The Walking Dead: 10 Things That Happen After The War With Negan
5. The Whisperers Emerge
The Walking Dead would be a dull series if a threat to replace the Saviors failed to emerge, but fortunately for the fans, it did, in the form of something even worse than Negan.
The Whisperers, a group of survivors who wear the flesh of zombies they've slain to roam freely among the dead, rise up as the series' antagonists after All Out War.
Things kick off with them when their leader, a mysterious woman known only as Alpha, arrives at the Hilltop community to demand the release of her captive daughter, Carl Grimes' new squeeze Lydia.
The Whisperers are a territorial group who attack anyone who sets foot on their turf, so tensions escalate when Carl follows the group back to their land and Rick arrives there shortly after in search of his son.
Alpha and her walker flesh-garbed crew operate differently to Negan. While the previous arc's villain bludgeoned his enemies to death, The Whisperers prefer to decapitate foes and place their heads on pikes, a fate which befalls Rosita and Ezekiel.
Obviously Rick doesn't take too kindly to this sort of thing and soon declares war on The Whisperers, igniting another bloody conflict which plays out over numerous arcs.
This is a destination the TV show is expected to arrive at eventually, and possibly quicker than the comics did. The Whisperers didn't arrive in the Image series until 30 issues after Negan killed Glenn, but that time jump glimpsed in the season 8 trailers suggests they could be fast-tracked to the show.