The Walking Dead Final Episode Every Season 1 Return

While the final few episodes of The Walking Dead created excitement for the planned spinoff, they also made several references to the show's first season.

The final episode of The Walking Dead featured some surprising callbacks to the series' first season. After 11 riveting seasons, The Walking Dead finally has a satisfying conclusion with three upcoming spinoffs. During its 12-year run, the series changed the zombie genre forever, making it mainstream. Unlike other zombie mediums, The Walking Dead really explores what a post-apocalyptic world might look like, with humans always being the main antagonists, not the undead.

Recognizing its legacy, The Walking Dead makes several references to its history throughout the final season. However, it wasn't until the series finale, "Rest in Peace," that these references started to become more frequent and more central to the show's basic plot. Most notably, the episode ended with a touching montage showing scenes from throughout the season, with cast members past and present saying "We are the living." The finale also featured a brief cameo by Chandler Riggs, who played Carl on the show, wearing a hat and a hoe. Still, there are some references viewers may not have noticed.

Searching For Missing Kids

In the series finale, Rosita, Eugene and Gabriel travel to The Head to the Walking Dead Commonwealth Children's Home to find Coco and the other babies. Rosita searches relentlessly to keep no Walker from getting in her way of saving her daughter Coco. It's reminiscent of Rick in the first two episodes of The Walking Dead, who wakes from a coma and enters an apocalyptic world with only focus on finding his son Carl. Rick and Rosita are reunited with their children, and family bonds and love come into focus throughout The Walking Dead.

Maggie Kills A Child Zombie

In the pilot episode of The Walking Dead, viewers witnessed Ricks first encounter Walker when he mistook an undead child for a living girl. Rick shot the zombified child in the head as she walked towards him. The scene is one of The Walking Dead's most iconic, and it was referenced in the season 11 finale. In episode 21, "Outpost 22", Maggie encounters a little Walker and kills him. Like Rick, she was emotionally affected by the moment. Zombie children rarely make an appearance on The Walking Dead, but when they do, they serve as a reminder that there is still innocence in their world.

Zombie Variants

During the last two episodes of The Walking Dead, some of the team had to deal with the growing number of walking dead outside the hospital. As anticipation loomed, the mutant Walker began smashing the glass of the hospital door with rocks, causing Walker to flood into the hospital. To stop the walkers while protecting Judith, Daryl begins blocking the entrance with hospital beds. This isn't the first time viewers have seen The Walking Dead mutants, the first time in season 1, episode 2, "Guts," where the show also smashes store windows with rocks.

Glenn's Hat Returns

The episode finale also included brief but compelling recaps of previous seasons of The Walking Dead. When audiences were first introduced to one of the show's most beloved characters, Glenn, he was holding an iconic baseball bat. Glenn continued to wear the hat for the first few seasons before his tragic death in season 7. When the Pacers enter the hospital in the series finale, a character wearing Glenn's famous baseball cap is eaten by the tribe as a tribute to the deceased character.

Judith Wakes On A Hospital Bed

Although more subtle than other callbacks It's no coincidence that the finale, Judith wakes up in a hospital bed in the series finale, and is a wonderful Walking Dead #1 parallel. After Judith was shot, Daryl did everything in his power to ensure she survived, even giving her a blood transfusion. When the Vaux family entered the hospital, Judith woke up in a hospital bed and survived. It's a direct callback to the first episode of The Walking Dead, where Rick also woke up from a coma in the hospital after being shot.

The Helicopter

In The Walking Dead Season 1 Episode 1 "Days Gone Bye", as Rick begins to explore the post-apocalyptic world around him, he stumbles upon an abandoned military helicopter. After leaving the show in Season 9, Rick reappeared in the series finale of Ship 672 and wrote a letter to Michonne. However, Rick is interrupted by a helicopter and a Republic of China military pilot orders him to surrender. It shows how Rick Grimes' story in The Walking Dead has come to a happy ending. It also illustrates how society has progressed since the end of the world began, with the Republic of China wielding one of the most advanced armies on the show.

Annie's Pregnancy Parallels Lori's

During The Walking Dead Season 11, In episode 14, "Rotten Core", Annie reveals to Negan that she is pregnant with his child. Negan's budding family further prompts him to apologize to Maggie for taking her family away as the Commonwealth poses a similar threat to those he loves most. Annie's pregnancy and the urge to protect her at all costs is similar to Lori Grimes' pregnancy in season 1 of The Walking Dead. Unlike Lowry, however, Anne feels more secure raising her children in the new world created by the survivors.

Main Characters Are Back On The Road

At the beginning of the show, the characters have no sense of community. It seems that every time I settle down in a place, I have to leave again. Likewise, they meet a lot of scary people, including The Walking Dead Governor, and lose a lot of loved ones along the way. As the show progressed, larger communities began to form and grow stronger, and in the series finale, viewers saw the world return to relative normality once again. However, several main characters hit the road again without community.

In the finale, Judith reveals to Daryl that Michonne has left to find Rick. A year later, Darryl Decided to leave to see what else was out there, and rode off on the motorbike. This will tie directly into the spin-off series he is set in Paris. Maggie also decides to leave at the same time as Daryl, and her story will travel to New York with Negan. Finally, Rick and Michonne will also get their own spinoff, which might explain what happens after their brief scene in the series finale of The Walking Dead.