The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was a special 6-episode spin-off from the original The Walking Dead series that told the story of what happened to some of the characters after the conclusion of the original series. Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, and Pollyanna McIntosh reprised their roles as Rick Grimes, Michonne, and Jadis Stokes / Anne respectively, with the series receiving generally positive reviews and is considered an important part of The Walking Dead canon.

Now, the series ended on March 31, 2024, and The Hollywood Reporter sat down with the two main stars of the series – Lincoln and Gurira – to discuss the series’ emotional ending and how the story of the spin-off shaped canon.

The series – SPOILER ALERT – ends happily, with the main characters surviving the events of the spin-off and are now in for a “happily ever after” scenario, which, as the actors revealed, was something that had to happen. Here is what they said:

Gurira: “I think it was very clear we needed [to survive] the epic journey. It couldn’t be easy, but that was always where they needed to land. (…) We wanted it to feel like a dream come true. You can’t say there’s just never going to be happy moments in this world. There will be, and this is one of them. The characters have gone through hell and high water getting to that moment.”

Lincoln: “We wouldn’t do that,” adds Lincoln. “That would be cruel. Besides, it’s going to take more than six episodes to kill me. (…) It was lovely. It was this brilliant afternoon of reunions, and finding a very intimate, simple, direct scene, hopefully emotional. And it was amazingly emotional.”

Source: THR

This is something that series creator Scott M. Gimple, who is the mastermind behind the whole universe, also confirmed, saying that killing Grimes and Michonne was never really considered. Here is the full comment:

“I don’t think that was ever on the table. I think we knew our end point. It was the journey on how to get to that end point and really how they save each other even after they find each other, and how they turn each other around from certain places they’ve gone in their identities, which in some ways is a beautiful love story. When people do that for each other, they might have found each other physically, but they need to find each other even within each other.”

Source: THR

Ultimately, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was a successful addition to the franchise that cannot be denied, and while it did give the survivors a happy ending, it doesn’t seem like this is going to be their final story. With Daryl and Negan still out there, the actors were asked about the possibility of a reunion, to which Lincoln said:

“That’s very astute, and something we spoke at length about. There are a few surviving personalities still in the universe, and it would be extraordinary to have them all breathe the same air at some point. It could be an absolutely tremendous, traumatic reunion of sorts.”

Source: THR

As you can see, The Walking Dead franchise is most likely not over, as there seem to be more plans for the series’ future. A reunion is something that has been discussed at length, and we think it would definitely be a great idea, but the story has to be extraordinary. Until then, be sure to keep following us, as we are going to bring you all the latest updates here on Fiction Horizon.

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