Follow TV Tropes

Following

Timeline / The Walking Dead Television Universe

Go To

All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!

A detailed timeline of major events in The Walking Dead Television Universe, which is made up of the series The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

    open/close all folders 

     Pre-Outbreak 

  • 1850: The Greene Family Farm is established by the Greene family.
  • 1946: Dale Horvath is born.
  • 1974: Andrea Harrison is born.
  • 1970’s: Mortician Teddy Maddox forms a death cult, and becomes known as “the Mortician Murderer” after killing 23 victims. He is ultimately put in prison for life thanks to the efforts of lawman John Dorie in Denton, TX. However, John is ashamed of having to plant evidence to get Teddy convicted and abandons his family including his young son John Jr, who takes many decades to come to forgive his father for his abandonment.
  • 1978: Eugene Porter is born.
  • 1982: President William Milton is honored with a special coin using his likeness.
  • 1986: Amy Harrison is born.
  • 1988: Maggie Greene is born.
  • 1992note : Madison Clark votes for Bill Clinton in the US presidential election.
  • 1994: Beth Greene is born.
  • 1998: Carl Grimes and Sophia Peletier are born.
  • Rick Grimes was raised in King County, Georgia. Growing up, he became best friends with Shane Walsh and married his high school sweetheart, Lori. Rick and Shane eventually became sheriff's deputies and Rick conceived a son with Lori, who they named Carl.
  • Carol Peletier met a man named Ed and the two had a daughter named Sophia. Ed was abusive towards Carol and constantly beat her, to the point where he she kept her hair short so he would be less prone to using it to grab her. She and Sophia frequently sought refuge at a women's shelter in downtown Atlanta.
  • Brothers Daryl and Merle Dixon grew up in rural Georgia to an abusive father and neglectful mother. Unable to tolerate his father's abuse any longer, Merle left home when he was a teenager and Daryl was only a child. Once Daryl was an adult and after the deaths of their parents, he sought out and rejoined Merle and the brothers survived as drifters together.
  • 2001: The War on Terror begins. A close-knit unit fights in the War in Afghanistan, many of them developing severe PTSD. Even after the end of their tour of duties, many struggle to make ends meet. Under the leadership of their commanding officer Pope, much of the group forms a mercenary group called the Reapers. One of their members, Leah Shaw, adopts the son of a female comrade who died in childbirth, naming him Matthew.
  • Ezekiel Sutton, a zookeeper, noticed a family history of thoracic cancer.
  • Negan Smith lived in Virginia and worked at a high school as a gym coach, a job he greatly enjoyed. However, he was fired when he got into a bar fight with, and was subsequently sued by, a man whose child attended the school Negan worked at.
  • Magna was arrested for murdering her cousin's rapist. She formed a romantic relationship with her lawyer, Yumiko Okumura. Despite Yumiko's efforts, Magna was tried for the crime and went to jail.
  • Connie was a journalist who exposed corrupt politicians and put them behind bars. The most prominent was former President Milton’s brother who was forced to resign from Congress in disgrace thanks to Connie’s reporting. She had a strong bond with her sister, high school student Kelly, and took care of her at a time when their parents had become neglectful towards their younger daughter.
  • A severe drought struck the Greene family farm. A corporation began leaving care packages of supplies and food to help sustain the farm, but Hershel let them go to waste as he recognized they were attempting to lull him into selling the farm. Hershel led the family through the drought and severe financial debt, and afterwards the corporation never contacted them again.
  • August 2005: Hurricane Katrina bankrupts Victor Strand forcing him to turn to a life of conning people to gain their fortunes.

