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Crucial Aspect Of The Walking Dead Universe Left Hanging For No Reason

Crucial Aspect Of The Walking Dead Universe Left Hanging For No Reason
Image credit: AMC

Is Daryl Dixon’s spinoff going to save the day?

The Walking Dead concluded with its eleventh season in November 2022, and the universe is currently being extended with numerous spinoff shows.

While spinoffs (both already released and upcoming) are set to answer some questions, there is one intriguing aspect of the Walking Dead universe that, unfortunately, seems to have been left hanging in the air.

We are talking about variant walkers, those that were different from the regular walkers in terms of strength, speed, and intelligence.

They were introduced in the 19th episode of the final season, and they brought a whole new dimension to the role of zombies in the show.

However, it's been almost a year since that episode aired, and we haven't seen or heard anything more about these variant walkers. Where these variant walkers could have made a reappearance and added some much-needed continuity to the show?

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Firstly, in Fear The Walking Dead season 8, there was a seven-year time skip. This could have been the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the variant walkers. If these smarter walkers were introduced in the 11th season of the main show, it would make sense for them to appear in the spin-off when the timeline catches up.

But alas, six episodes into season 8 of Fear The Walking Dead, and we haven't seen a single variant walker.

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Another missed opportunity was in the recent Dead City episode. Maggie and the group are stuck in a fighting pit. Imagine if one or two walkers started climbing up into the ring. That would have been a perfect moment to reintroduce the variant walkers. But again, no such luck.

What's very likely is that we will see more of the variant walkers in the upcoming Daryl Dixon show. Some articles about the Daryl show suggest that we will see more of the French variants, which refers to a scene from the World Beyond post-credits where a walker is seen banging a door and running.

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This could mean that variant walkers originate from Paris, and someone planted a few in the US, which is why they suddenly appeared. This is an interesting idea, and if it’s so, to see more of these variant walkers, we'll have to watch Daryl's spinoff.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is scheduled to premiere in Fall 2023.