The Walking Dead Midseason Finale Kills Off [SPOILER]

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Sunday’s “Acts of God” episode of The Walking Dead. Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. Both are true in the last-ever midseason finale of The Walking Dead, where a locusts swarm of biblical proportions is abuzz as Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) face the wrath of Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) and Leah (Lynn Collins). The lethal alliance formed when Lance hired Leah to take out the woman who killed her family, simultaneously eliminating interference in his plot to take over the communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, and Oceanside. Their target: Maggie Rhee.

After Trooper Romano’s (Matt Bushell) unit marches Daryl, Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and Aaron (Ross Marquand) into an ambush at a junkyard to “clear the field” under Lance’s orders, Gabriel and Aaron get shot in the firefight. The three Alexandrians survive the trap and realize Lance is gunning for Maggie. 

At the Hilltop, Maggie, Lydia (Cassady McClincy), Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), and Marco (Gustavo Gomez) spring an explosive trap for Lance’s assassins inside the Barrington House. Going rogue, Leah calls the deaths of Lance’s mercenaries “collateral damage” as she opens fire on the Hilltoppers, killing Marco with a headshot.

Leah hunts Maggie and captures her alive, taking her to the cabin where Leah shacked up with Daryl in Season 10. “By the time I’m done, everyone you love will be dead,” she snarls.

“Then I guess that makes us even. I took your family, you take mine,” Maggie says of the Reapers she gunned down at Meridian, avenging the slain Wardens. “I killed your people because it was what I wanted.”

Before Leah can pull the trigger, Maggie escapes her bonds and attacks. Their brutal fight to the death ends when Daryl returns to the cabin and shoots Leah in the head. 

“It’s heartbreaking that he does have to shoot her, but there’s also an element of he let her go earlier [in the midseason premiere ‘No Other Way’] and it did turn out bad,” Cohan told ComicBook in an exclusive postmortem Q&A. 

“People aren’t simply good or evil. There’s good in Leah too, and there’s the tragedy of what could have happened,” she said. “There’s what could have happened with her and Daryl. There’s what could have happened with Leah as an ally if they had met under different circumstances, and if she had met Maggie’s group and Alexandria and our team before aligning with The Reapers. It’s always what happens in this world and that’s what happens. You see capability and strength in people, and you end up seeing where they end up.”

Cohan continued, “But at this point, despite there having been a potential for Leah, it’s kill or be killed in this situation for Maggie.”

The Walking Dead Season 11 returns with its final eight episodes later this year on AMC and AMC+. Follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter and @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.