     Year One (2010) - The Fall 

  • Isabelle's boyfriend Quinn has an affair with her sister Lily, causing her to become pregnant, though they hide it from her.
  • In August, a virus begins to spread around the globe that infects every human being on the planet through the air; upon death, the host human’s motor functions will revive, with only base functions such as mobility and hunger remaining. Any human who is bitten by a reanimated corpse dies due to the bite activating the virus in their body. People around the world come up with countless names for the undead, never having experienced anything of the sort before.
  • Word begins to spread of rising death and seeming murder rates, with many news outlets and people mistaking the rise of the dead as acts from serial killers.
  • In King County, Georgia, Sheriff Rick Grimes is shot in the line of duty and rendered comatose.
  • An unemployed Negan and his wife, Lucille, are going through a rough patch in their marriage during which Negan cheats on Lucille with her best friend, Janine. On the same day she learned of her husband's infidelity, Lucille went to the doctor's office for a checkup and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
  • World governments begin scrambling to try to contain the nascent virus. The Center for Disease Control and their counterparts around the globe begin researching the virus in an effort to find a cure for it; the military begins straining themselves to the limit trying to establish safe-zones and continuity of government.
    • The CDC and world governments discover that the virus is airborne and everyone will reanimate upon death, though the public is not informed of this.
  • Major cities in the United States begin to suffer harsh military lockdowns and are sealed off from the rest of the world in attempts to contain the swelling numbers of the undead. Atlanta, Los Angeles, and the island of Manhattan are among the cities that undergo this. Panic begins to spread as resources such as gas and food begin to dwindle.
  • Several variants of the undead plague rise throughout the world; while North America primarily sees a slow-moving, weak undead, France sees a variant that causes the undead to reanimate much faster and as a far more aggressive, fast threat, and another whose blood is acidic. Other variants seen in North America include undead who are able to pick up objects to use as blunt tools, climb over fences and open doors.
  • In Los Angeles, the Clark-Manawa family and the Salazar family join forces as they face the military quarantine of the city. They ultimately flee with the conman Victor Strand, using his yacht to escape to Mexico, where they seek shelter at the fortified estate belonging to Strand's lover Thomas Abagail. Unfortunately, they find that Abagail has been bitten and the estate taken over by his housekeeper Celia Flores, who has converted it into a cult that venerates the undead as divinely resurrected; the conflict of beliefs between the groups soon leads to the estate burning down and Madison's group being temporarily scattered.
  • In Atlanta, insurance firm manager Blair and her receptionist Gina put aside their dislike of each other to hijack a fuel tanker in order to escape the military blockade on the city, though they later sacrifice the tanker to destroy a horde in order to allow trapped civilians a chance to escape.
  • August 27, 2010: On the brink of defeat, the US government initiates Operation: Cobalt; a desperate attempt to napalm entire cities to destroy the undead hordes. However, Operation: Cobalt is a failure and ultimately marks the world's governments’ failure to contain the plague as they dissolve one-by-one, with human survivors left to their own devices and to fend for themselves. Many people never see their families again or are stranded where they are despite being from another state, country, or continent. The collapse of the world's governments and the end of society becomes known as "The Fall".
    • A man named Donald Okafor, part of the US Air Force, refuses to execute his orders to exterminate Philadelphia. But as a consequence, he defects to the Pennsylvania National Guard and is forced to napalm 4,000 Marines including his wife Estelle.
  • Several politicians take refuge across the country intending to serve as some sort of continuity of the fallen U.S. government, including Senator Vasquez, a Democrat from Texas, who seeks to hole up at a supposed safe-zone codenamed "P.A.D.R.E." on the Gulf Coast. Failing to find it, he and his staff instead take refuge in a fallout bunker underneath the Franklin Hotel in Galveston, Texas.
    • PADRE, a real safe-zone, is organized by US Army General Krennick on an island off the coast of Georgia. Intending to use the resources stockpiled there to support other survivors in rebuilding, General Krennick and most of his men are unfortunately killed when the shipyard holding their supplies is overrun by a herd of the dead. The General's children, Ben and Sam, then take over the remnants of PADRE; taking the codenames "Crane" and "Shrike", Ben becomes a secretive official leader to create the illusion that their father is still alive in order to provide a figurehead for people to rally behind, while Sam handles day-to-day operations. They then begin terrorizing the coasts of the southern United States, press-ganging adults deemed useful into service, exiling those that aren't, and abducting all children back to the island to be raised and indoctrinated as loyal soldiers in hopes of one day reclaiming the mainland.
  • The Reapers take shelter from Operation: Cobalt and miraculously survive in a church; Pope, a religious fundamentalist, declares they have been chosen by God and begins leading the Reapers in taking communities unprovoked, seeking to satisfy his bloodlust while preaching that they are delivering God's judgement to their victims.
  • Several major survivor enclaves form throughout the world; the most powerful in North America is the Civic Republic of Philadelphia, which forms several large settlements in the northern half of the former United States of America. A treaty is signed in which the Civic Republic Military, formerly the Pennsylvania National Guard, is granted virtual autonomy from its government for security reasons, with it being intended to return its unilateral power after ten years. The CRM sets up numerous checkpoints throughout the country, but operate in extreme secrecy. The CRM also takes the most brilliant minds from each of their communities to a secure location to continue working on a potential cure for the undead plague.
    • The founding city-state of the Civic Republic in Philadelphia’s location becomes the CRM’s most heavily guarded secret. Their contacts across the country sort survivors they find as either A’s or B’s - A’s being powerful survivors who could poise a threat to the CRM’s control, and B’s who are average everyday survivors; or worse, people considered expendable enough to be donated to the CRM’s ongoing experiments with the dead and potentially reversing the undead virus. Most B’s found by the CRM become consignees at the Civic Republic, where they are sentenced to menial labor such as walker killing or infrastructure upkeep for six years until they are granted citizenship within the Republic. No survivor taken in is allowed to leave the CR, but virtually every consignee is unbothered since they are eager to join the well-off city-state and many have already lost everyone they knew.
    • The Omaha and Portland colonies do not operate with the same level of secrecy as the CR, earning derision from the CRM. The CR’s location is kept secret from even them.
  • Another major power in North America rises in Ohio; former President Milton founds the Commonwealth, which retains many of the conveniences of the world such as electricity and an economy based on USD, with his daughter Pamela taking over as Governor following his death. However, the Commonwealth soon develops a strict class system with many of its lower class citizens struggling to make ends meet. With the only other option being to take their chances in the undead-infested world, however, the Commonwealth’s citizens stick it out.
  • Much of New England comes under the control of a federation called New Babylon, employing magistrates and a strict set of laws to follow.
  • Several communities form in Virginia:
    • The Alexandria Safe-Zone, organized by Ohio Congresswoman Deanna Monroe and her husband Reg; unable to return to Ohio, they settle in a high-end community where Reg's background in architecture enables the town to build massive, sturdy walls that lead to the community becoming sheltered from the apocalypse. Nearby, some survivors manage to trap a horde of walkers inside a quarry with barricades formed by 18-wheelers, and the din of the horde echoing against the quarry walls lures more in, severely lessening the walker threat around Alexandria.
    • The Hilltop Colony, organized by Gregory; an agrarian community based around centuries-old history museum Barrington House. Though Gregory is selfish and cowardly, the town tolerates him as leader due to his silver tongue and the competence of his right-hand man Paul "Jesus" Rovia, who becomes regarded as the de facto leader of Hilltop.
    • The Kingdom, organized by Ezekiel Sutton, a former zookeeper who forms an air of mystique due to having tamed a tiger named Shiva. Seeing the positive effect it has on his people, Ezekiel gives himself the title of “king”. At an undetermined point, the Kingdom enters trade relations with Hilltop.
    • A community at an unknown location nearby, that will one day be known as Oceanside.
    • A woman named Anne forms a community in a dump called the Scavengers, adopting strange customs to throw off outsiders. She takes the name "Jadis" and also becomes a contact of the CRM, trading A’s and B’s to them in exchange for supplies.
    • A woman named Hera forms the Whisperers, a group of nomadic people who wear masks made of the skins of the faces of people and walkers to use as camouflage among the dead.
  • Rick's partner Shane Walsh takes in his wife Lori and son Carl as they attempt to join a safe-zone in Atlanta. Shane attempts to retrieve Rick's comatose body, but in the chaos is led to believe he has died; he barricades his friend in his room and tells Lori and Carl Rick has died. Upon witnessing Operation: Cobalt and realizing the government is falling, Shane takes the family and several other survivors - chief among them the Peletier family, the Harrison sisters, the Dixon brothers, the Morales family, Glenn Rhee, Dale Horvath, and Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas - and sets up a camp in a quarry outside Atlanta.
  • During the chaos of the Fall, Teddy manages to escape prison and restarts his cult.
  • A section of the Wiregrass region of the southern United States becomes a nearly untouched area of wildlife. Though walkers populate the area that Dr. Chauncey Everett dubs the Dead Sector, many escaped zoo animals begin thriving in the region forming a unique ecosystem. Everett begins extensively studying the walkers who he believes are the new dominant species of Earth.
  • In France, the population is estimated to have been reduced from 65 million to a mere 200,000 or less. The Abbey of Saint Bernard becomes a haven for a convent of nuns who train themselves in combat to fend off walkers and hostile survivors. As time goes on and their numbers dwindle, they become accepting of other faiths, founding a new movement called the Union of Hope.
    • During the chaos of the Fall, Isabelle and Quinn pick up Lily to flee to safety but Isabelle discovers her sister's pregnancy. When Quinn suggests leaving her behind, Isabelle steals his car keys and leaves with Lily. As Lily is in severe pain, Isabelle seeks refuge at the Abbey where Lily dies in premature childbirth. Uniquely, her son is born after she reanimates as a walker. Isabelle names her nephew Laurent and many believe he is special due to the circumstances of his birth, his myth spreading to where he is believed by members of the Union to be the new messiah.
    • A woman named Genet founds a populist nationalist movement called "The Cause", which seeks to reunite France under her authoritarian rule.
  • Several communities form in Georgia:
    • Woodbury, a town formed by Phillip Blake, who takes the title "Governor". Though its citizens live peaceful lives, The Governor is a power-hungry, paranoid sociopath who murders any organized group he comes across despite his benevolent public persona, only taking in lone survivors or small groups; if anybody attempts to leave Woodbury, he has them hunted down as punishment for leaving his control.
    • A group of police officers led by Dawn Lerner take refuge in Grady Memorial Hospital, but run the facility on indentured servitude extorted from any survivor they rescue and provide medical treatment to. The prisoners are frequently abused and raped by the corrupt cops with Dawn turning a blind eye to it, wanting to keep her men happy so they don't rise up against her.
    • A group forms Terminus at a facility at the end of a railroad line, initially welcoming any survivor to join them. However, a gang of bandits conquer Terminus, rape their women and starve their captives. The community’s leader Gareth leads a successful retaking of Terminus and resort to cannibalism of their attackers to survive. Having been broken by their experience, the Terminus residents decide to turn to cannibalism as a permanent way of life, luring in survivors with directions posted around the countryside. While strong survivors are offered a chance to join the community, anyone deemed weak is immediately harvested for meat - as are any of the aforementioned strong survivors who refuse to join them.
    • Guillermo leads a gang of men called the Vatos in protecting a community of retirement home residents trapped in downtown Atlanta.
    • A pack of marauders form under the leadership of a man named Joe who leads them using a system of "claiming" goods or things they want. The Claimers frequently murder and rape innocent people during their travels.
    • The Greene family farm becomes a haven for Hershel Greene, his daughters Beth and Maggie, and his farmhands Otis, Patricia, and Jimmy. Many of their friends and family die and reanimate, but Hershel is convinced they are merely sick and can one day be cured and begins collecting them in his barn.
    • A group of German tourists become stranded at the Emissary Suites on the coast and form a community there.
  • In Houston, Sgt. Abraham Ford scares away his wife and children after brutally killing a group of attackers. The next morning he finds them gone and later finds they have been killed by walkers. Abraham is ready to commit suicide until he saves Eugene Porter from walkers. Desperate for protection, Eugene lies that he is a professor affiliated with the Human Genome Project who can help find a cure for the walker plague if he is escorted to Washington, D.C. Abraham appoints himself Eugene's protector and forms a group of survivors heading for Washington. Many die during their journey, which is frequently stymied by Eugene's own sabotage to put off his lie being exposed.
    • At an undetermined point, Abraham and Eugene encounter Althea and record their story for her.
    • Rosita Espinosa takes refuge with various men around Dallas, covertly picking up their skills and expertise while enjoying casual relationships with them and pretending to need protection. She joins Abraham's group and forms a relationship with him, while also attracting Eugene.
  • Negan and Lucille take refuge in their home despite the latter's cancer.
  • A psychopathic woman named Dee, her husband, and their daughter Lydia take shelter in a makeshift basement bunker with other survivors. However, Dee deems her husband too weak and kills him, gaslighting her young daughter into believing he was the abusive one after they flee their overrun shelter. They join a community led by a woman named Brooke aboard a houseboat, where Brooke soon grows protective of Lydia after noticing her discomfort towards her mother. Dee grows resentful of Brooke and the boat's lifestyle due to believing it will fall and out of jealousy towards Lydia's growing affection for Brooke.
  • Two months after the Fall, Rick finally awakens in his hospital bed to find what has become of society since being shot. He meets fellow survivor Morgan Jones and searches for Lori and Carl, eventually joining Shane’s group and reuniting with his family. Rick quickly realizes Lori and Shane have been in a relationship due to believing he was dead; Lori believes Shane was lying to her about Rick being dead and leaves him to return to Rick without a word, ashamed of her unintentional infidelity.
    • Morgan's son Duane is bit by his reanimated mother Jenny, whom Morgan was unable to bring himself to kill. Though Morgan finally puts down Jenny, he is similarly unwilling to put down Duane and has a mental breakdown. He chains Duane up in the attic of their house, repressing the memory of having done so while beginning to kill anyone he encounters, whether they're dead or alive.
  • Rick leads a team consisting of Daryl Dixon, Glenn Rhee, and Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas to Atlanta to rescue Merle Dixon. After failing to find him, Rick returns to fend off a walker invasion of the camp that wipes out most of the survivors, including Ed Peletier, Amy Harrison, and Jim (who dies later of a walker bite received during the attack). Rick is unofficially declared leader of the group much to Shane's ire, and leads the group to the CDC facility in Atlanta. There, Dr. Edwin Jenner clarifies that the government has fallen and there is no known cure for the undead plague, privately warning Rick that all humans are infected with it.
  • During a trip to Fort Benning, Sophia Peletier is chased into the woods by walkers. During the ensuing search, Carl is shot by Otis, who takes them to Hershel for help. After Shane sacrifices Otis to walkers to bring Hershel the medical equipment needed, Hershel saves Carl's life but insists the group must leave his land when Carl is recovered; tensions arise as Lori learns she is pregnant with Shane’s child, Glenn and Maggie fall in love, and the group discovers Hershel's ignorance about the walkers. After Sophia is found dead, the group and the Greene family reconcile and accept each other as their own.
  • After Dale is killed by a walker, Shane makes a bid for power and tries to kill Rick, but Rick kills him in self-defense. A herd of walkers forces the group to flee the farm; Andrea is separated from the others and is rescued by Michonne Hawthorne. In the aftermath, Rick tells the group they are all infected per Jenner's last warning and solidifies his control over the group.
  • Seven months after the Fall, when their medicine is spoiled, Lucille kills herself while Negan is away on a supply run, devastating him.
  • Negan fights his way to the top of the food chain at a factory he dubs the Sanctuary. Negan forms a cult of personality and gathers enough followers to forcibly subjugate Hilltop and the Kingdom, forming a supposed protection racket where the communities surrender half their supplies lest the Saviors attack them. Most of the Saviors, however, simply bully the vassal states relentlessly even when they are compliant and regularly threaten murder and torture over the smallest perceived slights. After Negan’s lieutenant Simon performs a genocide at the future Oceanside, its female survivors (and boys under the age of 10) flee Savior territory for the coastline.
    • One particularly heinous Savior begins serving as Negan's pet torturer and executioner, Negan finding him useful. However, Negan is aghast when the man tortures a girl from the Kingdom to death despite having ordered the girl’s release. Recognizing the man is too monstrous to let live, Negan tries and fails to kill him. The man flees to New York City where he forms a new organization, the Burazi, under the sway of a woman calling herself "the Dama", and he becomes known as "the Croat". After discovering how to produce methane-powered electricity, the Burazi fear potential raids by communities from the mainland, and the Dama eventually hits on the idea of bringing Negan in to unite Manhattan Island to lead them through inevitable war with the mainland.

