The Walking Dead: Beth's Fate to Be Revealed in Season Five

In spite of what series creator Robert Kirkman told fans during the postmortem for last week's season finale of AMC's The Walking Dead, the fate of Beth Greene will be addressed onscreen in the show's fifth season, according to showrunner Scott Gimple. "I'm neither sadistic nor evil, as far as I know," Gimple told a fan when asked why he hadn't revealed her story at the end of Season Four. "I will say Beth, in some state, is totally somewhere. I'll say then, that that's going to be answered next season. And I'm really excited to tell everybody the answer. It might be a little heartbreaking, it might be a little heartwarming, but it's going to be interesting." Following the season finale, Kirkman had been somewhat more cagey, saying, "She got taken, she's not back yet. I can say that Terminus has a lot of signs out there and it's certainly possible that all kinds of different people out there could make their way to Terminus in some way, so maybe Beth shows up to Terminus in Season 5… maybe not. I think I can say that Beth's story is not over. We'll see her again, maybe in Season 5, maybe not." The younger Greene daughter -- an amalgam of characters from the comics and thus one whose role is never as predictable as some of our heroes who have particular "mile markers" they have to hit (not that the show is all that predictable anyway) -- disappeared in what most fans suspected was a trap; after injuring her foot in an animal trap, she and Daryl made their way to a funeral home on the edge of the woods for shelter only to find that it was beautifully kept up, fully stocked with food...and empty. Eventually, a group of walkers found their way inside and the pair were separated, leading to Beth's abduction by a mysterious car. The Walking Dead returns to AMC with new episodes in October.