The Walking Dead Season 11 Has Already Forgotten About One Character

What happened to Alden? Apparently, Walking Dead season 11 has already forgotten about one of the show's main characters. When is he coming back?

The Walking Dead has seemingly forgotten about Alden (Callan McAuliffe), who has been a major character for some time now. After appearing in three straight episodes, the series left the character in dire straits and has yet to revisit him. Right now, it’s unclear when The Walking Dead plans to resolve Alden’s predicament.

Alden has been in serious trouble ever since the Reaper attack that split apart Maggie’s group. A handful of them – including all the main characters present– survived, but Alden was badly wounded. At his urging, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) left him behind in a church so that he wouldn’t slow them down anymore, but Maggie promised to come back for him when the mission was over. The way the show left his story put his fate in question, as now there’s no telling if he will be rescued by his allies, or if The Walking Dead is building to Alden's death.

The Walking Dead season 11 has avoided answering these questions about Alden, even though it’s had plenty of time to address them at this point. Four episodes have passed since he was last seen. During that period, the series explored what came next for the other surviving members of the group, such as Maggie, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), and Daryl (Norman Reedus). However, it’s continuing to leave viewers hanging with Alden, who may or may not be about to meet his end.

As for why The Walking Dead separated Alden from the rest in the first place, it’s possible that part of the reason was to focus on the growing tension between Maggie and Negan. Having Alden around might have interfered with that. But even so, with all the time that’s been used on the characters involved in this storyline, there have been more than enough opportunities for the show to check in on Alden. He, like the others, could have received his own story. The Walking Dead electing not to go this route indicates that it doesn’t have any plans for that to happen. Instead, it could be that its Alden setup was actually for the arc of another character – namely Daryl. There’s a common theory that the Reapers will end up arriving at the church and attempt to kill Alden, thus providing a big dilemma for Daryl. A multi-episode absence for the character being followed up by Alden's tragic death would be a disappointing way to wrap up this plotline, however.

Regardless, the show’s decision to avoid Alden for four episodes – and possibly more – reflects a much larger issue for the series. The Walking Dead simply has too many characters right now, and everyone that’s being introduced through the Reapers and the Commonwealth is only adding to the problem. The Walking Dead season 11 has such a massive cast that it’s become easy for it to forget key characters like Alden.