The Walking Dead Introduces Major New Community Story Over Radio

The Walking Dead introduced a new character on Sunday night as the world of the zombie apocalypse continues to expand on AMC. In Sunday night’s Episode 10×06 (titled “Bonds”), Eugene Porter used pieces of the satellite which fell from the sky in the first episode of Season 10 to boost the range of his radio. While it had previously been used to communicate between the communities, Eugene has now, for the first time, reached a community outside Alexandria and the Hilltop. The AMC series seems to be setting up a story known to fans of The Walking Dead comics as Eugene might just be reaching out to the Commonwealth.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 10×06 follow. Major spoilers!

Throughout Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead, Eugene exchanged some words with a woman over the radio. This woman was not willing to share where she is or how many people she is with but she was willing to share some details about herself. The woman on the radio opened up about being from Strasburg, Pennsylvania which is a location Eugene was very familiar with.

The thick of the details the woman revealed was a love for a location in Strasburg called The Inside Scoop. As it turns out, Eugene had also been there prior to the fall of the apocalypse, despite being from Dallas, Texas himself. They joked back and forth about how they like their ice cream but ultimately agreed to continue their conversations. The woman’s conditions required no one else being on the radio to talk with her and no one knowing about their conversations. Eugene agreed, as he did in the comics.

In Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comics, the woman on the radio eventually reveals herself to be a woman named Stephanie. Stephanie comes from the Commonwealth community, a group of well-established survivors about 50,000 strong who are living in Ohio. The community ultimately has its political flaws but becomes the final destination for the series as Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic story concluded shortly after the group arrived in the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth has been teased multiple times on The Walking Dead. There was a small windmill at the Hilltop with “Commonwealth” written on it but more importantly Maggie seems to have left with the TV show’s equivalent to the Commonwealth’s leader. In the books, the group is lead by a woman named Governor Pamela Milton, but the introduction of Jayne Atkinson as a woman calling herself “Georgie” seems to be first appearance of a Commonwealth character. This would mean that either the TV series changed the name of the Commonwealth’s leader or Pamela Milton lied about her name upon meeting survivors from the Hilltop which seems like a possibility to protect herself.

The Walking Dead‘s chief content officer Scott Gimple previously revealed that the Dead universe will be exploring a trio of communities which are surviving much better than Alexandria and those which surround it. One of those communities will be debuting in the third Walking Dead series set for Spring 2020, one of those communities is where Rick Grimes flew off to, and the other may be the Commonwealth community where Maggie is hanging out.

With the casting of Princess and return of Lauren Cohan, the Commonwealth — or the TV equivalent to the community — might not be far off.

Where do you think the woman Eugene is talking to is located? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter!

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC.