Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Rick takes command in Alexandria as the survivors try to draw a vast walker herd away from the walls. A truck falls and releases the walkers early. During the diversion, the Wolves raid Alexandria; a horn from their attack draws part of the herd toward town. Carol and Morgan take sharply different approaches to the attackers, while the returning herd eventually breaks into Alexandria. Rick’s party moves through the walkers in disguise, but Jessie and Sam are killed and Carl is shot in the eye. Rick leads the survivors in reclaiming the streets.
The group begins to look beyond Alexandria when they meet Paul “Jesus” Rovia and learn about Hilltop, whose leader Gregory is under pressure from Negan’s Saviors. Rick agrees to trade protection for supplies and leads a strike on a Savior outpost; the Alexandrians kill many of the men inside, setting up a direct reprisal. Meanwhile, Carol’s exhaustion with killing takes her away from Alexandria, and Morgan’s determination to spare lives is tested when he searches for her.
Maggie’s pregnancy becomes urgent as Rick leads a convoy toward Hilltop, but Saviors block the roads and force the group to travel on foot. Negan finally appears, captures Rick’s party and makes clear that Alexandria is now subject to his rule. He chooses a victim with a counting rhyme, but the camera stays with the person being struck, leaving the season on an unresolved cliffhanger; the victim’s identity is revealed in the following season.