The Walking Dead The Main Characters Ranked By Their Likelihood To Survive The Final Season

Which characters in The Walking Dead are actually going to survive the final season? Here are their chances...

The Walking Dead is gearing up for its 11th season, which has been confirmed to be its last. That said, it will be like two seasons in one with a total of 24 episodes, starting in October 2020 and airing through to early 2021.

How will it all end? Whatever the story, which could crossover into the upcoming Rick Grimes-centric films as well as the potential Daryl and Carol spin-off, there is certainly going to be bloodshed.

The Walking Dead hasn't shied away from killing off main characters before and there's plenty more death to come. But who will meet their demise? Here's a ranking, from the least likely to survive the season to the most likely to outlive everyone.

10 Ezekiel

Ezekiel is the odds-on favorite to die first once the series resumes. He has already confirmed that he has thyroid cancer, a diagnosis he is sure of given his symptoms, including being able to physically see the tumor, and a family history of the disease.

Without any treatment and living in the conditions he is, Ezekiel doesn't have long. Thus, he's the least likely to live even through the first few episodes.

9 Eugene Porter

It's tough to imagine life in the apocalypse without Eugene, who has saved the group more than once not by using his fighting skills, of which he has only recently begun to acquire. But through his analytical thinking and tremendous knowledge on how to do everything from make bullets to fashion low-tech drones.

There's a reason Eugene ranks low. It seems that once he has a love story, there won't be much to tell about him anymore. Plus, him going out in a heroic fashion, like saving Rosita's life, is something that would make total sense.

8 Rosita Espinosa

Rosita's time seemed like it should have been up ages ago, yet she soldiers on. Now a mom, she is trying to balance those maternal feelings with her feelings of rage against the Whisperers for killing Siddiq, the father of her child.

With her now-boyfriend Gabriel having become a much more temperamental and stronger man than he was before, it's possible a storyline will include Gabriel becoming unhinged following the death of Rosita.

7 Aaron

Aaron sits near the middle of the pack as he has never really had any major storylines and has always sort of just been a peripheral character. He might get some more screen time in the final season, which could be bittersweet.

He might just survive simply because he has done so many times already and because his death wouldn't be as heartbreaking for viewers as the death of other characters to which fans have felt a greater emotional connection. It could go either way for him.

6 Jerry

Jerry will probably never be the same following the inevitable death of Ezekiel. And while he has a family to worry about, including a wife and multiple children, he might lose his edge without someone upon whom to look up to, as he always did his "King."

Jerry's death was already teased and foreshadowed in the cave scene when he almost got stuck and died, which suggests that he won't survive. But he'll probably at least outlast some of the others if he doesn't survive through to the bitter end.

5 Gabriel Stokes

As one of the most changed characters, Gabriel has gone from the quivering, spineless priest to a vengeful man who is capable of doing heinous things in fits of rage. For this reason, he is likely to survive for some time.

His undoing could be the death of his girlfriend Rosita, which might push him to do unthinkable things. But this could also make him into a Governor-like monster who masters staying alive despite all odds.

4 Maggie Rhee

How cruel would it be to bring Maggie back only to kill her off? For this reason, the character is likely to survive. Maggie will probably become the fierce leader of whatever group is left at the end of everything.

Her character could end up appearing in spin-offs, too, if she does survive. As a natural leader and someone others respect, there's a good chance she won't be going anywhere.

3 Negan

This is a tough one to call because, on the one hand, Negan has lived longer than expected since most villains end up dead on the series after their groups are taken down. Instead, Negan was held prisoner for years then redeemed himself to his captors and the ones who almost killed him.

There's still a lot of redemption necessary, and storylines as Negan will likely team up with Daryl to take down Beta. That said, if it's a fight between Negan and Daryl in the end, Negan will almost surely go before Daryl. There is a possibility they both could live for pretty long until one final epic battle that marks Negan's death.

2 Carol Peletier

Considering it has been announced that creators are working on a spin-off centered around the characters of Carol and Daryl, it's highly unlikely, if not impossible, that Carol will perish. She is almost certain to survive.

That said, is this an attempt to pull the wool over viewers' eyes? Is this greenlit spin-off a total lie designed to take fans off the scent of a Carol death? Probably not. Therefore, Carol is one of the two most likely people to survive.

1 Daryl Dixon

"If Daryl dies, we riot." T-Shirts with this saying have been selling for years, since the series began and it became clear that no character was safe. Even Rick Grimes wasn't killed off in the end, so chances are Daryl getting a walker bite to his shoulder or bullet to the head from a mortal enemy are slim to none.

As noted, there are talks of a spin-off series with Carol and Daryl, which effectively guarantees the survival of both characters, who remain fan favorites.