‘The Walking Dead’ Might Have Set Up Its Series Ending

In Sunday’s Episode 8×12, The Walking Dead might have laid the groundwork for its series to come to an inevitable conclusion when a woman going by the name of Georgie emerged from a truck.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 8×12, The Key, follow.

During Maggie, Michonne, and Enid’s trip outside of the Hilltop, they encountered and well-dressed woman with two low-key guards by names of Hilda and Mitch. This woman, a clear politician of sorts, never flinched when Maggie’s small army pointed guns at her and threatened to take what was hers. Instead, she offered a bit of information in exchange for musical records.

While the pantsuit and her people ultimately disappeared from the Hilltop, Georgie actress Jayne Atkinson promises ComicBook.com she has every reason to believe her character will be back somewhere down the road. “I don’t know when we’ll see her, but she does say, ‘I will be back,’” Atkinson said. “And to me, there was a wink-wink, nod-nod from the powers that be that there is a possibility of seeing Georgie in other universes, worlds of Walking Dead.”

With Georgie’s arrival, fans have two conflicting expectations based on The Walking Dead comics. First of all, many are expecting the post-All Out War time jump to take place following Season Eight, while many suspect Georgie of being the Commonwealth leader Pamela Milton who was introduced only three months ago and is in continued development. However, both of these scenarios can be fulfilled on the AMC show and ultimately lead to The Walking Dead‘s end game.

With Season Eight set to conclude the All Out War story of Rick fighting Negan, Season Nine can pick up in the aftermath of a significant time jump. From there, the Whisperer War can be carried out over Season Nine, and most like Season Ten, leading to the introduction of the Commonwealth community seen in the New World Order (or at least a tease) by the end of those 32 episodes.

In this time, the Commonwealth community will have grown and expanded, reaching its population of 50,000 survivors and having armed and highly trained guards with more modernized armor as seen in recent issues of The Walking Dead comics.

Furthermore, if actors like Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, or Lauren Cohan ever wish themselves away from the AMC zombie drama, their characters can be written out of the show in a way which could leave the door open for a return by, most importantly, not killing them. Such a feat has never been accomplished gracefully by The Walking Dead but if the show is to move its core setting to the Commonwealth community, some characters might elect to stay behind in favor of their location’s history and wish to build it further. Of course, this is all speculation as The Walking Dead comics have still hardly developed the Commonwealth community and its future is unknown.

It is rare for The Walking Dead to tease storylines more than a few episodes out. The Wolves saw some hints dropped late in Season Five before being a quick attack-and-done episode in Season Six, while Negan and the Saviors were first teased in the Mid-Season Six finale and became a prominent theme of the show ever since. The New World Order tease might be Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple planning for the long haul in the entire Dead universe.

This all means, though, that Georgie and the mysterious community from which she hails could be the end game of The Walking Dead, leading to a potential merger with the characters of Fear the Walking Dead and a rebuilding of civilization beyond Rick Grimes. After all, she is in control of The Key to the Future.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. Fear the Walking Dead will debut its fourth season after The Walking Dead concludes its eighth, at 10 pm ET on April 15. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.