THE WALKING DEAD: THE ONES WHO LIVE (2024) – The closure that longtime fans have been waiting for

The long running series The Walking Dead finally ended its run in 2022 after 11 seasons, its loyal fans breathed in a sigh of relief. The series had become increasingly tiresome to watch as the creativity dropped and storyline not going anywhere. By the end it was a pale shadow of what it was at the beginning, and it was kind of sad to see it end in a low note. The demise of the Walking Dead series however, seems to have given AMC reason to spawn multiple new spin-off series showcasing further adventures of key characters from the original series! We now have The Walking Dead: Dead City headed by Maggie and Negan, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and now, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. I guess AMC just cannot let go of its hit series and is determined to milk it dry in spite of the diminishing viewership.

On the positive side, these new series were an improvement over how The Walking Dead ended up. They garnered positive reviews and managed to display renewed energy with better storylines. Of the new series, The Ones Who Live is probably the most pivotal as it finally tells us what happened to Rick (arguably the main character of The Walking Dead series) after he was abducted and effectively disappeared from the series after Season 9. It reunites Rick with his wife Michonne which is something fans were longing to see. In The Ones Who Live, we follow Michonne in her quest to find Rick which of course she eventually does, and the screen literally ignites with energy with Michonne and Rick teamed up again. This series successfully played on fans’ nostalgic desire to relive the vigor and spontaneity of how these characters fight off their opponents regardless of the odds. Michonne and Rick are like super heroes who just cannot die despite all the odds being against them in situations time and time again. Of course, the writers make sure we have villains who prefer talking instead of killing when they have the chance, and our heroes able to miraculously dodge bullets, explosions and hordes of zombies throughout the episodes. All this silliness is overlooked as we anticipate the inevitable happy reunion of our heroes to their family. The emotionally satisfying closure provided a fitting finale which The Walking Dead series failed to.

Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira were born to play Rick and Michonne as they take on their characters effortlessly. This series belongs to them and allows them to take centre stage. The tone of the concluding episode seems final so let’s hope AMC don’t decide to further milk the already over milked cow any further. The Ones Who Live may be ridiculous and defies logic, but all’s forgiven as it succeed in delivering a pleasing blockbuster thrill to its longtime fans.