The Walking Dead showrunner addresses season 11's surprise time jump ending

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The Walking Dead introduces a new dynamic for the second part of its final season

The Walking Dead
(Image credit: AMC)

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang has addressed the surprise time jump in season 11, the episode 9 ending puting two fan favorites on a serious collision course.

In The Walking Dead season 11B’s premiere, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) are heading on vastly different paths. Six months after the main events of the episode, Maggie has fallen back into Hilltop’s walls, while Daryl has taken up Lance’s offer to fully integrate with the Commonwealth – and is now seemingly a member of their army.

What gives? Kang told Entertainment Weekly that Daryl has definitively "joined up with the troops" and that "we will find out shortly what that is all about."

"So that definitely puts him in a different situation and potentially at odds with Maggie, who clearly in the time that has passed has either stayed or retreated to Hilltop," Kang said. "Whereas who knows where everybody else has landed."

On whether a showdown is in Daryl and Maggie’s future, Kang remains tight-lipped but teased that "Maggie and Daryl, obviously kind of split ways in terms of like the decision making at the end of episode 9, and maybe that affects some things going forward."

Maggie’s cold-blooded murder of the remaining Reapers may frame her as less of a hero than she once was, but nothing is ever so black-and-white in the world of The Walking Dead. 

It’s clear that the Commonwealth have ulterior motives themselves – and much of The Walking Dead season 11’s short-term future will likely revolve around a civil war between Maggie, Daryl, and whichever side the remaining survivors choose to land on.

Bradley Russell
Bradley Russell
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.