     Year Two (2011) 

  • After a hard winter, Rick's group settles into the abandoned West Georgia Correctional Facility where they come to blows with several inmates who had been trapped inside, though others prove trustworthy enough to join their ranks. During a walker attack instigated by a hostile inmate, Lori dies giving birth to her daughter Judith. T-Dog also dies in the attack.
  • Andrea and Michonne are taken into Woodbury by Merle, who has joined as The Governor’s right-hand man. When The Governor learns of the prison group, he instigates a war with them; however, Woodbury falls when The Governor massacres his own soldiers for not continuing the war after a failed raid on the prison. Andrea and Merle are killed by The Governor, with Woodbury's survivors joining the prison group. Glenn and Maggie marry each other.
  • Morgan encounters Dr. Eastman, a former psychiatrist living in isolation in a cabin. Eastman takes Morgan in and works to rehabilitate him by addressing his trauma and training him in both aikido and his own pacifistic beliefs in order to deal with the violent impulses he's developed. Eastman is eventually bit and dies, but Morgan keeps his teachings close and sets out to find Rick.
  • In Ohio, after the death of his dog Gilligan, survivalist Joe leaves his bunker and ventures out into the world to find a woman named Sandra he formed a connection with over the Internet prior to the Fall. He is effectively taken hostage by a woman named Evie, but as the two journey out of the state together, they form a strong friendship. While Evie gains closure regarding her missing husband, Joe discovers Sandra is an insane killer and only narrowly escapes with his life thanks to Evie's intervention. The two agree to become permanent traveling companions.
  • Several months after the conflict with Woodbury, a strain of influenza ravages the prison community. The Governor, having been abandoned by his remaining men after massacring his troops, is taken in by the Chambler family and soon forms a new group of survivors. The Governor attacks the prison, killing Hershel and destroying the facility at the cost of his and his men’s life, with Rick's group forced to flee in separate directions.
  • The prison group survivors begin reconnecting as they make their way to Terminus and also join up with Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita. Upon arrival at Terminus, most are captured until Carol frees them during an assault on the compound. Some surviving cannibals hunt the group, but they are soon defeated.
  • The group also contends with the cops of Grady Memorial Hospital; after a stand-off Beth and Dawn are both killed. Shortly beforehand, Eugene confesses that he is not a scientist, unwilling to let anymore die in his fool's crusade.
  • The Reapers suffer a devastating walker attack that separates Leah from her comrades, and she believes them to have all perished. After putting down Matthew, who had been bitten during the escape, Leah takes up residence in the Virginia countryside.
  • On the houseboat, Dee's suspicions about a bartender named Billy prove correct when he leads a hostile group of men in taking over the community by force. Dee escapes with Lydia after instigating a shootout in which all of the community's survivors are killed except for Brooke. Dee intends to kill Brooke to pay her back for growing close to Lydia, but Lydia convinces her to spare her, albeit by leaving her with a large scar to make her remember her. Dee and Lydia are soon taken in by Hera and the Whisperers.
  • Madison's group takes shelter at the Broke Jaw ranch led by the Otto family. The Ottos go to war with the forces of Qaletaqa Walker who originally owned the land the ranch was formed on. Troy Otto eventually arranges the downfall of the ranch by means of unleashing a horde of walkers on it rather than accept peace, and escapes with his wife Serena.

