Daryl holds Rick’s gun in preview for final Walking Dead episodes

The Walking Dead is almost over. This show has been on for 11 seasons of zombie-blasting, civilization-toppling horror. Sometimes it seemed like the series would never end, but it will. In just eight more episodes, it will.

“The tensions will continue to ramp up. There will be lots of twists and turns, which hopefully people will find fun and surprising,” showrunner Angela Kang told Insider, adding that there will be a lot of “nostalgia” in the home stretch. “There’s gonna be some stuff that’s a nod to some of the history of the show, which, hopefully people will like. And we will dive into some of these characters and who they are now and how we are gonna kind of end them for the series.”

If the final episodes will look to the show’s past, there’s a pretty obvious question that needs to be asked: What happened to Rick Grimes? The one-time hero of the series was last seen being airlifted away in season 9, never to be heard from again. Will the show end without at least checking in on the man who started it all?

Well, watch the teaser for the final third of season 11 and tell me if you notice anything:

Negan will visit the Commonwealth in the final stretch of The Walking Dead

There are a few images worth noting here, including newly minted villain Lance’s face covered in blood and Negan coming to the Commonwealth, which he does not do in the comics. But the most intriguing is probably a quick shot of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) examining Rick’s gun, at the 0:20 mark.

Rick’s daughter Judith has been holding onto her dad’s gun for a while. Perhaps this is the moment where Daryl realizes that Rick is alive and out there somewhere? Might he be the one to finally bring Rick back into the fold? We can only hope.

Incidentally, AMC has been planning a series of movies about Rick Grimes for years now, but it seems they’ve gotten stalled. At this point, who knows where the guy will pop up?

When will the final episodes of The Walking Dead air?

The teaser above reveals that the final eight episodes of The Walking Dead will premiere this fall, but when, exactly? Well, per Insider, the network did put up (and quickly take down) a video that listed the premiere date as October 2.

So…that date could be wrong — again, they took down the video — but if they formally announce October 2 later, I don’t think many people will be surprised.

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