'The Walking Dead' final season: five questions we hope will be answered

Will Rick Grimes make an appearance in the last season of the hit show?

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon in 'The Walking Dead'. Josh Stringer / AMC

It’s the beginning of the end.

The first trailer for season 11 of The Walking Dead, which is also its last, has dropped as part of this year’s Comic-Con@Home 2021.

The popular show, which was inspired by the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, started in 2010. It follows a group of people trying to survive after the onset of a worldwide zombie apocalypse.

Over the years, the award-winning series has seen a number of main characters come and go, most notably the main protagonist Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln.

And now that the trailer has been unveiled, signalling the end is near, here are five pressing questions we hope will be answered as the show draws to a close. And of course, beware, spoilers for the show are below.

Can Maggie truly forgive Negan?

One of the most notorious moments of The Walking Dead was the shocking and brutal killing of Glenn in season 7 by Negan, involving a barbwired baseball bat. Maggie, Glenn’s then-pregnant wife, was forced to watch it all unfold, unable to do anything in the heartbreaking scene.

However, over the last couple of seasons, Negan has seemingly become a changed man, and Maggie the leader of another community. However, as Maggie makes a return to Alexandria (a walled-off community) with her son, fans will be eager to see if she can forgive Negan for what he did, or whether she’ll have a plan for revenge.

What will happen to Judith?

The fact Judith Grimes is still alive, considering that she was one of the first children born right after the zombie apocalypse, is quite something. Her mother died while giving birth to her in season 3 and her older half-brother, Carl, died in season 8 after being bitten by a zombie.

In the comics the show is based on, Judith dies as a baby after being accidentally crushed to death. However, the show has taken a different turn, keeping her alive and turning her into quite the survivalist. As the last member of the Grimes family still alive (well, other than Rick but we'll get to that later), it’ll be interesting to see how she will continue to adapt to the changing world around her.

Will a cure be found for Ezekiel’s cancer?

Early in season 10, Ezekiel revealed that he had a lump on his neck, self-diagnosing himself to have thyroid cancer, which he said runs in his family. Later in the season, community doctor Siddiq gets murdered, leaving Ezekiel to deal with his health on his own.

Over the years, Ezekiel has become a beloved character, but fans will have to wait and see if it’s possible to find a cure, given the state of the world in which he lives.

Will Rick make a return?

Rick Grimes, the main protagonist since the start of the show, departed at the end of season 9. After trying to lead a herd of walkers on to a bridge hoping it would collapse, he instead ends up shootingdynamite, causing the bridge to blow up, seemingly killing himself in the process. However, unbeknown to others, he survives the explosion and is transported via helicopter to a “safer place” by a woman named Anne. This is the last time he’s seen.

Played by Andrew Lincoln, Rick has been such an integral part of the series, it would seem like a missed opportunity to not have him return at some point in the final season. While it’s been explained that three spin-off movies are in the works to follow Rick’s story, it would be fitting to see him appear once last time in the series.

How will 'The Walking Dead' end?

Perhaps the biggest question is how will it all end? There are many theories and speculations as to what could happen, but with the world already ending once, what else is on the cards? Will writers go for a happy ending, or choose to kill the characters over the course of the 24-episode season?

There are also still some lingering questions still to answer. Is there actually a cure (a story arc that hasn’t been touched upon in a while but was chased in the beginning)? Or even an explanation about the origins of the zombie outbreak? Whether or not fans will finally get closure remains to be seen.

Season 11 of The Walking Dead is set to premiere on Sunday, August 22