     Year Three (2012) 

  • Rick's group migrates to Virginia to take Noah, who they recruited from Grady, to his home, only to find it sacked. After Tyreese Williams is bitten and dies, the group elects to move to Washington following Eugene’s logic that it could have sustainable resources. They are brought into Alexandria by Aaron and Deanna and soon become leaders of the community due to being experienced with the outside world. A walker invasion that results in the death of Deanna sees Rick fully take command of the town and train its natives in combat.
  • Rick and Michonne begin a relationship, while Glenn and Maggie announce to the group they are expecting a child.
  • Morgan finds and joins Rick's group in Alexandria.
  • Alexandria begins trade with Hilltop thanks to the efforts of Jesus, but learn of Hilltop’s subjugation by the Saviors. Alexandria offers to wipe out Negan and the Saviors in exchange for supplies, and successfully decimate the satellite outpost. The massive, sudden loss of life rattles the Savior community who quickly rally for revenge.
  • Despite having believed the Saviors defeated, Rick's group is captured by the very much alive Saviors and Negan, who executes Glenn and Abraham as retribution and places Alexandria under his total control. Rick tolerates subjugation until a Savior visit convinces him Negan will never truly let them live in peace and forms a war effort out of the Savior’s vassal states.
    • Maggie takes command of Hilltop and ousts Gregory from power.
  • The allied communities of AHK - Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom - go to war with the Saviors. The conflict comes to be known as the Savior War.
    • Dwight becomes The Mole for Rick, providing information that gives AHK a critical advantage and allows them to surround the Sanctuary with a horde during a war meeting of the Savior command structure.
      • During the opening attack on the Sanctuary, Gregory attempts to command Hilltop's fighters to stand down, but they swear loyalty to Maggie, confirming Gregory has lost his grip on power.
    • The chemical plant, satellite, and insurance office outposts are wiped out in the absence of their heads Gavin, Simon, and Regina. However, all but three of the Kingdom’s military are massacred at Gavin’s outpost before they are defeated, including Shiva.
    • An impatient Daryl mounts a rogue strike on the Sanctuary trying to wipe out the entire factory with the horde; witnessing efforts to contain the walkers, Eugene comes up with a plan that successfully frees the Saviors from the siege.
    • Jadis, who had sided the Scavengers with the Saviors, considers returning to Rick’s side but bails on him once again. Simon later massacres the Scavengers as punishment for betraying them (despite Negan’s orders to only kill one as punishment).
    • The Saviors mount a vicious counterattack on AHK. Alexandria is fire-bombed, and the Kingdom is conquered by Gavin to serve as living quarters for the Sanctuary’s residents while the Kingdom residents are put to work repairing the Sanctuary. However, Gavin is killed during his takeover attempt, with its survivors and Alexandria’s taking refuge at Hilltop.
    • Having been bitten while rescuing lone survivor Siddiq, Carl requests his father find a peaceful solution to the war before he euthanizes himself.
    • Simon attempts to usurp Negan to satisfy his bloodlust and wipe out AHK, but after a defeat at Hilltop, Negan executes him for his treachery.
    • The Savior War ends with a decisive victory for AHK when the Saviors' firearms are sabotaged by Eugene and Negan is defeated by Rick. Against Maggie's wishes, Rick and Michonne decide to sentence Negan to life in prison while they accept the surviving Saviors as allies to honor Carl's wishes.
  • Gregory, still wanting to retake control, calls for an election to be held at Hilltop. Maggie is officially elected and sworn in as leader of Hilltop. Maggie vows to build up Hilltop to overpower Rick's standing in the region so she can one day kill Negan.
  • In the aftermath of the war, Morgan, suffering greatly from the mental trauma he has endured during the war, which caused a brief relapse of his poor mental state following Duane's death, leaves the Washington region and travels west. He arrives in Texas, meeting John Dorie, Jr. and Althea, before making contact with Madison's group of survivors. After Madison is apparently killed, Morgan takes command. Dwight and Sherry, former Saviors who defected to Rick's side, also make their way to Texas and join Morgan's group (Dwight due to being exiled by Daryl for his atrocities, Sherry due to having fled from Negan's control before the war).
    • Madison is saved from the fire that apparently killed her by PADRE, albeit with severe lung damage that makes her reliant on oxygen tanks. She becomes a child trafficker for PADRE, who promise to find her children for her once she collects enough children for them. However, Madison grows so ashamed of her actions as well as fearful that Alicia and Nick would be roped into the same line of service that she refuses to try to find them again, believing they're better off without her.

     Year Four (2013) 

  • Many pieces of infrastructure begin to crumble due to having spent several years without any upkeep.
  • Maggie gives birth to her and Glenn’s son, who she names Hershel after her late father.
  • Rick and Michonne marry.
  • The allied communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, Oceanside, and the Sanctuary live in relative peace. The Saviors live under the careful supervision of the other communities, having undergone disarmament. Many survivors still resent each other; some Saviors wish to return to Negan’s rule while many in the other communities resent living alongside Saviors who killed or tortured their loved ones before or during the war. Hilltop has become the most prosperous community in the region thanks to its abundant food supplies, while Sanctuary is also suffering from failing crops.
  • Eighteen months after Hilltop’s election, Gregory attempts to have Maggie killed and is hanged for his treachery.
  • Michonne begins drafting a constitution and legally binding protection pact between the communities, seeking to establish some form of law and order having been disturbed by Maggie’s execution of Gregory (which she and Rick recognized as a slight against their choice to spare Negan).
  • Maggie, Daryl, and the survivors of Oceanside enact a scheme so Maggie can covertly kill Negan. However, Maggie relents upon seeing Negan has fallen into despair during his incarceration.
  • Complications from Maggie’s plot result in a walker horde arriving and threatening the communities. Rick presumably sacrifices himself to blow up a bridge and the horde. Unknown to anyone, he is airlifted to safety by Anne and a CRM helicopter. Anne uses him as a bargaining chip to join the Civic Republic, eventually retaking the name Jadis (with the surname “Stokes”, as a tribute to her brief romance with Gabriel Stokes). She is allowed to bypass the consignee program for having produced Rick, and later enlists in the CRM itself, rising to join their military’s command structure.
    • Rick becomes a prisoner of the CRM and becomes a consignee, but tries to escape to the shock of the CRM. Okafor, now a lieutenant of the CRM, vouches for him to keep him alive. Rick eventually makes a third escape attempt, and writes a letter and leaves some of his belongings as a trail for one of his friends to potentially find on a boat. He is shortly thereafter recaptured by the CRM. The boat drifts to Bloodsworth Island, but Okafor and the CRM still study its contents beforehand and learn of the Coalition’s location.
  • Daryl retires to live in the woods as a hermit.
  • Morgan recovers from his destructive mental illnesses and reforms the remainder of Madison's group into a caravan of public servants who seek to do good around Texas.

     Year Five (2014) 

