The Walking Dead: What's Next For Carol And Maggie?

Warning: Major spoilers for the twelfth episode of The Walking Dead's sixth season, Not Tomorrow Yet, follow.

The conclusion of Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead was anything but. Audiences were left with a major cliffhanger, racking their brains wondering who has Carol and Maggie and what will happen next.

As of now, there's no way of knowing. It's likely the Saviors who have them. Some viewers may have noticed that in the Saviors' compound there were a few women who were fighting, so there are indeed women in the group. One of those women likely escaped and found Carol and Maggie waiting nearby and took them hostage to stop Rick's group from getting away with their raid.

"I think Rick's pissed, first and foremost, because he's been pretty much in control since as long as we can remember," The Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero says of the ending. "The last time that he wasn't was in the opening of Terminus and they found a way out. I think it's interesting that our group's level of confidence grows, they become more daring. You know? Sneaking into a compound at night, that's a pretty bold and daring move."

As we know now, that bold move landed a couple of our friends in some trouble. Nicotero wasn't willing to spill how exactly Maggie and Carol's hostage situation would play out, but he did offer a bit of insight.

"In terms of when and how that's gonna play out, you'll just have to tune in because I don't wanna spoil that, but I can just say that Carol and Maggie may have let their guard down a little bit," Nicotero says. "I think it's a great line when Carol says, 'You're not supposed to be here. That's not who you're supposed to be.' I think it's very telling because Carol looks at Maggie as a promise for the future and an opportunity to bring life to the world, not death, but Carol has been so unsuspectingly dragged into this world of having to kill."

In the comics, it was an encounter between a group of the Saviors and Rick that led to Negan's unrelenting assault on Glenn's head, similar to what we saw between Abraham, Daryl, and Sasha go through prior to arriving back at Alexandria. However, one of those men survives the encounter and returns to Negan's Sanctuary to fill him in on what happened.

The best guess here would be that a fair trade will be made, The Saviors' man for Carol and Maggie, but the surviving Saviors will alert Negan and lead to his unavoidable arrival before the season's end.

Is Carol going to step in front of Negan's bat for Maggie earlier than any of us suspect?