Season 6 (TV Series)

Season 6 of AMC's The Walking Dead consists of sixteen episodes; it premiered on October 11, 2015, and concluded on April 3, 2016. It was confirmed on October 7, 2014, that AMC had renewed The Walking Dead for Season 6. Scott Gimple continued as showrunner for a third consecutive season.

This season introduces notable characters including Heath, Denise Cloyd, Paul "Jesus" Rovia, Gregory, Dwight and Negan.

The first part follows Rick and his group leading the Alexandria community through a series of crises, including the threat of a massive horde of walkers and an attack by dangerous scavengers known as the Wolves. The second half involves Rick and his companions discovering more survivor communities, making allies of the agrarian Hilltop Colony and adversaries of the Saviors led by the ruthless Negan.

The premiere episode, "First Time Again," received 14.63 million on its initial broadcast and 7.43 million in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic.

This season adapts material from Issues #78-100 of the Comic Series.

"First Time Again"
Following the night of Reg’s and Pete’s deaths, Rick's group slowly takes over Alexandria. Morgan helps take Pete’s body to the woods. Pete's son Ron following them, wanting to know where his father's body will be. They discover a quarry where a large herd of Walkers are being held. Deducing it as the reason Alexandria is still standing, Ricks calls a town meeting to get everyone to help lead the Walkers away despite protests from Carter who later fails at an attempt to overthrow Rick.

As the practice run is prepped, the truck blocking the walkers in the quarry falls of the edge allows the megaherd to escape. Rick initiates the plan and everyone goes to their places. Along the way, Carter is bit and Rick puts him down to keep him from screaming. During the run, a truck crashes into the gates of Alexandria with its horn continuously blasting noise, attracting the Walkers.

"JSS"
As Carol goes about a daily routine, The Wolves ambush the community. Carol immediately switches to survival mode. She disguises herself as a Wolf, while killing any intruder she comes across. Morgan is shocked and disgusted by her actions; he only beats down the trespassers, sparing their lives. Morgan manages to scare off the remaining Wolves, but one takes a gun before leaving. Morgan encounters their leader Owen, whom he met prior, in a nearby house. He brutally strikes the man with his staff, possibly killing him.

Enid, feeling the community is unsafe, decides to leave. As she tells Carl goodbye, she is forced to barricade in his house. After the chaos settles, Carl finds a farewell note from Enid: "Just Survive Somehow," it reads.

"Thank You"
Glenn, Michonne, and several Alexandrians race through the woods toward the community, where the horn continues to blare. It stops, but the group is anxious to return, as they know that only a catastrophic event could have caused the community to attract attention to itself while the horde of Walkers was still being diverted.

In private, Rick tells Glenn and Michonne that the Alexandrians with them "aren't all gonna make it." Rick instructs them to lead the team back to Alexandria, but to keep going if anyone can't keep up. Heath overhears the conversation.

Meanwhile, Daryl, Sasha and Abraham are driving vehicles that continue to lead most of the Walkers away from Alexandria. When the horn goes off, Daryl wants to rush back to the community to help out. Both Sasha and Rick (over a walkie) advise Daryl to hold his course. By staying with the plan, it is much more likely that many lives will be saved.

As Glenn's group makes its way home, many members fall to Walkers. Heath and Michonne debate on whether they should leave people behind. Michonne reminds Heath that he never had to survive the way Rick and her group has. He doesn’t know what’s it's like to be covered in the blood of friends.

While Michonne, Heath, and the injured in the relative safety of a pet store in an abandoned town, Glenn and Nicholas, who is now fully committed to working with Glenn and redeeming himself, attempt to distract Walkers by setting a fire in a nearby building. The plan fails, though, and the two men wind up getting surrounded by a herd. Glenn climbs a dumpster and helps Nicholas up. After staring at the teeming horde all around them, Nicholas tells Glenn "thank you," and then shoots himself. Glenn gets knocked into the herd by Nicholas' falling corpse. He screams as he's engulfed by feasting Walkers.

Michonne, Heath, and an injured Scott wade through a creek. Heath is shocked to see his blood-soaked reflection in the water.