  • Morgan's group comes into conflict with the Pioneers led by Virginia, who is offended by their good deeds outside of her control. After a prolonged conflict in which John Dorie, Jr., is killed by Virginia’s daughter Dakota, Virginia is finally defeated and soon executed by June, John’s now-widowed wife.
  • Alicia is kidnapped by Teddy and conscripted to lead a segment of his death cult in Senator Vasquez's bunker, which they have recently taken over after killing everyone inside. Alicia reluctantly accepts leadership at Arno's request.
  • Soon afterward, Morgan's community becomes aware of Teddy's death cult who intend to wipe out as much of the world as they can using a nuclear submarine beached in Galveston. Strand, wanting the glory of saving the day for himself, tries to kill Morgan to get himself to Teddy faster, unwittingly buying Teddy enough time to launch several nukes that come down over Texas and Louisiana.
    • Countless people die in the bombings, and weather patterns also carry the nuclear fallout to unsuspecting locations. A cave-in in Alicia's bunker traps her with a walker that bites her. Though she's rescued and has her bitten arm amputated, a lingering infection convinces Alicia that she's going to die of the walker virus. She leads the cultists out of the bunker, but when she becomes convinced she can follow the walker of Senator Vasquez to PADRE, Arno rebels against her with his own splinter cell that become known as the Stalkers.
  • Strand takes ownership of one of the few habitable zones left in Texas and becomes bitter rivals with Morgan, refusing to take any blame for the devastation. Strand soon prepares to go to war with the combined forces of his old comrades in Morgan's group, Alicia's group, and the Stalkers who are left leaderless when Daniel kills Arno.
    • When Strand takes baby Mo hostage, John, Sr. sacrifices himself to get her back to Morgan.
    • However, the war is over before it begins when Strand and Alicia's bickering results in a fire destroying the Tower; when a horde of walkers who collected lethal amounts of radiation from a crater are drawn to the burning building, Morgan's group deems Texas a lost cause and evacuate using rafts to sail into the Gulf of Mexico. Alicia is left behind when she believes she is going to die of an infection, but recovers and strikes out on her own. She forms a network of survivors helping others, many of whom were turned away from the Tower by Strand.
    • Alicia later encounters Troy and the pregnant Serena and helps save the latter from a walker bite. Serena becomes inspired to do good like Alicia but is mortally wounded by a hostile survivor who lured her into a trap. Troy is devastated and left to raise his daughter Tracy alone and holds Alicia responsible for Serena’s death. He finds and attacks her again but is forced to retreat after injuring her; his right-hand man Russell is sent to hunt Alicia down but when he fails to find her, lies that Alicia died of her injuries. Alicia learns of Russell’s deception and begins using an alias to continue helping people, while her group keeps her legend alive after believing Troy’s claim that he killed her.
  • Morgan, having left Texas ahead of the intended war, drifts in the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana where Mo is kidnapped by Madison for PADRE. After learning of the death of Nick and the apparent demise of Alicia, Madison agrees to help Morgan rescue Mo from PADRE as penance.
    • Morgan and Madison arrive at PADRE and quickly begin to overthrow their captors. Madison is eventually captured, but she witnesses Morgan escape with Mo and accepts imprisonment, believing she has made amends. However, Morgan is caught in a swamp in the mainland and is forced to call PADRE for help, allowing them to take Mo from him. He reunites with Grace and the group once they are taken in by PADRE, and reluctantly becomes a collector of children, though he only collects orphaned children or those who were abandoned by their parents. Mo is brought up by PADRE under the name "Wren".
    • The rest of Morgan's group is incorporated into PADRE's work force, save for a group including Strand, who get separated while at sea and end up elsewhere.
      • Sherry gives birth to her and Dwight's son, who is given the codename "Finch" by PADRE; she and Dwight hide the fact that the latter is the boy's father so that they can work together within PADRE and try to keep an eye on their son from afar.
      • June is made to conduct experiments involving radiation as a means of curing walker bites, but eventually flees when the emotional weight of all her patients dying from the radiation becomes too much, going into hiding in the wild and conducting raids on Collectors.
      • Luciana is tasked with setting up supply depots on the mainland, which she uses to set up secret convoys spreading as far as Arizona to help people PADRE otherwise wouldn't bother with. Daniel is deemed too old to be useful and is nearly executed, but Luciana successfully bargains for his life when she agrees to help PADRE procure and refine gasoline. Daniel is exiled and finds and joins a militia formed of people whose children have been taken by PADRE. Charlie is successfully saved from seemingly fatal radiation burns she received in Texas and joins Luciana's network.
      • Strand and several members of the group wash ashore in Georgia and are not found by PADRE, but Strand quickly becomes an outcast due to his past misdeeds. Strand later claims the group all perished from unknown causes, forcing him to flee on his own. He arrives at the community formed in the Emissary Suites, and falls in love with one of its leaders, Frank. They marry and Strand becomes the adoptive father of his adult son Klaus; however, Strand takes on the alias Anton to distance himself from his past actions.
  • Eight months pass as Daryl and Michonne continue to search for Rick. Michonne's college friend, Jocelyn, arrives in Alexandria leading a group of about a dozen children. Jocelyn then double-crosses Michonne by stealing food, killing a resident, and kidnapping the community's children. Michonne and Daryl catch up to Jocelyn's group and kill all but one of the children; however, Michonne is left with severe emotional scars and decides not to let strangers into Alexandria anymore and implements a hardline isolationist policy, severing ties with the other members of the Coalition.
  • Michonne gives birth to Rick "R.J." Grimes, Jr., who she conceived with Rick prior to his apparent death.
  • The council of Alexandria, headed by Gabriel and also consisting of Laura, Siddiq, and Aaron, accepts Michonne as the head of security for the town, giving her the power to veto the council’s decisions. However, Michonne’s poor attitude and paranoia soon leads to her vetoing nearly every decision the council makes, making them effectively powerless compared to her.
  • After Dee kills Hera, she and Lydia meet former country music legend Half-Moon in an abandoned asylum. He later joins them and they take over the Whisperers, with Dee taking the name "Alpha" and Half-Moon assuming the name "Beta". Alpha develops techniques to lead and control the undead, and turns the Whisperers into a cult of survivors who live in the woods like hunter-gatherers. Alpha also gathers a horde that eventually numbers in the thousands as her ultimate weapon. Whenever the Whisperers find an organized community, Alpha destroys it with her horde, seeing them as insults to her way of life and believing her cult is the only way for people to survive.

     Year Six (2015) 

  • Jerry announces that he and Nabila are expecting their first child.
  • Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Oceanside remain loyal allies and also remain friends to Alexandria’s survivors, keeping their lingering connection secret from Michonne who still refuses to allow any contact with the other communities.

     Year Seven (2016) 

  • Maggie leaves Hilltop with young Hershel to help Georgie build up other communities. Jesus is appointed leader of Hilltop in her absence, but he chafes in the role due to not believing he is a capable leader, leaving Tara to do much of the groundwork for the community.
  • Daryl encounters Dog as a puppy.
  • Dog returns a few months later and Daryl follows him to a cabin where he meets Leah.

     Year Eight (2017) 

  • Daryl runs into Leah while returning Dog and listens to her backstory. The two of them observe the August 21, 2017 eclipse together and shortly afterwards become lovers.

     Year Nine (2018) 

  • After being in a relationship for ten months, Daryl continues to search for Rick's body. Fed up, Leah asks him to choose between her and the life he left behind. Daryl chooses Leah but before he can tell her returns to the cabin to find her gone, and is left to adopt Dog in her absence. Unbeknownst to him, Leah has reunited with the Reapers.
    • Rick makes a fourth attempt to escape the CRM, cutting off his left hand to do so, but is recaptured. Okafor vouches for him yet again and brings in him and another consignee named Thorne to groom them for positions within the CRM’s command, wanting their help in reforming the CRM from their monstrous actions. Rick joins Okafor’s unit to seek a fifth opportunity to escape.

     Year Ten (2019) 

  • The Sanctuary falls and its remaining members either join the communities or live on the road as bandits led by Jed and Regina.

