How ‘The Walking Dead’ Foreshadowed Ezekiel’s Iconic Death

The Walking Dead made a distinct tease of King Ezekiel‘s iconic death from its comic book source material in Sunday’s Episode 8×04.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 8×04, Some Guy, follow!

After being taken hostage by a Savior outside of the outpost which ambushed the Kingdom soldiers, King Ezekiel was marched to a fence which was locked up and left him and his captor to be eaten by approaching walkers. The captor revealed he had specific instructions not to kill him as Negan wanted him as a trophy on the fence but was given little choice in this moment.

The captor said Ezekiel’s “head on a pike” would be enough to satisfy Negan.

While Ezekiel’s death would not come on this day, the words of this young Savior character were a clear reference to how Ezekiel was killed on the pages of Robert Kirkman’s comics.

Between issue #144 and issue #145, King Ezekiel was captured and murdered by the Whisperers. His head was cut off and placed on a pike, alongside several other key characters, marking the territory of the Whisperers. After Rick discovered the line of heads, he was informed by Alpha this was the line he and his people should not cross.

Luckily for King Ezekiel, not only does the TV show tend to deviate from its source material from time to time, but the TV series has merely reached a point equivalent to the events around issue #118 with Episode 8×04. The King still has reason to smile, this day.

This is not the first time the AMC series has teased events from the comics. Prior to Glenn’s death, Steven Yeun’s character was paired with a baseball bat on several occasions, before ultimately meeting Lucille in the Season 7 premiere. Furthermore, the series has teased Rick losing his hand on several occasions, as well. Although Andrew Lincoln is a major advocate for such a move, the show has yet to make the chop.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.