The Walking Dead: Series name takes on a whole new meaning with the final episode

• On November 20th, the final, 11th season of “The Walking Dead” was released on Disney+.
• The last scene, in which Michonne and Rick reflect on the past few years, gives the series title a whole new meaning.
• Instead of the very negative view of the survivor of the apocalypse as “The Walking Dead”/”The Living Dead”, this became the hopeful exclamation “We are the living”.

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The zombie apocalypse has been raging in the AMC series “The Walking Dead” for over a decade. The walking death, as one might think at the beginning of the series. But the final episode gave the show’s name a whole new meaning.

Even if the popular series still owes us some answers after the finale, we were also able to learn a few new things from the end. In the 24th episode “RIP” we get an afterword from Rick and Michonne, which is peppered with memories of past “TWD” characters.

New scenes from the separated lovers will also be shown, which should prepare us for the future spin-off starring the two. At the end of their monologue, living and deceased characters from the past 11 seasons repeat the sentence “We are the ones who live” or “We are the living”.

This phrase completely changes the meaning Rick gave to humans in Season 5. At that time he called the survivors “The Walking Dead” in German “The Living Dead”.

What did the term The Walking Dead/the walking dead mean before?

It became clear early on in “The Walking Dead” that surviving in a zombie-infested world is almost impossible. Day after day, people live in ignorance of whether they will live or die. After season one shattered any hope of a cure through science, survivors had to rely on their instincts and brave desperation to stay alive.

In the series, Rick once related how his grandfather fought in World War II and only survived because he believed he was a dead man whose lifespan was limited. However, Michonne and Daryl see it differently. In their eyes, it is harmful to give up hope and see yourself as a loser before the fight.

However, the resonant message, reiterated by the entire cast over the years, shows the survivors’ will to win. They no longer see their end in becoming a zombie themselves, but in shaping their future in their own way.

“We are the living” declared

“We are the living,” Rick and his remaining former companions state at the end of the series. Her words also refer to the survivors who have already died. The message behind it is quite simple: as long as there is still hope, there will still be living people, no matter how small the number.

“The Walking Dead” stands for all survivors who would sooner or later become zombies. “We are the living” stands for all people who have fought or are still fighting for their survival.

Her words emphasize the hope that they all carry within them. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether they can survive or die themselves. Hope dies last.

That’s why some “The Walking Dead” characters continue to bravely fight their way through life in their own spin-off series to ensure a better future. The finale of “The Walking Dead” has been available on Disney+ since November 20, 2022.