     Year Eleven (2020) 

  • The tenth anniversary of the founding of the Civic Republic of Philadelphia. However, the CRM is unwilling to surrender its power back to the Republic, and has deemed the other states an unnecessary strain on their resources. The CRM begins gassing its other states and hiding it under the claims that walker hordes are responsible, seeking to make the case that the CRM must retain its unilateral power indefinitely.
  • Rick makes his fifth attempt to escape but fails when a young girl is nearly caught in the collateral damage of his escape and Thorne forces him to return. Thorne warns him that Okafor and the CRM know of Alexandria, causing Rick to confront Okafor and have him confirm it. Rick loses hope for escaping back home and decides to commit to the CRM and help reform it at Okafor’s side.
  • The efforts of a group of survivors led by Hope and Iris Bennett manage to thwart the CRM’s attempted genocide of the Portland colony. Half of the group remains behind to continue working on a cure for the walker plague, while the other half begins traveling on foot to Portland to prepare them for war with the CRM.
  • Anne returns to Virginia and surprises Gabriel, who agrees to keep her presence quiet. They spend the day together and after Anne expresses discomfort with her actions back in the CRM, they agree to meet again at the same place in a year.
  • Another election is held at Hilltop but is mostly a formality as Jesus runs unopposed, though he still mostly shirks his responsibilities off on Tara Chambler.
  • Magna's group (consisting of Connie, Kelly, Yumiko, a music teacher named Luke, and Magna herself) is rescued by a now pre-teen Judith Grimes. They are taken to Alexandria and later Hilltop.
  • Jesus is killed by a Whisperer; after the group captures Lydia, Alpha demands her back during a stand-off at Hilltop. Alpha becomes paranoid of losing control of the Whisperers due to witnessing the Coalition’s successful way of life and begins a long-term plan to wipe them out.
  • Negan escapes from his cell but after finding the remains of the Sanctuary and narrowly surviving living on his own, he returns to his cell and begins seeking to earn a place in the community, accepting that his old ways are long gone.
  • At a fair hosted in the Kingdom, Michonne reconnects with the other communities and the leaders all sign the mutual protection pact she drafted years ago. Michonne finally concedes that Gabriel is the political leader of Alexandria.
    • During the fair, Alpha captures and massacres ten survivors, including Tara, Enid, and Carol’s adopted son Henry. Alpha marks a chunk of territory and demands the Coalition not cross into it or she will wipe them out with a thousands-strong horde at her command. With failing resources and dented morale, the Coalition is forced to respect Alpha’s borders.
  • The Kingdom soon falls into disrepair due to failing pipes, a fire, and the trauma of the pike massacre on their grounds. They take refuge at Hilltop where a council largely headed by Yumiko now governs the community.
  • During the particularly ferocious winter, due to being at the mercy of the elements, the Whisperers and their horde migrate far south, leaving the Coalition in a time of unperturbed, but uneasy peace. Carol divorces Ezekiel due to the strain placed on their marriage from the grief of losing Henry.
    • During a blizzard, Negan rescues Judith when she is lost outside in the storm, earning Michonne's gratitude. He is subsequently allowed some more luxuries in his cell and allowed to work manual labor for the community under guard in a form of work-release.
  • Dr. Everett’s solitude is interrupted by Amy, a woman separated from her group. Though they bond over their love of nature, Everett remains convinced that the undead are the new dominant species of the planet and refuses to help Amy’s group when they are attacked by a horde. Having lost his last chance at reconnecting with humans, Everett sadly makes Amy his latest specimen for research after finding she and her group have perished and reanimated.

     Year Twelve (2021) 

  • In the following spring, the Coalition begins training up its communities for what many feel is an inevitable war with the Whisperers, who return to their land for the first time in months but continue to hide the horde until the time is right.
  • Ezekiel notices a cancerous growth on his neck, and believes (not without reason) that he is doomed due to the Coalition not having modern medicine.
  • Alpha begins breaking down the communities with seemingly random walker attacks and acts of sabotage, using her spy Dante to whip up paranoia and disease in Alexandria. At a meeting, Alpha lays claim to land including the Coalition’s hunting grounds to starve them out.
    • Lydia is bullied for being Alpha's daughter and is nearly beaten to death by Margo, Gage, and Alfred. Negan intervenes to rescue Lydia, accidentally killing Margo in the process. Aaron and several other residents call for his execution, believing he cannot be redeemed and are unwilling to sympathize with Lydia.
  • Eugene makes radio contact with Max Mercer, a woman in the Commonwealth who uses the codename “Stephanie”, with the two becoming romantically interested in each other.
  • The Whisperer War begins.
    • Carol destroys a chunk of the horde in a cave, but the horde is so large it makes no sizable dent in their ranks.
    • Under Carol’s orders, Negan infiltrates the Whisperers, the alternative facing likely execution from Alexandria.
    • The Battle of Hilltop: Alpha leads the horde to Hilltop where the survivors are forced to flee after a prolonged battle. Hilltop Colony falls.
    • Negan assassinates Alpha and convinces Daryl and the group that he is on their side.
    • Eugene begins leading Ezekiel and Yumiko to make contact with the Commonwealth, taking in Juanita “Princess” Sanchez along the way. The four are captured by Commonwealth troopers and go through extensive auditing; they are eventually allowed inside the Commonwealth when Yumiko impresses the auditors with her legal background.
    • Michonne leaves with Virgil in search of a cache of guns on Bloodsworth Island. She finds out Virgil lied and is actually keeping three people prisoner on the island. After freeing them and sparing Virgil, Michonne discovers some of Rick’s belongings and finds a lead that may indicate where he has been. Michonne begins traveling north to search for Rick, but asks Judith over the radio to not tell anyone the true nature of her whereabouts.
    • Beta takes command of the Whisperers and begins hunting down the communities, devastating much of Alexandria’s infrastructure when he is unable to find any survivors there. Beta and the horde are defeated by the Coalition at last.
  • Michonne briefly joins a survivor caravan but convinces Aiden, Bailey, Nat, and several others to leave the ruthless survivalists running the migration. Michonne invites them all to return to the Coalition without her, but they insist on helping her find Rick first. However, they are found by the CRM and bombarded with chlorine gas. All but Michonne and Nat die, and the damage to their lungs is so severe they are forced to take shelter in a building for a year, unable to travel.
  • Maggie’s community of Meridian is conquered by the Reapers, who declare Maggie their mortal enemy despite having taken the community unprovoked. She and several other members of the Wardens head to Virginia to take refuge at Hilltop, only to learn of its fall during the Whisperer War. One Reaper, Montanio, has hunted the Wardens across the state but commits suicide upon being defeated, warning Maggie she is marked for death by Pope.
  • The combined survivors of Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, and Meridian all live at Alexandria, straining the decimated community to its limits (Oceanside is the only community untouched by the Whisperer War but is too distant and small to provide any viable aid).
  • Though several residents remain grateful to him for slaying Alpha, most of the community still refuses to accept Negan as a trustworthy ally and barely tolerate his presence even though they allow him to walk around freely. Negan considers living on his own when Carol provides him a safe place to stay, but after coming to terms with the death of Lucille, decides to stick it out and stay in Alexandria despite knowing that Maggie will likely try to kill him.
  • Gabriel meets with Anne again. He asks her to ask her community to lend aid to the struggling Coalition but she refuses.
  • The Reaper Conflict:
    • Maggie leads an expedition to retake Meridian and its food supply from the Reapers. Many of the Wardens die during the ensuing conflict; soon only Maggie, Negan, Gabriel, Elijah, Alden, and Daryl are left.
    • Alden is gravely wounded by a Reaper and is left behind in a church. A Reaper finds and kills him, but not before he similarly mortally wounds his murderer.
    • Daryl discovers Leah’s survival and that she is a loyal Reaper. He is captured and tortured for information but lies that Alexandria fell years ago and he is on his own, having only recently joined Maggie’s group. He convinces Leah and Pope that Maggie is raising an army nearby to attack Meridian, keeping them on a wild goose chase to buy Maggie time to retaliate.
    • Negan advises Maggie to be thorough with her extermination of the Reapers, as he relates how allowing the group present at his line-up where he murdered Glenn and Abraham to live was a failure on his part as a military commander. He teaches her to control hordes using his experience with the Whisperers.
    • The Battle of Meridian.
      • Maggie, Elijah, Gabriel, and Negan besiege the community with an accumulated horde as Daryl covertly helps them infiltrate the walls.
      • Pope is killed by Leah after admitting he only sees their family as collateral damage. Though Leah takes command of the Reapers, her reign is short-lived as Maggie successfully wipes out her remaining comrades. Maggie spares Leah out of courtesy to Daryl.
      • As the group heads home with the food supplies, Maggie discovers Alden’s death and puts him down.
      • Negan leaves the Coalition due to believing Maggie will one day succeed in killing him and deeming it the best choice for her and the Coalition to move on from his past atrocities. He joins the Riverbend Complex community and quickly marries a woman named Annie.
  • Leah loses much of her sanity out of grief for her slain family and becomes obsessed with taking revenge on Maggie.
  • At the Commonwealth, Eugene is tricked by Deputy Governor Lance Hornsby and his spy Shira, who is posing as "Stephanie", into giving up Alexandria's location. Lance begins helping the Coalition rebuild Alexandria and Hilltop, but secretly plots to use them as the foundation of his own power base for his own agenda against Pamela. Many of the Coalition's survivors take up residence at the Commonwealth, while some stay behind either to oversee reconstruction or in Maggie's case, because they do not trust the Commonwealth.
  • On Halloween, disgraced Commonwealth soldier Tyler Davis takes Max as a hostage during a ball held for the Commonwealth's elite but eventually surrenders to police custody. He is then abducted and taken to a secret labor camp without the knowledge of General Michael Mercer, Max's brother and the commander of the Commonwealth Army.
    • On the day of the ball, Carol strikes up a partnership with Lance who becomes impressed by her keen eye and pragmatism.
  • Wren discovers the imprisoned Madison who is horrified to learn that she is in fact Mo and that she and Morgan did not escape PADRE. Madison takes Wren to the mainland with her as a hostage where the girl encounters Morgan and Grace, and deduces that they are her parents. Madison is retaken as a prisoner while Mo returns to PADRE, her loyalty having been broken.
  • June encounters Dwight and Sherry as they're transporting their son Finch to a medical camp to be treated for appendicitis and agrees to handle the operation after their boat is too damaged to continue, the group agreeing to flee PADRE together afterwards. Unfortunately, they're caught by Shrike, who arrests them all and has Finch bit by a walker in order to compel June to return to work on researching a cure; miraculously, her treatment does save Finch's life. Madison is bought in to be used as a test subject as well, but is saved when Mo arrives to save her, followed soon after by Daniel's militia.
    • Shrike is taken prisoner and forced to reveal the truth about her father and brother, before managing to escape.
  • Morgan returns to King County to finally put Duane to rest and move on from his trauma, joined soon after by Grace and Mo. Morgan finds and kills the undead Duane, burying him and his mother, only for Grace to be bit by a walker shortly after. Desperate, Morgan decides to take her to June for treatment, joined by Sherry and Dwight, who have managed to escape alongside Finch. However, Finch begins to suffer from his bite again, June's treatment evidently failing. Despite everyone's efforts, Grace dies of her bite and is put down by Morgan. A despondent Mo returns to PADRE, unable to deal with the grief over the loss of her mother.
    • PADRE ultimately falls when Shrike is bitten by her long-dead father's walker, and Ben and the prefects are convinced to stand down and reform by Morgan, Mo, and Madison after a struggle. Madison assumes command of Daniel's militia and the remnants of PADRE, seeking to reunite the children of PADRE with any surviving parents. Ben eventually leaves and schemes to retake PADRE for himself.
    • Finch dies of his bite, and in their grief over the loss of their child, Dwight and Sherry decide that it's a sign they're not meant to be together and separate.
    • Morgan finally makes peace with his many losses and leaves Madison, Daniel, and their friends, as he decides to return to Alexandria with Mo at his side so he can reunite with Rick and his friends in the Coalition.
  • Madison's group comes into conflict with men led by Troy Otto. While fleeing them after an altercation, Madison ends up at the Emissary Suites where she reunites with Strand and exposes his true identity to Frank, Klaus, and his community. The two communities band together once Troy attacks them both and claims to have killed Alicia.
    • Madison's group reunites with Luciana and Charlie, with Madison learning that the latter killed Nick. Despite Charlie's apology, Madison orders her to infiltrate Troy's group to assassinate him. Madison eventually has second thoughts upon learning of Charlie's sincere efforts to atone, but it comes too late as Charlie ends up a hostage of Troy's and kills herself to remove his leverage. Madison learns that Troy holds her responsible for the death of his wife.
    • Troy prepares a horde to attack PADRE with but both he and Madison are attacked by Ben. Though Ben is killed by walkers and Troy calls off his attack to try to spare Tracy from the carnage, Madison refuses to trust him and kills him. Russell attacks PADRE with the group only surviving thanks to Madison’s apparent sacrifice luring the horde into an explosion.
    • In the aftermath, the group renames PADRE to MADRE in memory of the apparently deceased Madison. Luciana resumes control of PADRE and her network and she and Daniel peacefully part ways with Strand, who leaves with his family to start a new life. Dwight and Sherry decide to recolonize the Sanctuary to reform it into a genuine safe zone for the group to use. June and Odessa go to Texas where the former met John. Madison and the now orphaned Tracy are found by Alicia who happily reunited with her mother. Adopting Tracy into their family, the Clark’s decide to return to Los Angeles, but not before they discretely make Strand aware of their survival and reunion, giving him comfort and peace.