Rick makes it to the RV. As he is informing Daryl that he has progressed that far, he is ambushed by the remaining Wolves. He manages to kill them all, but several Walkers come out of the forest as he tries to restart the RV's engine.

"Here's Not Here"
Morgan speaks to the leader of the Wolves, Owen. As it turns out, he had captured the man, only knocking him unconscious instead of killing him. Morgan relates to him a tale of his past:

Sometime after his second encounter with Rick, Morgan wanders through the woods and recreates his King County bunker at his camp site. He uses walker blood to scrawl messages on the surrounding rocks and trees. "Clear," reads one; "Here's Not Here," another.

He eventually encounters a man named Eastman, who traps him for trespassing. The man was formerly a psychiatrist who specialized in evaluating jailed prisoners to help the state decide whether or not to grant them parole. Using his training, Eastaman deduces that Morgan is suffering from PTSD. Eastman takes it upon himself to help Morgan recover his sanity. Slowly, Morgan regain his senses, learns Aikido, and comes to believe that all life is precious.

One day while scavenging, Morgan nearly reverts back to insanity while visiting his old camp. After a Walker bites Eastman, Morgan fights him, only to lose. Morgan demands that his training be done “not here.” "Here's not here," Eastman replies.

Having returned to living at his old campsite, Morgan rescues a couple from a Walker. Although he is torn as to whether he should go ahead and kill the people, the woman chooses to interpret what he did as an act of kindness. She offers Morgan a can of food. He finally understands what Eastman was trying to teach him.

After Morgan returns to the cabin, Eastman confesses he had killed a man before, an escaped prisoner who, angered that Eastman had attempted to prevent his parole, went on to kill Eastman's entire family. Eastman built a cage in his cabin, the same cage Morgan had slept in for the last few months, and then locked the killer inside, allowing him to slowly starve to death. The act of violence, however, didn't give Eastman any peace, He only found peace when he decided to never kill again..

After Eastman has succumbed to his wound, Morgan leaves the man's cabin, and goes in search of Rick.

Back in the present, Morgan finishes telling his story. Owen then explains to him that part of the reason his people had invaded was so he could get some medicine to treat a previous wound he had suffered, which now has become infected. Owen is unrepentant, however, and tells Morgan that if he escapes, he will kill every last person in Alexandria.

"Now"
As Deanna takes in the aftermath of the Wolves' deadly attack, she struggles with the community’s downward spiral, as well as her own ability to lead. After her son stops a raid in the pantry, Deanna sees her that he is a hypocrite, having taken items for himself. When she confronts him, he blames her for the mess they’re in. That night, she is attacked by a walker and repeatedly stabs it until Rick finally delivers the final blow. She asks if her vision for the future is a pipe dream, to which he replies “No.”

When Glenn doesn’t make it back, Maggie decides to secretly go out and find him. Aaron learns of her plan, and tries to convince her to stay. He insists that Glenn may still be alive. When Maggie refuses to stop, Aaron helps her. He shows her a passageway through the sewer. They make their way through the tunnels, only to be stopped by an entrance blocked by Walkers. Maggie tearfully admits she’s pregnant. Returning to the surface, Maggie erases Glenn's name from the memorial wall. Aaron helps, and jokingly suggests that Aaron/Erin is a good name for a boy or a girl.

"Always Accountable"
Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham arrive at the 20-mile marker set for leading the herd away from Alexandria. A group of gun-wielding assailants ambush them in cars. As they flee, Daryl crashes on his bike and is separated from Sasha and Abraham.

Daryl eludes his attackers but comes across Dwight, Tina, and Sherry who hold him hostage. They believe him to be a hostile member of their former group. They are being pursued for stealing medical supplies for Tina, and Daryl helps them escape through the burt woods. However, Tina is killed by walkers and Dwight gets cold feet. When they reach Daryl’s bike, the couple steal it and his crossbow at gunpoint.

Sasha and Abraham, meanwhile, look for supplies after the attack and grow closer. In an armored vehicle, the two find Daryl and the trio make their way back to Alexandria.

"Heads Up"
After hiding under a dumpster following Nicholas’ suicide, Glenn emerges and finds Enid who’s steadfast in not returning to Alexandria. Glenn repeatedly foils her escape attempts and eventually convinces her to come and help protect the community because of the people they both care about.

