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Everything we know about the ‘Walking Dead’ Season 7 finale

Who's on the chopping block this week?

Image: aMC

As The Walking Dead gears up for its Season 7 finale, the biggest question on everyone’s minds is, “who will die?”

Smart money is on Sasha (especially since Sonequa Martin-Green was recently cast as the lead in CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery), who is currently Negan’s captive at the Sanctuary after her kamikaze mission to kill the Big Bad was derailed by Eugene.

Her only weapon now is a poisoned pill that Eugene believes she wants to use to end her own life, but with Negan somehow aware that Rick is planning a rebellion (damn you, Gregory!) will she get the chance to use it before the baseball bat-wielding villain puts his new plan into action?

In the teaser for the April 2 finale, titled “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life,” we see that Negan still has a use for Sasha which isn’t a position anyone wants to be in:

“You are gonna help make sure things get back on track today,” he tells her. (Ruh-roh!)

Other candidates for death include Eugene although we suspect he’ll stick around to be a pain in everyone’s ass a little longer, because we can’t have nice things; Dwight, who is apparently ready to betray Negan once and for all although Daryl isn’t buying it; or Rosita, who was clearly hoping she’d be the one to die on the suicide mission with Sasha. The only difference is, she’s safe inside Alexandria’s walls for the showdown, and she makes this face in the promo:

Sorry, Sasha.

Image: amc

But how will Sasha die, if she is indeed the unlucky choice? One seemingly credible fan theory draws inspiration from the comic books so if you don’t want to be spoiled for the comics (and potentially the show), skip ahead.

COMIC SPOILERS AHEAD

Could Sasha be the finale’s biggest casualty?

Image: amc

TV Guide stumbled upon an interesting theory on Reddit, which suggests that perhaps Negan really is planning on handing Sasha over to Rick and his allies in good faith, but unbeknownst to him, Sasha takes Eugene’s pill on the way to Alexandria and dies before she can get there, leaving Negan to hand over a walker and thus inciting Rick and the rest of his army to open fire on the Saviors. Or maybe Negan kills Sasha himself because he wants to cause chaos, no poison necessary.

This theory is a twist on the events of Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead comics, in which a woman called Holly who was Abraham’s lover instead of Sasha in that iteration of the story is captured by Negan. After Negan saves her from being raped by a Savior called David (sound familiar?) Negan returns Holly to Alexandria with a bag over her head as a trade in exchange for a ceasefire from Rick and his allies. But when the bag is taken off Holly’s head, she’s revealed to be a walker, who proceeds to bite Denise (yes, Alexandria’s nurse lasted a little longer in the comics), before Rick shoots her in the head.

Sasha has been given several of Holly’s plot points in the show, including her near-rape at the hands of David, so it would make sense if the show transferred this twist to her too. The series has been pretty faithful in adapting the comic’s most iconic death sequences, albeit with the occasional curveball, so if Negan shows up to the gates of Alexandria with Sasha wearing a bag over her head, we should probably be concerned.

END OF COMIC SPOILERS

One person who we’re fairly confident won’t die in the Season 7 finale is Negan, since the show is approaching the storyline in the comics known as “All Out War,” a 12-issue arc in which Rick and his allies from Hilltop and The Kingdom try and take down Negan once and for all in a series of increasingly bloody battles.

Besides which, Jeffrey Dean Morgan already confirmed it himself, telling Howard Stern: “I know that Ill be around for Season 8, we all know that.”(Damn.)

They’re just the worst.

Image: amc

Here’s what else we know about the Season 7 finale, courtesy of the cast and executive producer:

I will say its everything, showrunner Scott Gimple told EW. Its the highs and lows, brightness and darkness, alpha to omega, a quiet-loud-sad-happy tragiredemptive circus of emotion, anguish, and grace.I hope people feel it all come together and have that rush you feel when the roller coaster finally coasts back to the platform.

No big deal, then.

Danai Gurira agreed, telling EW: Its a lot of everything, and it is a very, very powerful way to end the season and a very heart-stopping one at the same time. It brings you to the precipice of all your fears and all your hopes. I definitely felt that heart-stopping pain and hopeful joy at the same time while reading it. Youre pretty riveted and very full by the end of that, at least I very much was. Its the heartbreak and the hope all rolled into one episode.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Lauren Cohan warned, “You’re certainly in for a lot of emotion,” before calling the finale “incredibly bittersweet, beautiful, and heartbreaking.”

Norman Reedus offered EW an interesting tease, comparing the finale to Braveheart: “Its completely different than all the other ones,” he said. “It has similar elements, but its completely different, and, you know, there might be a little William Wallace in it.

And star Andrew Lincoln even offered the LA Times a hint about Season 8: Were going to come out swinging, he said of the finale. And its not going to stop. Im more excited for Season 8 than Ive ever been. I think its going to be big, but its also going to be terrifying. And I mean that from the very depths of my cynical soul.

Even better, after the divisive Season 6 finale? No cliffhanger, according to Gimple: “Though it promises more because there is a whole lot to get to there is an ending.”

We’ll hold you to that, sir!

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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