WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 18, "Find Me," which aired Sunday on AMC.
In The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon has been a pretty reserved character due to his selfless nature. It has a lot to do with his journey, going from someone who realized his brother, Merle, had to die, to a man Rick Grimes grew proud to call brother. Time and time again, he saved so many people and sacrificed so much, and when Rick went missing, it was only natural he stepped up as a leader.
Still, all the people he's lost keep haunting him, creating demons he's stifled deep down in his soul. But fortunately, after The Walking Dead's latest episode, all the show needs to do to give Darly a happy ending is for the finale season to resurrect his girlfriend, Leah.
Five years ago, when searching for Rick's body, Daryl began a romance with Leah, but he couldn't separate himself from the coalition and his duty. He left her alone, and by the time he wised up and came back, she was missing. There were signs of a struggle at the shack, but Dog was left behind, and seeing as Leah considered the pooch to be her child, Darly took it upon himself to care for it.
It would be quite the mystery for the final season to solve, but it would be a sentimental reward for someone who's done so much for others. In this episode alone, both Carol and Leah remind Darly he deserves happiness and that he shouldn't be shackled by things he's had to do. The deaths of Glenn, Hershel, Carl, Lori, Shane and so many more have plagued him, but he should be freed of these burdens.
Bringing back Leah would also make sense from a narrative perspective because it's no longer a Rick Grimes story. After Rick's departure, Daryl has stepped up as the lead, and this ending would give him what he deserves. On top of that, it would also pay homage to Robert Kirkman's comic book ending where Carl took over after Rick's death, got married to Sophia, had a daughter named Andrea and oversaw peace in the alliance.
Daryl has been through about as much as one person can endure, but with Leah, he would have his faith restored in mankind by falling in love with a kindred spirit. After all, these soulmates represent the best of people in the apocalypse, and as survivors who found each other, it would be poetic to have them discover the light at the end of the Walker-infested tunnel.
The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton and Cooper Andrews. The series airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and is available to stream early on AMC+.
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