main survivors.
Of course, The Walking Dead could go in a different direction and introduce a new villain or group. They could introduce a CRM equivalent if they aren’t ready to fully explore that storyline despite Rick’s involvement. Alternatively, it could be an extension of Daryl Dixon’s villains with potential CRM connections. Genet – the main antagonist of Daryl’s spinoff – has ships that operate in America as shown by the backstory of how Daryl got to France. Her group could easily extend much further than France and be not only the major threat to Daryl Dixon but also the entire franchise.
Carol’s Cameo Means Old Walking Dead Characters Have To Return Eventually
With Carol making an appearance in Daryl Dixon, older characters from the franchise will inevitably have to return. Daryl’s story didn’t necessarily need other main show characters to work, yet Carol was included in any way to help create a wider narrative. The spinoff has thrived because it has been its own isolated story so mixing it in with a bigger one for the franchise is risky but still looks to have paid off. It does suggest that characters will have to return eventually since the main Walking Dead story relies on them and Carol has teased a new threat could be inbound.
Rick and Michonne’s Walking Dead reunion will happen next year, but plenty more characters can return. Outside all the characters who survived season 11, there is also the potential to bring back those who went to Fear The Walking Dead like Morgan and Dwight. If Carol’s cameo is the first tease at a potentially bigger arc coming, a reunion between all the major players in The Walking Dead would make sense, particularly if the threat they are facing is the CRM. To beat them, they would need every key survivor, even teaming Rick and Negan to help their war come full circle.
Why The Walking Dead Season 12 Is Still Possible
Spinoff shows may be the current formula for The Walking Dead, however, a season 12 is still very possible. Season 11’s finale was supposed to conclude the franchise yet in some ways, it just left more questions. Teasing Rick and Michonne’s return made it clear they were coming back to the show despite it supposedly finishing. Their spinoff will focus on them reuniting and likely fighting the CRM to some degree, but that still leaves the reunion with other characters in doubt. The show never really had a proper ending and a season 12 or some sort of equivalent would fix that.
Season 12 was originally planned before ideas changed and spinoffs were created instead, further highlighting the franchise was far from over. Carol’s cameo may just be the beginning of a potential crossover from spinoff to spinoff. By the looks of things, The Walking Dead is slowly setting up a larger story with each of these shows eventually playing a part in it. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon may have started the path to a potential crossover of these shows and bringing in older characters as well as season 11 survivors would essentially be season 12, regardless of whether it gets that title or not.
