Walking Dead’s Hilltop Battle Proves Season 11’s Death Problem
The Walking Dead season 11 is fast developing a death problem - and Hilltop's clash between Maggie Rhee and Lance Hornsby proves it. For as long as The Walking Dead has existed, living up to the title's violent promise has not been an issue. AMC's zombie apocalypse cable hit quickly become renowned for killing off major characters with almost gleeful abandon - sometimes taking cues from the comics, other times forging its own path. Glenn, Beth, Tyreese, and even Carl freaking Grimes can attest to how sharp The Walking Dead's axe truly is. Though sometimes controversial, that propensity to bump off main characters at the drop of a hat has become both a defining trait and a key strength of The Walking Dead.
With The Walking Dead season 11 officially drawing proceedings to a close, many would've expected the show's grim reaper to be pulling double shifts as the episodes dwindled. The zombie apocalypse is a bloody place at the best of times - surely The Walking Dead's final season finds a new level? This is where "shared universe" franchise building becomes an obstacle. At the time of writing, Maggie, Negan, Daryl, Carol, and Rick are all confirmed for The Walking Dead spinoffs and/or movies - and those are just the ones announced so far. When so many characters are locked into future projects, how does The Walking Dead keep audiences guessing in its final season?
If The Walking Dead season 11, part 2's finale is anything to go by, it doesn't. The most significant character death in season 11's first block belonged to Alden, and although the emotional impact of his exit was keenly felt, the death itself occurred entirely off-screen. Being completely honest, Alden also did pretty well to survive this far. Since season 11's second block occurs largely within Commonwealth territory, deaths are understandably at a premium. As Lance Hornsby finally drops his mask and attacks Hilltop in "Acts of God," however, all bets look to be off. And yet, the episode's only casualties are Leah and Marco...
By The Walking Dead's standards, that's pretty underwhelming. Something didn't quite add up about Leah's return and subsequent alliance with Lance Hornsby, and it's now apparent that she was a sacrificial lamb to give the "Acts of God" Hilltop battle some spice. The Walking Dead's narrative would not be unduly inconvenienced if Leah had died in Meridian alongside her fellow Reapers. And then there's Marco. Somewhat deceptively, Marco has actually been around since The Walking Dead season 9, but make no mistake, he's very much a background figure, seen more often than he's heard. To that point, Marco only made one prior appearance in The Walking Dead season 11 before his demise. These are predictable, low-level losses that undersell the stakes The Walking Dead's final season should carry.
It's a ridiculous situation when Lance Hornsby forcibly takes over Alexandria, Hilltop and Oceanside... and the biggest casualty throughout that entire ordeal is Marco. The Walking Dead is now 8 episodes from its grand finale, and Alden still holds the honor of being season 11's most resonant character death. Considering the kind of statement killings The Walking Dead has incorporated into past seasons (Andrea, the Glenn/Abraham double header, Alpha's skewered lineup, etc...) season 11 definitely seems to be holding back, when most would've expected this closing chapter to go harder on the violence. It's hard not to suspect AMC having one eye on future Walking Dead spinoffs is partially to blame. Would Negan still be around, for example, if he weren't earmarked for a solo venture?
Of course, The Walking Dead still has 8 opportunities to compensate. Perhaps season 11's bloodbath is being saved for the very final battle, topping anything the franchise has seen before. Some of AMC's announced spinoffs may even be subterfuge designed to fool viewers into believing certain characters are safe ahead of a surprise rug-pull. The Walking Dead season 11 might've been a surprisingly deathless affair until now, but that situation could (and, indeed, should) change in part 3.