Episode 5 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live might introduce a new type of walker variant with solid, impenetrable skin, at least if the preview that followed Episode 4 is anything to go by. The franchise has been introducing new types of zombies since the final season of the main show and continues to add more in the spin-offs. It’d make sense for The Ones Who Live to continue this trend and give Rick and Michonne a new villain to fight while they hide from the CRM.
Table of Contents
What are variants in The Walking Dead?
Variants are types of zombies in the various shows that differ from the slow, shambling norm. There have been multiple types at this point, ranging from “lurkers” that sit around in complete stillness until the opportunity to strike arises, “climbers” that can… well, climb, and “burners”, with acidic blood like Xenomorphs and berets because they’re only found in France. (I made up the bit about the berets.)
We’ve seen these guys crop up in The Walking Dead, World Beyond, Dead City, and Daryl Dixon. It’s clearly a deliberate way of trying to give the franchise more long-term legs, so it stands to reason that more would be introduced here.
Will there be a new variant in The Ones Who Live Episode 5?
In the short preview for next week’s episode, we see Michonne attack a zombie in the woods. Her weapon bounces off its head and she announces, “Its skin is like stone.” Sounds like a new variant to me.
The franchise is historically rubbish at doing much with these things, or even explaining them, so I don’t imagine this will factor into the episode heavily. It’ll probably provide a short-term problem for Rick and Michonne to solve while they hide from the CRM. This technique has been utilized often in various shows, with only really Daryl Dixon making a point of tying the new walkers into an ongoing plot. Even something pretty cool like the Walker King that Dead City stole from The Last of Us Part II received little fanfare.
What about Michonne’s “This can’t end with us going home” line?
In the same episode preview, Michonne tells a clearly wounded Rick, “This can’t end with us going home.” What does she mean?
The logical assumption is that something happens in the episode that forces the two of them into a corner. It’s easy to assume that one of them might die, and the trailer is edited to create that impression, but that’s the job of a trailer. It’s much more likely that they’re injured and cornered, probably because of whatever shadowy figure is watching the cabin. Speaking of which…
Who is watching the cabin?
The promo features a few shots of a mysterious shadowy figure watching the cabin in the woods where Rick and Michonne are hiding out. This is almost certainly Jadis, who will surely cause problems for Rick and Michonne.
If anyone is due to die in this episode, though, it might actually be Jadis. Perhaps Rick or Michonne will not be able to return home as a consequence of Jadis being killed. Many fans theorized that Michonne would kill Jadis this season, though many have also theorized that Rick will die by the end.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Season 1 Episode 5 Release Date/Where to Watch
Episode 5 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will air on AMC on Sunday, March 24, at 9 pm ET in the U.S. It’ll also be available to stream on AMC+, and subscribers will be able to access the episode a few hours earlier. The episode is titled “Become”.
RELATED:
