Ahead of The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 — the series finale, there has been plenty of discourse about which characters will die.
Being a show about survival in a zombie-ravaged world means death is inevitable.
However, AMC’s decision to lessen the stakes by announcing Carol & Daryl, Maggie & Negan, and Rick & Michonne spinoffs means we know none of those characters die.
Granted, Melissa McBride has left the spinoff, but it’s hard to imagine reshooting the ending for Carol.
Heading into the finale, there were questions about whether Judith would survive.
The middle Grimes child likely saved Maggie’s life by shielding her from Pamela’s gun.
It was a shocking scene that set the stage for a chilling finale, and if the first photos are to be believed, Judith pulls through.
The series finale photos show Judith in a hospital, which may or may not be a callback to Rick awakening from a coma on The Walking Dead Season 1 Episode 1.
The photos of Judith in the hospital remain on AMC’s press site, but another very revealing photo has been removed since they went live Monday morning.
That photo involved Princess and Carol and some of the others preparing for the deadly battle ahead.
Behind them, you can see Luke on the ground, and it doesn’t look good.
The photos immediately created a conversation on social media, with fans mourning the loss of such a great character.
There’s no telling at this stage whether Luke is truly dead, but it doesn’t look good.
If he does die, it would seem like the show only brought him back to be one of the series finale deaths because he didn’t have the plot armor awarded to Carol, Daryl, Negan, Maggie, Rick, and Michonne.
That’s not to say I wanted any of the characters to die. It would be nice to be going into this final chapter without knowing that many of them will stick around for various spinoffs.
A show like The Walking Dead requires stakes.
The characters are constantly in life-and-death scenarios, and if we know they’ll appear in spinoffs, we won’t be invested in their struggle for survival.
What are your thoughts on the photos of Judith and that now-deleted photo of Carol, Princess, and a dead-looking Luke?
Who do you think will die?
Hit the comments below.
The Walking Dead series finale airs Sunday, November 20, at 9 p.m.
Check out the full gallery of series finale photos below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.