With only two more episodes left of The Walking Dead, viewers are eagerly awaiting the fate of their favorite characters.
Already, many of them are in precarious situations, and there is some question as to the outcome between them and the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth was a community first introduced via the radio in Season 10 when Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt) made contact with a character called Stephanie via radio.
Since then, the community has gone from a utopia to the most recent big bad in The Walking Dead.
Now, various characters are trapped in hard labor, and Eugene is on the run after the Commonwealth’s leader, Pamela Milton (Laila Robins), wanted him to take the blame for everything befalling her community.
Because of this, fans are wondering how it will all end. Lucky for us, we can turn to the source material to see what happens next.
The Commonwealth features heavily in the comics
The Walking Dead was originally a comic book series well before it became a hit on TV for AMC.
And, just like in the TV show, the Commonwealth features heavily in the final leg of the comic books.
Already, viewers have seen Pamela turn from someone who appeared to be a good leader into someone that should never be trusted and who will throw anyone under the bus in order to protect her son, Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson).
This is pretty much how she is in the comics too. In fact, when we saw Mercer (Michael James Shaw) finally decide to go against Pamela in Episode 22, it copies a similar storyline in the comics.
In the comics, Rick was still leading his communities, and he has many conflicts with Pamela regarding her leadership.
This is still playing out similarly in the TV show. It’s just that there are many heads of the communities, such as Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride).
One major change that we won’t see in the TV show, though is Sebastian killing Rick. This occurred in the penultimate issue of the comics.
With Rick currently MIA in the TV show, about to star in a spinoff series, and Sebastian already dead, this will definitely not be happening in Episode 23.
However, it is possible that AMC will try to replicate a major death, so fans need to be wary heading into the penultimate episode on Sunday night.
It is unlikely the TV series will follow everything that happens in the comics. However, for what it’s worth, here’s what goes down.
Here’s how the comics end The Walking Dead
The creator of The Walking Dead comics, Robert Kirkman, gave readers a surprise ending to the series back on July 3, 2019.
As pointed out by Den of Geek, the final comic book has a 25-year time jump.
Before that, Pamela was defeated, and she no longer rules the Commonwealth, although she and her son are both still alive.
However, many of the characters we know and love are still involved in this community and help to make it a better place for all, stripping out the class rules that Pamela had put into place and allowing people to rule on their merits alone.
In Issue 193, many of the characters are touched upon and readers got a chance to see how much things had changed.
The zombie apocalypse is now no longer a big deal. In fact, the few remaining walkers are now relegated to shows and considered prized possessions.
Because of this, Carl Grimes, who is also still alive, has a bit of a run-in with Young Hershel, having killed a walker that belonged to him. This leads to a bigger conflict and Carl is taken away to see Judge Hawthorne at Commonwealth One.
However, Judge Hawthorne is actually Michonne and Carl is set free.
A railway system is also being set up and headed by Eugene and because of him, the East and West are now connected.
As for who lives and dies in the comic books? Well, don’t worry, we have an article for that too.
The Walking Dead airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on AMC.