In Alexandria, Rick struggles to accept the community as his own as he teaches Ron how to shoot and reluctantly saves Spencer from death when he tries to get a car left outside the gate. Tobin encourages him to not give up on them because the rest of his group hasn’t. As they see Glenn’s balloon signal, the steeple from the church collapses on the perimeter wall.

"Start to Finish"
Rick scrambles to get everyone inside as the walkers pour in. He barricades himself, Carl, Judith, Michonne, Deanna, and Gabriel in the Anderson’s house. While there, Deanna discovers that she has been bitten.

Carol, during this time, discovers Morgan has Owen alive despite his group nearly decimating the town. Morgan attempts to defuse the situation but Carol insists on killing. The two fight, and Owen uses the opportunity to escape with Denise, the doctor. Rosita, Tara, and Eugene arrive only to obey Owen’s orders to stand down for Denise’s sake. The two exit the basement into the horde and leave the five survivors inside.

Despite defending the house, Rick and Michonne realize they need to leave and head for the armory. A dying Deanna makes Rick promise to look after her people and her son. Covered in walker guts, Rick and the group make their way out of the house into the herd leaving Deanna with a gun inside the house.

"No Way Out"
Daryl, Abraham and Sasha are intercepted by another group who demands their things as they now belong to “Negan.” Before the leader can kill one of them, Daryl uses an RPG to kill the group so that they can head back to Alexandria.

In Alexandria, walkers swarm the streets. Rick leads the Andersons, Carl, and Michonne through the herd but Sam draws attention to himself which results in his and Jessie’s deaths. Ron, in anger, tries to shoot Rick but Michonne stabs him. However, Carl’s eye is shot out. Denise and Owen make their way through the herd and the latter helps Denise make her way to the infirmary but is bitten by a walker and shot by Carol.

After Carl is taken to the infirmary, Rick goes on a walker killing spree and, slowly, the community assists and gets major backup in the form of Daryl’s group. After the melee is over, Rick understands that the Alexandrians can survive and that Deanna’s vision can come true for the sake of Carl.

"The Next World"
Rick and Daryl go on a supply run where they find a truck with a large store of supplies. On the way back home, they run into Paul Rovia -- though his friends call him Jesus -- and tells Rick and Daryl that he was just running from walkers. Gunshots go off, but the two discover it is firecrackers and Jesus has stolen their truck. They catch up to him and leave him tied up. However, he wiggles free and hides on top of the truck. During a fight against walkers, the truck is lost and despite Jesus saving Daryl’s life, the man is knocked unconscious and taken back to Alexandria for questioning. The next day, he appears in Rick’s room asking to talk.

"Knots Untie"
Jesus explains that he’s from a community called the Hilltop and he searches for other settlements to trade with them. Rick and a few members of his group go to his community to prove his story and save a small group of Jesus’ people along the way. Once they get there, they meet the leader Gregory, who comes off as arrogant and selfish. As Maggie and Gregory discuss trade options, a group from the community returns and stabs Gregory saying he has no choice in order to free his brother. Rick kills him. Jesus explains that they are under the thumb of the Saviors lead by Negan. Rick's group offers to rescue the man and wipe out the Saviors in exchange for food, medicine, and supplies which Gregory reluctantly agrees to.

"Not Tomorrow Yet"
Holding a town meeting, Rick explains the situation with the Saviors and his plan to kill them in order to trade with the Hilltop. Some like Morgan are opposed to the idea while some are for it. After making a plan, Jesus accompanies Rick’s team to infiltrate a satellite station where they are located. They they trick the guars into opening the gates and letting the captured Hilltop people out before killing. Once inside, they systematically kill Saviors in their sleep so as to not arouse an alarm. However, a Savior discovers them and manages to pull the alarm, alerting the compound to the attack. Guns are blazing but the group manages to win. By morning, Heath and Tara go on a supply run and the group prepare to leave. A surviving Savior fails to flee on Daryl’s stolen bike and a voice on a walkie tells them that they have Maggie and Carol hostage.

