Michael Rooker Explains How He Thinks The Walking Dead Ends

Despite experiencing a dip in ratings this season, The Walking Dead is still one of the most popular shows on television, so there’s no chance AMC will pull the plug on their zombie-apocalypse series anytime soon.

Also, it took six seasons for the show just to catch up to issue #100 of its comic book source material. Currently, the comics printed issue #161, so there’s several seasons’ worth of material to explore. And even when it get’s that point, the comic — which is published monthly — should still be going strong and even further ahead of the show.

Its creator, Robert Kirkman, had originally planned on ending the comic “as soon as everybody reached Alexandria,” but, clearly, he changed his mind. In May, during a Reddit AMA, Kirkman was asked if he has a new ending planned for The Walking Dead. “Yes, but y’know… It’s not happening for a long, LOOOOOONG time,” he replied. However, without sharing any details, Kirkman stated more recently that the ending of the comic book series will be different from the TV series.

This past weekend at Walker Stalker Con, Michael Rooker — who portrayed Merle Dixon on the AMC hit show — offered his own personal theory on how the show will conclude. “A railroad track…going on forever, into the setting sun,” Rooker explained to the crowd. “From behind camera, a single individual walks down the middle of the track…into the setting sun. You realize that individual is Carl…all grown-up, a man of his own. No one else is with him—just him. And as he does his voiceover, you realize that all the seasons that you’ve seen is him reliving his past. So everyone on the show is dead. He’s the only survivor, and he’s on his own and walks off into the sunset. And that’s the end of the show.”

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Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead reigns as television’s most watched drama for adults 18-49 and tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse, and follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home.

The series stars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Steven Yeun as Glenn, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Chandler Riggs as Carl, Lauren Cohan as Maggie, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Melissa McBride as Carol, Sonequa-Martin Green as Sasha, Michael Cudlitz as Abraham, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan.

The Walking Dead is executive produced by Scott M. Gimple, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse.

The Walking Dead returns for the second half of Season 7 on February 12, 2016.