.png)
It's been an emotional and cinematic rollercoaster for The Walking Dead Universe and the fans who have followed the show for over ten years. With hundreds of storylines, dozens of beloved characters, the writing, the special effects, everything; TWD has seen the ultimate highs and the lowest of lows.
As a fan from the beginning, the main show will always have a special place in my heart. The early seasons were fantastic, and it wrapped up beautifully at the end, but they always lost people after major deaths, or characters departing the show (i.e. Andrew Lincoln as Rick and Danai Gurira as Michonne). They've added spinoffs along the way, but they were never superior or even equal to the main show proper. But when the TWD finale concluded, they introduced us to Maggie and Negan's 'Dead City' and Daryl's 'Dixon' spinoffs, and the franchise was propelled into a new direction.
The new series had excellent plots, incredible and elevated cinematography, and more content that fans have been dying for. At the top of this year, we were finally rewarded with the return of Rick and Michonne in the highly anticipated 'The Ones Who Live' sequel. As the six-episode mini-series concluded tonight, I can confidently say that 'The Ones Who Live' was the best product they put out in the entire series.
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
Speaking for myself, and hopefully many - there were zero things wrong with this show. If anything, I wish it was longer and included more of the main storyline characters, but that wasn't the point. This was the Richonne series, and we got to see the peak of their acting, and their story arcs complete. We got the answers to how they got there, how time has passed, an incredible performance and storyline about Jadis, and a full circle moment that was wrapped in a bow.
With all that being said, and as someone who is an avid fan of a fault - I still have so many questions to be had. Will there be peace in this new world post-CRM? What does Alexandria look like now? Where are we in the timelapse? Will Rick and Michonne reunite with Daryl, Carol, and Maggie? What does a reunion look like with Negan? Also, will we ever get answers about Heath?!
We have new seasons of Dead City and Dixon coming up this year, and the original trilogy movie is scraped, but there is so much love and rejuvenation brought back into this franchise, that there needs to be another (if not final) sequel of the whole cast back in Alexandria. A movie maybe, or even a three-hour special, something to finally close the book (or even tell a new story).
But at the end of the day, the stories of Rick's whereabouts and Michonne's mission to find her husband have been answered. After years of speculation, thousands yearning for their show, and a great peace of mind to the fans that the actors still wanted to tell their stories - it was without a doubt worth the wait.
We saw that love never died during the apocalypse, the first family finally being reunited, and that the world is better with Rick Grimes in it. A masterclass performance. from both Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, and I cannot wait for what's in store.