‘The Walking Dead’ Boss Compares Season 9 Finale Radio Tease to a Marvel Movie Post-Credits Scene

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang has opened up about the game-changing final scene of Season Nine, in which King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) steps away from the long-range radio assembled by Eugene (Josh McDermitt) just moments before a mysterious voice comes through.

“It’s looking ahead like the post-credits thing for a Marvel movie or something,” Kang told EW. “But it’s definitely something that I’m sure people will speculate about. We welcome that speculation.” That story will be told in Season Ten, Kang confirmed, adding: “The world of The Walking Dead, it keeps opening up, so who’s out there? What do they want? How will they interact? Whatever it is, it is something that will turn the story in hopefully a satisfying and interesting way.”

In creator Robert Kirkman’s comic books, the transmission makes contact with Eugene and comes from Stephanie, a citizen of the Commonwealth — an Ohio-based network of settlements home to 50,000-something survivors. That story is currently the main thrust of the ongoing Walking Dead comic books, and was foreshadowed early on in Season Nine with a cleverly placed Easter egg.

“Obviously the Commonwealth does mean things to people; we’re starting to seed in some future stories,” Kang told IGN in October. “The timing of those stories may not be in the immediate future, but there will be things this season that are groundwork being laid for finding out more about the world.”

The Commonwealth is also speculated to be the unnamed community currently hosting Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who departed Hilltop to help mysterious benefactor Georgie (Jayne Atkinson) with a “new community” Siddiq (Avi Nash) said was “someplace far.” Maggie was mentioned again in the Season Nine finale, when it was learned new letters had been issued to her via couriers — suggesting she’s not too far from Virginia.

Fans earlier speculated the radio could be connected to the long-missing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who disappeared when Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) flew away with him aboard a helicopter. Lincoln next reprises his role in a series of movies set to reveal answers behind the resourceful community that rescued-slash-abducted Rick.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with its Season Ten premiere in October.

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