The Walking Dead: Connie’s Return Explained

This Walking Dead article contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” finally answered one of the season’s biggest questions: did Connie survive her run-in with the Whisperers and their walker horde earlier in the season? The final minutes of the massive episode that brought the communities’ war with the Whisperers to an end reintroduced the missing character, stumbling through the woods in a daze until she found Virgil. It remains to be seen if this is good or bad news for her.

So where has Connie been all the time? Well, at one point, fans speculated she might be dead.

Season 10‘s midseason premiere, “Squeeze,” seemed to claim two lives in the span of a few chaotic seconds. While trying to escape a hungry walker horde inside of a Whisperer cave, Magna and Connie became trapped inside after a dynamite explosion caused a cave in. Separated from the rest of the group and likely crushed by several hundred rocks, Magna and Connie were thought to have died in the explosion.

That is, until a bloodied and exhausted Magna showed up in “Walk With Us” during the Whisperer assault on the Hilltop. Shambling alongside the walker horde as to not be detected by the flesh-eaters, Magna made it back to the settlement in a daze. Luckily, Yumiko was able to help her escape in the nick of time before the fires inside the doomed Hilltop engulfed her.

Later, Magna explained to Yumiko how she was able to survive the blast inside the cave, revealing that she and Connie had been able to camouflage themselves within the walker horde as they exited the cave and made their way to the Hilltop. Unfortunately, Connie and Magna became separated when some walkers came between them and they were unable to find each other again.

What took Connie so long to find her way back to the communities? The simple explanation is that she was in such a bad state after the explosion that she became disoriented and couldn’t find her way. How much time has passed between the midseason premiere and the finale is unclear, so it’s hard to tell just how long Connie has been on the road back to group. It’s possible the show will explore Connie’s trek further in a later episode. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for Connie now that she’s met Virgil, who doesn’t exactly have the best track record on the show.

In the comics, Connie plays a part in the Whisperer War and even lives to tell the tale, although not without losing an appendage. During a Whisperer attack, Connie is bitten in the arm by a walker but is saved by Magna, who manages to sever part of the limb before the infection spreads. Alive and mostly in one shape, Connie plays a part in later storylines, including Alexandria’s conflict with the Commonwealth, a massive settlement that is the setting of the final arc of the comic book.

Of course, the TV series has already taken several liberties with Connie’s story. For one thing, the character is deaf on the show (played brilliantly by Lauren Ridloff). The show also establishes Kelly as Connie’s sister and not her boyfriend like in the comics. The role of romantic interest is instead being filled by Daryl, who has been flirting with Connie since season 9.

Based on the changes already made to the character, it seems the show has a different story in mind for Connie. Whatever happens to Connie, it’s likely we’ll find out in the next few months when “A Certain Doom” finally airs on AMC.

The Walking Dead season 10 will return in early 2021 for six new episodes.