"The Same Boat"
Paula and her group of Saviors have Maggie and Carol hostage in order to free Primo, a man that Rick has hostage. They are taken to a makeshift cell where Carol pretends to be weak-willed in order to plan and wait for the right move. In their absence, Carol sharpens the crucifix on the rosary beads and uses it to cut herself free, finds Maggie, and attempts to escape without much bloodshed. However, after Maggie’s stomach is nearly sliced by a Savior, Carol kills the person as Paula in awe and sarcasm at Carol’s craftiness. They fight which leads to Paula’s death and another Savior groups demise. Rick and the group find them and after Primo refuses to cooperate, Rick kills him much to the shock of Carol.

"Twice as Far"
On two different supply runs; Daryl, Rosita, and Denise go to a pharmacy for things while Eugene and Abraham go to an abandoned factory where Eugene intends to make bullets. The two fight over whether or not Eugene can survive on his own while Denise struggles to help Daryl and Rosita look for supplies amidst the dead and rotting bodies. However, she proves to herself that she can kill a Walker and gives her companions a pep talk to help get over their recent problems then out of nowhere, Denise is shot in the head with an arrow. It is Dwight and Saviors who have Eugene and demand they take them to Alexandria. Eugene distracts Dwight and a gun fight breaks out. The Savior retreat and Denise’s body is taken home.

Meanwhile, Carol is still reeling from the previous encounter with the Saviors and concludes that she doesn’t want to kill anymore as it hurts her emotionally. She leaves a note and leaves the community.

"East"
While on the run, Carol encounters a group of Saviors and despite warning them to leave, she kills them in self-defense. She is injured in the process and a surviving Savior pursues her for revenge.

Rick and Morgan go out to search for her and find the carnage left behind. They follow a trail of blood and find a barn where they encounter a man whom Morgan prevents Rick from killing him. He reveals that he kept a Wolf alive and he saved Denise from Walkers so she could save Carl. Morgan vows to find Carol on his own and tells Rick not to come looking if he doesn’t return. Rick hands Morgan a gun.

Rosita, Glenn and Michonne arrive at the spot where Dwight killed Denise. They find Daryl’s motorcycle hidden underneath some branches, confirming Rosita’s hunch that Daryl came back to kill Dwight. Rosita, Glenn and Michonne catch up to Daryl in the woods. Glenn tries to stop Daryl from going after Dwight, but Daryl refuses to stand down. After they split up, they are each captured by Saviors and Dwight shots Daryl when he’s caught.

"Last Day on Earth"
Morgan continues his search for Carol. He finds a horse – presumably the one the man they encountered at the barn was looking for – and rides into a street where he encounters Carol in a building. He proposes they leave for Alexandria at dawn so that she can get stitches and antibiotics. She refuses. After sending him off, the Savoir who survived her onslaught finds her and shoots her up Morgan arrives and orders him to stop. When the Savior refuses, Morgan shoots him multiple times in the chest, killing him. Two men wearing armor approach on horseback: one of them is the man from the barn.

Rick travels to the Hilltop to get medical assistance for Maggie along with Abraham, Eugene, Carl, Sasha, and Aaron but are stymied by Simon, who orders them to hand their things over. Rick refuses. Every road they go to afterward is blcked by the hostile group until they finally surround them in a wooded area where all of them, including Daryl and the people with him, in a line where they come face to face with Negan who kills one of the group members off camera.

Cast
Season 6/Starring|Starring Season 6/Also Starring|Also Starring Season 6/Co-Stars|Co-Starring Season 6/Uncredited|Uncredited