     Year Thirteen (2022) 
  • Gabriel meets with Anne again. This time, though they profess some lingering feelings for each other, she declares her intent to kill him, but cannot go through with it, satisfying Gabriel who is happy to see she is still the person she was before.
  • Carol assists Lance in exposing a poppy farmer named Moto for his embezzling of Commonwealth money. In return, Lance allows Ezekiel to be bumped to the top of the list for surgery. Yumiko's brother Tomi successfully removes the tumor and saves Ezekiel's life.
  • In Marchnote , Pamela’s spoiled son Sebastian Milton extorts Daryl and Rosita into getting a cache of cash for him. The pair realize he has sent dozens of people to their deaths to try to get the money for him already, but are advised to keep quiet by Mercer despite his own distaste for the Milton's.
  • Eugene discovers that Shira is an impostor and finally meets Max, beginning a relationship with her. Max helps Eugene, Connie, and several others gather the intel needed to publish a whistleblower story on Sebastian's actions that shatters Pamela's public image.
  • Believing them to be responsible for the capture of a Commonwealth weapons supply, Lance orders the extermination of a community in the Riverbend apartment complex. When his agent Toby Carlson is defeated by Aaron, Gabriel, Maggie, and Negan, Lance hires Leah, the true culprit behind the theft, to kill Maggie. However, after Leah fails and is killed by Daryl, Lance drops all pretenses and conquers the Coalition's communities by force. Maggie begins to accept Negan as a trustworthy ally and begins preparing to fight back against Lance.
  • While the others keep Lance's forces busy, Negan sneaks into the Commonwealth to inform the Coalition members there of what's happened. With protests erupting over the exposure of Sebastian's crimes, Carol is able to convince Pamela to send out forces to arrest Lance, pinning Sebastian's actions on him.
  • During the Commonwealth's Founder's Day celebrations, Max and Eugene broadcast a recording of Sebastian ranting about the corruption inherent in the Commonwealth's system, further tarnishing the Miltons' reputation. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Lance's agents kill maintenance workers so that they will revive and attack the crowds. During the resulting chaos, Sebastian tries to feed Max to a walker, only to be killed himself when Eugene inadvertently throws the walker on him while saving Max.
  • On the road back to the Coalition settlements with supplies, Aaron, Jerry, Lydia and Elijah are attacked by variant walkers that are smart enough to climb walls and open doors. The group are shocked to learn that such walkers are not merely rumors.
  • Pamela goes off the deep end after the loss of her son and the damage to her reputation and declares Eugene public enemy #1, seeking to throw a show trial that will end in his execution as revenge. To force Yumiko to comply and prosecute Eugene for her, Pamela has the Coalition residents rounded up by black ops agents and taken to a prison camp, threatening their lives as well as Yumiko and Mercer's loved ones. Yumiko defies Pamela once she realizes her brother Tomi is a beloved figure in the Commonwealth and declares her intent to defend Eugene. Eugene is found guilty and sentenced to summary execution, but Mercer finally has enough and defects to the Coalition's side, rescuing Eugene before his sentence can be carried out.
  • Only Daryl and Carol escape the mass seizure of their friends, freeing the captured Lance to help them escape the Commonwealth safely. When he outlives his usefulness, Carol kills him. The pair rescue Connie and a few others before arriving at the conquered Alexandria to aid in a successful uprising against the Commonwealth Warden.
  • The Coalition members sneak back into the Commonwealth to aid Mercer in staging a rebellion against Pamela. Unfortunately, she deduces what they're planning and has Mercer arrested, while staging an ambush for the Coalition fighters, severely wounding Judith before they can escape. Fortunately, they are able to keep Judith stable long enough to free Mercer, whose fellow rebels help get them to Tomi, who saves her life.
    • While she is being treated, Judith lets slip the true nature of Michonne's mission to find Rick to Daryl and eventually comes clean to him and Carol.
  • A horde of walkers is lured to the Commonwealth on Pamela's orders to scare the angry crowds protesting Eugene's sentencing back into submission. However, the horde contains variant walkers, who scale the walls and open the gates, allowing the entire horde into the Commonwealth. Losing her grip, Pamela orders her army to only protect the homes of herself and her elite allies, leaving thousands of lower class citizens to die. This eventually causes her loyalist soldiers to defect to Mercer and the Coalition, who arrest her and then work together to wipe out the horde.
  • While fighting the horde, Luke and Jules are killed, while Rosita is bitten and infected. After helping to defeat the horde, she spends a final day with her loved ones before succumbing and being put down by Eugene.
  • Negan apologizes to Maggie for killing Glenn, finally earning some peace with her as she says he and Annie have earned their place in the community and says she wants to try to move past her hatred for him even though she will never forgive him.
  • Alexandria and Hilltop are rebuilt as equal members of the Commonwealth, which comes under the leadership of Ezekiel and Mercer as Governor and Lieutenant Governor, as well as Carol as Director of Operations. Pamela is sentenced to life in prison for her actions.
  • Michonne and Nat finally recover enough from the chlorine attack to be able to travel. They find the last place Rick might have been (where he was recaptured by the CRM following his third escape attempt), and Michonne decides to give up and return home for her children’s sake.
  • While heading to Alexandria, Michonne and Nat notice a CRM helicopter, unaware that Rick and Okafor are inside. Nat shoots down the helicopter, killing Okafor. Michonne slaughters the CRM troopers inside until she gets to Rick, finally reuniting with him at last. Their joy is short-lived as Nat is killed by a surviving trooper and Rick is forced to feed Michonne a cover story to try to hide her being from Alexandria.
  • Michonne is screened and becomes a consignee with the alias "Dana Bethune", and Rick begins covertly plotting for them to escape together. However, Jadis discovers Michonne’s arrival and warns Rick that if they try to escape she will see to it that the Coalition is destroyed. Rick is unable to ignore Jadis’s threat and tries to covertly send Michonne home, but she refuses to leave without him.
  • In the wake of Okafor’s death, Thorne receives a promotion to a command position and becomes even more dedicated to the CRM. She reluctantly takes Michonne on as an apprentice but nearly kills her during a mission on the west coast. Rick angrily tries to order Michonne home without him, but Michonne instead grabs him during a helicopter ride and they fall out into a lake. They take shelter in a well-kept, but abandoned building where they finally have it out. Michonne realizes the gravity of the threat that the CRM poises to Alexandria; Rick finally learns that he has a new son and heals his relationship with Michonne, before the pair leave. They see their helicopter has crashed into the building, and witness another CRM helicopter destroying theirs, providing a window to escape back home.
  • Rick and Michonne are tracked down by Jadis and after a tense, prolonged confrontation, Jadis is bitten on the neck by a walker. Eventually giving in to her remorse, Jadis tells them her dossier on Alexandria is at the Cascadia base. Rick puts her down and after officially marrying each other, he and Michonne set off for a CRM jump point to return to the CR and destroy the dossier - with Michonne deciding they must destroy the CRM with the aid of a CR civilian revolution.

