The Walking Dead: 10 Things That Happen After The War With Negan
How will the show deviate from the comics next?
The Walking Dead deviates from its comic source material as much as it sticks to it.
Characters who are alive and kicking on TV have been dead on the page for years, and vice versa. Key events that shaped the saga have been omitted from the show, and in select cases, beloved characters only exist in one of the two mediums.
That said, there have been times when the show has stayed fan-pleasingly faithful to the Image books, directly adapting crucial plot points like the rise and fall of The Governor and the Safety Behind Bar arc with just a few tweaks here and there.
As the series heads towards its eighth season, it's set to be a similar story with the legendary All Out War storyline, which depicts the epic battle between Negan's Saviors and Rick Grimes' motley crew of survivors.
This is a pivotal moment for the saga that completely reshapes its zombie-infested world, deconstructs some of its characters, and kills off others. No doubt it will be much the same on TV, albeit with some surprising twists and turns.
The comics have always been a rough guide for what's coming next in AMC's The Walking Dead, and these are the events you can expect to see after the dust from Rick versus Negan has settled, unless the show pulls off another of its trademark deviations.
10. Negan Spends Two Years In Prison
Negan is one of the most sadistic villains around on TV at the moment, and he's even worse in the comics. Not only is he directly responsible for the deaths of Glenn, Spencer, Abraham, and Denise, he's just as brutal to his own people as he is towards the opposition, scarring them mentally and physically.
During All Out War's climax, Negan meets Rick Grimes face to face and the former sheriff manages to convince him that a truce is the best option for everyone involved. Rick, however, was merely luring his opponent into a false sense of security so he could take a knife to his throat, wounding him seriously, but non-fatally.
This allows the good guys to haul the Saviors leader off to a jail cell in Alexandria so he can spend the remainder of his days there, or at least that's the plan.
A period believed to be around two years elapses, and the bat-wielding baddie buys later his freedom by agreeing to fight on the frontline for Rick after a new threat emerges.
As is always the case with The Walking Dead, there's no guarantee the show will follow this narrative. Rick, or another character, could just as easily kill Negan during the all-out war and send the story in a radically different direction.
Granted, the series has already hinted it's going in this direction by having Morgan build a jail cell in Alexandria, but there's always the possibility this was a red herring.