The Walking Dead Mystery Woman Is Not Lilly Caul

When The Walking Dead #127 hits the stands on May 14, it will mark "a new beginning" for the title -- one that seemingly features an entirely new group of survivors, with Rick Grimes and his closest family and friends not appearing on the next few covers. It appears, following the events of "All-Out War," that the move was just to maintain the element of surprise and prevent anyone from seeing which characters did and did not make it out of that storyline alive (the answer was surprising). So...what of the new cast, most importantly the mysterious woman who sits front-and-center on the cover of #127 and battles a zombie on the cover of #128? Well, many fans had speculated (and we got in on the act, too) that she might be a callback to an earlier story. The most popular theory was that it was in fact Lilly Caul -- a character who disappeared into the area around the prison after it fell and who has never been seen again in the comics. She has, however, appeared in the trilogy of novels based on The Governor and will star in her own, upcoming installment soon.

Not so, says Robert Kirkman. In the "Letter Hacks" column at the back of The Walking Dead #126, a fan wrote in, asking why Lily Caul is back in # 127. Kirkman responded, "That is not Lily." With no other details to go on, it's possible that one of the other circulating theories is true (the idea of this woman being the anonymous one who stabbed Eric when he tried to prevent her stealing a horse has always rang true to me, since why introduce that and never pay it off?), but certainly it's not a guarantee. Meanwhile, a connection we never made before: What about that shipping container, tractor trailer or boxcar the survivors are on top of? Interesting just such a container is so significant at the moment on the TV series...!