     Year Fourteen (2023) 
  • Gabriel shows up for his annual meeting and is disappointed when the now-dead Anne doesn’t show.
  • Eugene and Max have a daughter they name Rosie after Rosita.
  • Maggie decides to start sending out explorers into the lands outside their territories, while Daryl goes off on his own to track down Rick and Michonne.
  • Negan and Annie settle in New Babylon's territory. One day while heading into town to trade, Annie is robbed and assaulted by New Babylon soldiers; upon learning this, Negan hunts down and kills the men responsible. As this earns him an order of execution from New Babylon, Negan puts Annie and their son Joshua on a wagon train to Missouri but stays behind in order to protect them from retribution.
  • The Burazi search the Sanctuary for Negan only to find it having long since fallen. The Croat learns of the events of the Savior War and Negan's murder of Glenn that paved the way to his defeat. This story also reaches New Babylon, but both factions are unaware of Negan's change of heart since then.
  • Daryl journeys to the Maine coast and works for a group of walker-hunters to get some fuel. He comes to blows with another hunter, Juno, and the men are imprisoned aboard a ship heading across the Atlantic as punishment. The pair work together to escape but Juno is killed by a variant walker aboard the sinking ship. Daryl narrowly escapes into a rowboat, floating all the way to France.
    • While wandering in France, Daryl is accosted by survivors and kills Cause soldier Michel Codron in self-defense. He is taken in by the Abbey where he learns Laurent dreamed of his arrival weeks ago, and Isabelle asks him to escort Laurent so that he can become a deliverer from the apocalypse. Michel's older brother raids the Abbey to take revenge on Daryl. Most of the nuns are wiped out, and Daryl agrees to help escort Isabelle and Laurent in exchange for help getting passage back to North America.
    • Daryl, Isabelle, and Laurent come upon an underground club run by Quinn who reveals he is Laurent's father. Quinn learns of the Cause's bounty on Daryl, but Isabelle volunteers to stay with Quinn so that Daryl and Laurent can escape. However, Genet betrays Quinn and imprisons him, Laurent, and Isabelle; she sees Laurent's myth as a violation of her control and wants him under her thumb to subjugate any of his followers. She forces Daryl and Quinn to fight walkers that her scientists have been experimenting on in an attempt to weaponize them, but they are saved by an attack by the Union. While Quinn dies in the process, the others manage to escape and make their way to "the Nest", the Union's headquarters at Mont-Saint-Michel, where Daryl finds himself torn between staying with Laurent and Isabelle and being able to go home.
    • In America, Carol begins searching for Daryl.

     Year Sixteen (2025) 
  • A man named Davon ends up taken into a community in Maine where he forms a romantic relationship with a woman named Nora. However, he discovers that Nora’s nephew Arnaud is killing the community’s children to prevent them from growing up to do horrible things to survive, with his next intended victim his own cousin Garen (Nora’s son). Nora’s sister Amanda, who has been covering for Arnaud, attacks Davon but is accidentally killed by Davon in self-defense. Arnaud frames Davon for the child kidnappings, and the bloodthirsty townspeople nearly execute him. Davon escapes and narrowly manages to expose Arnaud as the true culprit, but pleads for mercy and humanity. Nora and the community ignore him and brutally execute Arnaud for his crimes, causing Davon to leave town in disgust.
  • Hilltop separates into a secondary location called The Bricks. The Croat's forces raid the community and take Hershel as a hostage for leverage to make Maggie bring Negan to him. Maggie tracks down Negan, who has had a bounty placed on him by New Babylon's authorities, and lies that the Croat merely took Hershel hostage as insurance after taking all the Bricks' grain, saying that she needs Negan's help to rescue Hershel and retrieve the food. The two head to Manhattan, pursued by New Babylon marshal Perlie Armstrong, and ally with a group of survivors, the Tribespeople, against the Croat's forces.
    • The Tribespeople all perish in the ensuing raid on the Croat’s stronghold. Maggie reveals her deception and turns over Negan to the Croat, earning Hershel back. Negan reluctantly plays along when the Dama threatens to strike the Bricks if he doesn’t cooperate with her goal to have him unite Manhattan Island under his rule.
    • Perlie realizes Negan is not the monster New Babylon dubbed him and returns to his superiors lying that he killed him, only to realize that New Babylon is plotting to mount an unprovoked invasion of Manhattan to seize the Burazi’s methane-powered resources for themselves.

Top