The Walking Dead Hints at Rosita Receiving a Major Comic Book Death

The Walking Dead could be hinting at the death of new mother Rosita (Christian Serratos). In 10×08, “The World Before,” Rosita mourns Siddiq (Avi Nash), the father of daughter Coco, after he was murdered by Whisperer spy Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas), who is apprehended after an attack on Rosita’s life which nearly ended with her choked to death. After Siddiq is laid to rest, Rosita takes her aggression out on lurking walkers just outside Alexandria’s gates, where she uncharacteristically freezes up mid-fight, leaving herself seconds away from being bitten. Rosita snaps back and gets a last-minute assist from Eugene, but she later admits to lover Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) she should be able to handle walkers like that alone.

Rosita’s walker fight leaves her splattered with walker blood on her neck and chest area, which looks eerily similar to a walker bite. She’s fine this time, but what happens if she locks up again?

“I could die. I used to think if it happened, it happened,” Rosita tells Gabriel. “But now that would make Coco an orphan. And I cannot die. I’m afraid, and that feeling isn’t going away.”

A distracted Gabriel tells her “feelings don’t predict the future,” but the scene could be a sign The Walking Dead will adapt of the biggest deaths from the comic books.

10×08 seems to draw repeat attention to Rosita’s neck: when fighting off Dante, the almost-walker bite, and the residual blood that evokes the image of a neck bite.

In The Walking Dead comics — spoilers — Alexandria comes under attack from a walker horde shepherded by Whisperer Beta, and Andrea, Eugene, Magna and Yumiko set out in an attempt to steer the horde towards the ocean.

That plan is interrupted when stragglers break off from the horde, threatening to reroute the entire walker herd away from the ocean. When shepherding the herd on horseback, Eugene volunteers to distract the swarming walkers with a horn, giving Andrea, Magna and Yumiko enough time to inch out an escape.

But Eugene is unseated from his horse, and he’s quickly surrounded by the undead. He’s spared from being torn apart when the three women open fire, allowing Eugene to make a break for it, and Andrea rides in for the rescue while Magna and Yumiko use gunfire to open a pocket.

Andrea and Eugene are overtaken by walkers, but they mount Andrea’s horse and make it out with the skin of their teeth. That’s when Magna notices it: Andrea has been bitten on the neck. Because the bite is incurable, Andrea succumbs to her injury and dies two issues later.

Could Rosita be poised to inherit Andrea’s fate? She’s already escaped the fate of her comic book counterpart, who was murdered by the Whisperers when pregnant with Siddiq’s child.

“I’m curious to see her become a mother, you know,” TWD executive producer Denise Huth said in a past interview after Rosita survived Season 9. “The character of Rosita has always been really strong and somewhat independent, and to be responsible for somebody else’s life, a life that is as vulnerable as a child, it will be very interesting for her. It will change her in a lot of ways. I’m really excited to see how we’re going to play that out.”

Whatever it means for Rosita, her struggle with fight-or-flight this episode appears to be clear setup for payoff that could come either in the back half of Season 10 or in Season 11.

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