The Walking Dead/Variant

Variant
Season 11, Episode 19
Airdate	October 16, 2022
Written by	Vivian Tse
Directed by	Karen Gaviola
Stream
← 11x18 A New Deal	11x20 → What's Been Lost
The Walking Dead — Season Eleven

Variant is the nineteenth episode of the eleventh season of The Walking Dead, and the one hundred seventy-second episode overall.

Starring: Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier) (credit only), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Rhee) (archive footage), Christian Serratos (Rosita Espinosa), Josh McDermitt (Eugene Porter), Seth Gilliam (Gabriel Stokes) (credit only), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Khary Payton (Ezekiel), Cooper Andrews (Jerry), Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko Okumura) (credit only), Lauren Ridloff (Connie) (credit only), Cailey Fleming (Judith Grimes (voice)), Nadia Hilker (Magna) (credit only), Cassady McClincy (Lydia), Angel Theory (Kelly) (credit only), Paola Lázaro (Princess), Michael James Shaw (Mercer), Josh Hamilton (Lance Hornsby), Laila Robins (Pamela Milton)

and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan) (archive footage)

Also Starring: Margot Bingham (Max), Okea Eme-Akwari (Elijah), Teo Rapp-Olsson (Sebastian Milton), Michael Tourek (Roman Calhoun)

Co-Starring: Hayes Mercure (Precinct Trooper), Brittany Guess (Frightened Woman)

Uncredited: Michael Cudlitz (Abraham Ford) (archive footage) Alanna Masterson (Tara Chambler) (archive footage) Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee) (archive footage), Kenric Green (Scott) (archive footage), Jordan Woods-Robinson (Eric) (archive footage), Jason Douglas (Tobin) (archive footage), Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) (archive footage), Danai Gurira (Michonne) (archive footage)

Plot Overview

Eugene is a fugitive when Pamela wants him found and held responsible for her son's death.

Meanwhile, Aaron, Jerry, Lydia, and Elijah's trek to get the supplies home hits a detour where they encounter something surprising about one of the walkers.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• A new variant of walker is discovered that Aaron had heard stories about, one that can climb, open a door, and pick up a rock.

Characters

• Pamela lets Hornsby live, giving him the task of feed her reanimated son the remains of Roman Calhoun who had been found and killed.

• Pamela arranges for Max to be absolved of responsibility for her role in Sebastian's death by having her sign a confession that attributes her behaviour to mental illness and that the recording was fabricated. She refuses.

• Daryl has Eugene stay in the church and coordinates with Rosita to get him out when they leave. However, worried about Max, he turns himself in. He confesses, but lies by asserting he was the one who recorded Sebastian and acted alone.

• Rosita is attacked and kidnapped by two strangers.

Trivia

The Show

• The discovery of a different kind of walker isn't new to the franchise as a post-credit for the last episode of World Beyond features revelation that there is a different variant in France that appears more violent and faster. In fact, the series itself had a slightly different depiction of walkers in its earliest episodes, including one wielding a rock like the one seen in this episode.

Quotes

• Judith: Sometimes I wonder if it takes more courage to live or die. We've all done things to still be here... things we'd like to forget. We became whoever we needed to be. But who we are now, the choices we make now - maybe that's all that matters.

• Aaron: You know, I, uh... used to be married once.

Lydia: Really?

Aaron: Well, not legally, but yeah. I guess I don't really talk about it much anymore. Yeah, Eric and I, we met in D.C. and there was just this instant connection, you know, and he asked me out that night. And I said no, and I kept saying no for the next six months.

Lydia: Why?

Aaron: I'm not sure. I guess I thought I was too busy or that I wasn't ready. Maybe I was just afraid. But eventually I said yes and our time together, those years in Alexandria... it was the happiest moments of my life. You know, after he died, I thought, you know, I'd give anything to take back just one of those "nos" so that we could have one more day together. Lydia, loss is inevitable. It always has been. The only thing we can control is when we say yes.

• Eugene: Do you think people are born brave or do they become it?

Daryl: Both.