Deaths

 * Carter
 * Enid's Mother (Flashback)
 * Enid's Father (Flashback)
 * Shelly Neudermeyer
 * Richards (Alive and Zombified)
 * Aphid
 * Erin
 * Stacy (Off-Screen)
 * Michael (Off-Screen)
 * Natalie Miller (Off-Screen)
 * Bobby (Off-Screen)
 * Dinesh (Off-Screen)
 * Dan (Off-Screen)
 * Samantha (Off-Screen)
 * O'Hara (Off-Screen)
 * Charlyne (Off-Screen)
 * Jeffery (Off-Screen)
 * Park (Off-Screen)
 * Adrian (Off-Screen)
 * Holly
 * Barnes
 * Sturgess
 * Will (Zombified)
 * Annie
 * David (Alive and Zombified)
 * Nicholas
 * Tommy
 * 40's Man
 * 20's Man (Alive and Zombified)
 * Crighton Dallas Wilton (Confirmed Fate)
 * Tabitha
 * Eastman (Off-Screen)
 * Betsy (Alive and Zombified)
 * Tina
 * Carla (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
 * Delly (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
 * Deanna Monroe (Alive and Zombified)
 * Maya (Off-Screen) 
 * Pascal (Off-Screen)
 * Ted (Off-Screen)
 * Lucy (Off-Screen)
 * Timmy
 * Lead Savior
 * Sam Anderson
 * Jessie Anderson
 * Ron Anderson
 * Owen (Alive and Zombified)
 * Freddie's Wife (Confirmed Fate)
 * Ethan
 * Rory (Confirmed Fate)
 * Tim (Confirmed Fate)
 * Marsha (Confirmed Fate)
 * Gabe
 * Donnie (Alive and Zombified)
 * Molly
 * Michelle
 * Paula (Alive and Zombified)
 * Primo
 * Denise Cloyd
 * Neil (Alive)
 * Miles
 * Jiro
 * Roman
 * Abraham Ford (Off-Screen)
 * At least 8 unnamed Alexandria residents
 * At least 30 unnamed Wolves
 * At least 48 unnamed Saviors
 * 1 unnamed man (Alive)

Trivia

 * This season is mainly based on "Volume 14: No Way Out", "Volume 15: We Find Ourselves", "Volume 16: A Larger World" and the first half of "Volume 17: Something To Fear" from the Comic Series.


 * Below are the changes made to the main cast in this season.
 * Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) is added to the opening sequence after being listed under "Also Starring" in Seasons 4 and 5.
 * Josh McDermitt (Eugene), Christian Serratos (Rosita), Alanna Masterson (Tara) and Seth Gilliam (Fr. Gabriel) are still listed under "Also Starring". All have been regulars since season 5.
 * Lennie James (Morgan), Tovah Feldshuh (Deanna), Alexandra Breckenridge (Jessie), Ross Marquand (Aaron) and Austin Nichols (Spencer) were upgraded to series regulars after recurring appearances.
 * Lennie James was added to the opening credits, while Alexandra Breckenridge, Ross Marquand, Austin Nichols, and Tovah Feldshuh were listed under "Also Starring". Feldshuh is given the special billing "and" similar to Scott Wilson in Season 3.
 * Following the deaths of Deanna and Jessie in "Start to Finish" and "No Way Out", respectively, Tovah Feldshuh and Alexandra Breckenridge are no longer listed under "Also Starring" in succeeding episodes.
 * Feldshuh is listed as "Also Starring" in the closing credits of "The Next World", possibly to avoid giving away her appearance in the episode.
 * On Talking Dead, Scott Gimple wrote a letter in regards to the sixth season, stating the following: "For a good while now, humans have been the bigger threat. At the start of our next season, that will change. I've said before the show reinvents itself every eight episodes and we're doing it again, friends. Now that these characters know that they have what it takes to survive, what are they going to do with that power? How will they choose to live? Beyond answering those questions, we're currently putting into motion some of our most ambitious stuff yet and things are going to get very big, loud, and scary."
 * This season featured human deaths in every episode except "Heads Up" and "The Next World".
 * This season has the second highest death toll, with 134 deaths, being second only to Season 8 with 690 deaths as "Wrath".
 * Gale Anne Hurd has stated the walkers will become a larger threat in Season 6 as compared to Season 5.
 * The Season 6 premiere was 90 minutes long, making it the first season premiere since "What Lies Ahead" of Season 2 to be so.
 * "First Time Again" is the first season premiere that did not surpass the viewing figures of the previous season. Receiving a total of 14.63 million viewers received during the initial broadcast, compared to Season 5's "No Sanctuary".
 * "Here's Not Here" is the first episode (excluding season premieres and finales) to have a run-time of 90 minutes.
 * This is the first season to have no episodes written by Robert Kirkman.
 * This is the second season in which no actor from the opening credits dies on-screen (Season 1 being the first)