‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Spoilers: What Happens in the Comics?

Following the All Out War story, The Walking Dead comics underwent a significant change, just as the AMC TV series plans to do.

Though the TV show seemed to be offering a finale not only for Season Eight but for its entire 115-episode run to date, the comic book was primed for the story to continue. The TV series will inevitably do the same as Season Nine is gearing up for production but the landscape will be forever changed as the AMC zombie show starts fresh.

Not only will a new showrunner take control as Scott Gimple shifts out of the role and Angela Kang takes his place but the characters will have survived several more years in the apocalypse.

Let’s take a look at what’s to come on The Walking Dead in Season Nine if it is going to follow its comic book source material…

Time Jump

Following the All Out War storyline in The Walking Dead comics, the series sees a massive time jump which overlooks the immediate aftermath of Rick and Negan’s battles. 

“Also, maybe in a couple of episodes time, there may be a jump ahead in the curve and maybe setting themselves to that job at hand,” Rick actor Andrew Lincoln told ComicBook.com during Season Eight’s airing. 

Somewhere in the unspecified amount of time which passed in The Walking Dead‘s time jump, Maggie Rhee delivers her baby, Carl grew several years older, and Alexandria was rebuilt to more closely resemble a civilization.

While the amount of time is never specifically defined, it has been estimated to have been anywhere from two to five years, with the longer side seeming to be more accurate. 

Gone Fishing

When the comics picked up in a post-All Out War time jump, Michonne had banished herself from Alexandria and its ally communities.

The character elected to go spend time at the Oceanside community (which has not yet been introduced during the time of the war’s conclusion in the comics) as a means to avoid fighting. For a while, it appeared Carol might follow such a storyline and head out of town back in the days where she was exiling herself to a home near the Kingdom.

Now, it appears Morgan Jones may have followed Michonne’s path of exile as a means to prevent himself from killing to survive. On Fear the Walking Dead, he told Althea, “I don’t kill,” indicating that his alone time was quite therapeutic. Of course, Michonne eventually returned to the mix, so Morgan Jones could be expected to come home when the crossover has concluded or turns into a merger. 

The Windmill

The Walking Dead is looking to bring a massive piece of its comic book source material to life for its ninth season on television.

“Monday night, Location Manager Mike Riley asked the Senoia City Council for permission to build a 55-foot tall windmill on the ‘Alexandria’ site, located the Gin Property development in downtown,” Newnan Times-Herald reports, “and to keep it there for three years.”

A video surfaced earlier in April which showed construction was already underway at the Alexandria set’s location as the AMC show is set to begin production on Season Nine on April 30.

If the windmill is any indication of the show’s narrative, fans should expect a considerable time jump between Season Eight and Season Nine, just as the comic book experienced between issue #126 and issue #127. The windmill first appeared in the latter issue.

The Whisperers

Whether or not the Whisperers were teased in the Season Eight finale, the group will almost certainly be making its way to the AMC show in Season Nine.

The Whisperer group is unlike anything The Walking Dead had ever introduced by the time they came around. Unlike the Woodbury and the Saviors, the Whisperers don’t have a single location they call home. Instead, they wear the skin and faces of the dead and walk among them, never speaking above a whisper, and constantly blending in. They have no rules and live without bounds and are eager to end anyone who will interfere with their way of life.

Unfortunately for characters like King Ezekiel and Rosita, the Alexandrian way of life interfered with the Whisperers, prompting Alpha to infiltrate the community and kidnap several residents. She would then use their heads on pike to mark the territory which Rick and his people were never to cross.

Alpha, a character whose pre-apocalyptic name is never revealed, had a daughter named Lydia. Lydia developed a relationship with Carl and elected stay at the Hilltop with him against her mother’s wishes but is ultimately handed over in a hostage exchange under Maggie and Alpha’s orders. The leader believes Rick and Maggie’s attempts to rebuild civilization are a “shrine to a long dead world.”