Who Dies in ‘The Walking Dead’ Series Finale?

It's been several days since the end of The Walking Dead with the Season 11 finale — which was also the series finale — on AMC and AMC+. But hey, maybe despite it airing nearly 48 hours ago as of this writing you’ve managed to not only avoid spoilers, but are obstinately refusing to watch the episode, despite it actually being a very good finale. How many good finales have you seen recently? Better Call Saul? That's probably it? Well, The Walking Dead finale was great, super-emotional, and lovely to watch. No? Still not convinced? Don't care? Okay, so with that in mind, you might be wondering: who dies in The Walking Dead series finale?

That's a great question, and one that can be answered at length in our interview with the showrunner and EP of The Walking Dead, Angela Kang, where we discussed how the surprise cameos came together, why the original ending was changed, and why at least one of those big character deaths happened. Or maybe you’d want to read our other in-depth interview with long time effects guru Greg Nicotero, who directed the final episode and had some beautifully poignant things to say about working with the cast and crew, and even teased working with Norman Reedus on one of the many The Walking Dead upcoming spin-off series where Daryl Dixon goes to Paris.

Oh, sorry, you don't care about that? You just want to know who died? Fair enough. Here's exactly who died in The Walking Dead finale, at least when it comes to "name" characters, as well as an explainer on whether Byakuya, an animated character who appears on the show Bleach, died in The Walking Dead finale.

There are actually only two major deaths in The Walking Dead finale: Dan Fogler's Luke; and Christian Serratos’ Rosita. Jules Butler, played by Alex Sgambati, also dies early on when she's ripped apart by a herd of walkers who have invaded the formerly safe haven of The Commonwealth; but all apologies to Sgambati, she's smaller potatoes in the scheme of things.

Luke actually goes out trying to save his girlfriend Jules, though, and gets bitten on the leg in the process. Trying to save his life, the group transports him to a Commonwealth hospital and amputates his leg. Given their meager supplies, he bleeds out and dies while his friends sob over his body.

The biggest death is Rosita — and fun fact, if you had read the interview with Kang, you would have known that Serratos actually volunteered to die in the episode. She's trying to save her baby, and while climbing a drain pipe is pulled down, with the child, into the herd. One epic moment later, she bursts out of the pile of undead, jumps on a van, ricochets over to the drain pipe, and climbs up. Unfortunately, as we find out later, she got bit on the shoulder — an impossible place to amputate. She ends up having one last lovely dinner with the group, then dies in her bed as Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) reads her last rites. It's very sad!

…and that's pretty much it. Due to the nature of the spin-offs, most of the other major characters were off the table. And ultimately, the episode is about hope, survival and the power of found families to bind us together… Oh, right you don't care about that, just the blood and gore, ya sicko.

Great question. Byakuya Kuchiki is a character who has appeared throughout innumerable volumes of the Bleach manga, and multiple episodes of the Bleach anime. Given that Byakuya is an animated character who does not exist in the world of The Walking Dead, and they are two entirely different shows, not to mention genres, we can definitively answer this question in the negative. No, Byakuya does not die in The Walking Dead finale, or any other episode of The Walking Dead. None of the characters on Bleach appear on The Walking Dead.

However, Byakuya was killed by Quicy as Nodt in the manga but NOT the anime, according to a quick search of Quora, a site that has never steered me wrong in any capacity. That said, seems like they changed things in the anime, as according to Fiction Horizon, Byakuya looked like he was dead during the Thousand Year Blood-War… But in fact, was alive!!

Yes, he's going to Paris with Daryl.