How The Walking Dead is perfectly setting up the Commonwealth

The Walking Dead returns to our screens in February for the second half of its tenth season, picking up after a huge cliffhanger that saw our survivors get lead into a trap by the Whisperers where they faced a horde of walkers in a cave with no obvious escape.

While the “Whisperer War” is no doubt the more action-packed storyline, the future of the show actually lies in Eugene’s quieter plot. Remember when Eugene was scanning for frequencies on his homemade radio in Alexandria and stumbled on an unfamiliar voice coming from somewhere altogether new? In the long run, this plotline is going to revolutionize (and hopefully rejuvenate) the show, as it set up the introduction of the largest community yet seen in the series. Big things (and bigger places) lie ahead.

Let’s look at what I mean, although I must warn you that SPOILERS from both The Walking Dead comic series and the TV show lie ahead!

In short, the Commonwealth is coming. But what exactly is this game-changing community, and how do we know it’s on its way? Well, the lady on the other end of Eugene’s radio, Stephanie, comes from a community called — you guessed it — the Commonwealth, as we know from Robert Kirkman’s comic series!

It would actually be misleading to call the Commonwealth a “community,” because its scale is so large. It’s more like a network of settlements with a combined population of over 50,000 survivors. To put this into perspective, that’s far more people than the populations of all the other communities already featured in The Walking Dead combined.

The Commonwealth is the most advanced civilization we’ve seen in The Walking Dead universe so far. (Although that might soon be contested the upcoming spinoff series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which features a settlement so big some of the younger residents aren’t completely award of the zombies beyond the walls, or the dangers they represent.)

In the comics, the Commonwealth has an arena for playing different sports, as well as restaurants, cafes, and even a stage for concerts held by musicians who found fame within the settlements! The Commonwealth enforces a strict class system, which leader Pamela Milton strongly believes in. Its residents are split up into High Class and Low Class. The high class citizens include people who had prestigious jobs before the zombie apocalypse, such as lawyers or doctors. The low class residents are those whom Pamela deemed to have more run-of-the-mill jobs. This system is a source of tension for the residents.

In the show so far, Eugene and Stephanie have already agreed to talk with each other frequently, and as the episodes progress, I expect us to hear Stephanie share more and more details about the Commonwealth until she strikes a deal with Eugene to meet in person, although I doubt we’ll see the Commonwealth itself until season 11.

And if that’s not proof enough that the Commonwealth is coming, the casting of a major character from that storyline should back things definite. Back in October of 2019, The Walking Dead made a big announcement on Twitter. They revealed that Paola Lazaro would play Princess in season 10. Yes, you read that right: we’ve had a Governor, a King, and now we’re getting Princess, more specifically the self-proclaimed “Princess of Pittsburgh.”

Princess, who’s real name is Juanita Sanchez, is a lone survivor roaming the desolate streets of Pittsburgh. She is a good-natured albeit silly character initially introduced when Eugene travels with a group of Alexandrians to meet Stephanie and get introduced to the Commonwealth. Her reception in the comics was divisive, but she could easily become a fan favorite character in the show if she’s written correctly.

There’s been little other casting news regarding the upcoming seasons of The Walking Dead. Back in August of 2018, the official Walking Dead Instagram account uploaded some awesome fan art of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the role of Mercer, a key character from the Commonwealth storyline in the comics. He’s also among the coolest characters out there, so who better to play him than The Rock?

And it’s not impossible that Johnson could take the part, as he replied to a Robert Kirkman tweet where The Walking Dead creator praised The Rock’s new movie Hobbs and Shaw. The actor replied, “When the creator of Walking Dead loves @HobbsAndShaw. I smell our universes colliding on screen…🤯😂.” Kirkman’s reply? “Just say when!”

The Rock needs to take this role!

But when our band of heroes finally reach the Commonwealth, will they find a Utopian society or…something else? This is The Walking Dead, after all. Things are never that easy.

Hopefully we’ll get to see the details soon. The Walking Dead season 10 will continue on Sunday, February 23, 2020 on AMC.

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