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This article is about the TV Series group. You may be looking for their Comic Series counterpart.

Fight the dead. Save the living.
―The Commonwealth Army's motto.

The Commonwealth Army is an organization in AMC's The Walking Dead. It exists to protect its citizens from any threats, serving as both a military and a police force within the Commonwealth. They served as the primary antagonistic group for the majority of Season 11.

Overview[]

The Commonwealth Army is a military force serving to protect the people of the Commonwealth. Though they can be harsh and strict, most of them are just following orders and doing their job. The Army is usually seen as a symbol of strength in the community, with the posters putting the soldiers in a good light. Recruits who want to join have to go through tests, such as the "Kill House". Once they join, the soldiers spend their day following orders and doing the assignments they are given. The majority of soldiers are under the command of General Mercer.

However, within the Commonwealth Army, there is much corruption. Despite Mercer's control over the Army, there are often many things going on behind his back that he doesn't know about. It is shown that there are some soldiers who don't play by the rules, such as Alves and Castle who answer to Sebastian, since he is the son of Pamela and has the power to give them an easier life and allowed 30-40 to march to their deaths to get Sebastian's money. The Commonwealth Army often carries out brutal tasks, and are usually done without the supervision over approval of Pamela Milton or Mercer. After suspecting a nearby community of stealing their weapons, Lance orders some soldiers to the building to kill all the Riverbend residents, while pretending Toby Carlson is trying to recruit the community to join the Commonwealth so Pamela doesn't suspect anything.

Most of the soldiers seem to have wanted to join the Commonwealth Army to do good, unaware of the brutality they enforce. Even if some of the soldiers had problems with the orders they are given, it is most likely that questioning the authority would warrant severe punishment. The most prime example of this is after Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel betray the Commonwealth, Lance orders Romano and the other soldiers to execute them. Eventually, the Commonwealth Army helps achieve Lance's vision and taking control of all the communities.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Little is known about individual members of the army before or as the apocalypse began. It is possible that many had some military or police experience, and had lived around or within areas that would become part of the Commonwealth's territories.

Post-Apocalypse[]

Season 10[]

"A Certain Doom"[]

The Commonwealth Army appears at the railyard where Eugene Porter, Ezekiel, Yumiko Okumura and Juanita Sanchez are waiting for Stephanie. They rush in pointing their weapons at them, demanding them to put their hands in the air and drop their weapons. The group is both in shock and worried.

"Splinter"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

Season 11[]

"Acheron: Part I"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Acheron: Part II"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Out of the Ashes"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Promises Broken"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"No Other Way"[]

The Commonwealth Army arrives at Alexandria, raising alarm before Eugene reveals himself. The soldiers unload supplies for the community while Lance Hornsby offers the Commonwealth's assistance in rebuilding Alexandria as well as the opportunity for the residents to join the Commonwealth itself.

"New Haunts"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Rogue Element"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"The Lucky Ones"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Warlords"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"The Rotten Core"[]

The Commonwealth Army will appear in this episode.

"Trust"[]

Lance, Daryl and a detachment of soldiers investigate the aftermath of the events at Riverbend with the bodies of the dead soldiers having been laid out next to Toby and the dead residents. Despite Daryl backing up Aaron and Gabriel's story, Lance remains dubious and orders two of his men to search the area while the rest accompany him to search for the missing people and their missing weapons, starting at the Hilltop.

On the road to the Hilltop, Lance and his forces encounter a herd, but Lance orders Aaron and Gabriel to deal with it, supposedly to save bullets. Joined by Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel effortlessly eliminate the walkers, impressing Lance and his soldiers.

Arriving at the Hilltop, Lance demands access to perform an inspection for the missing Riverbend residents and the stolen weapons. When Maggie refuses, Lance prepares to order his men to storm the gates, but Daryl convinces him to allow him to try to convince Maggie peacefully. Daryl tells Maggie that no one's leaving until the soldiers conduct their search and he asks Maggie to trust him even if she can't trust Lance. Maggie reluctantly allow Lance and the soldiers access and they search the Hilltop without any success. After Lance tries to intimidate Hershel into talking, Elijah threatens him, leading to a standoff. Daryl joins Maggie in threatening Lance and, having not found anything, Lance reluctantly agrees to take his soldiers and leave.

That night, Daryl, Aaron, Gabriel and some Commonwealth soldiers camp out and Daryl tells the other two that they are being sent out to search for the missing weapons rather than returning to the Commonwealth.

Elsewhere, Lance's men locate Leah's camp, but she ambushes them, wounding two of the soldiers before Lance gets Leah to agree to hear him out before killing them.

"Acts of God"[]

Using the flip of a coin, Lance Hornsby separates his men into two groups, having one don camouflage in order to help Leah infiltrate the Hilltop and assassinate Maggie.

At the same time, Lance has Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel work with Romano and three other soldiers to search for the missing Riverbend residents. On Lance's order, Romano and his men attempt to ambush and kill Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel. However, the three see the ambush coming and fight back, stealing rifles from their attackers and killing them, forcing Romano to tell them where to find Lance before Daryl executes him and tells Lance over the radio that Romano is dead. The information leads the three men to Leah's camp where Gabriel kills another soldier, but they find the camp otherwise abandoned. Realizing that the camp belongs to Leah, Daryl splits off from the other two to find his ex-lover.

At night, Leah and her team of soldiers sneak into the Hilltop through the attic, but the soldiers encounter an explosive booby trap left behind by Maggie, Lydia, Elijah and Marco. The explosion kills three of the soldiers, but Leah kills Marco before the four can enter and take the dead soldiers' weapons, forcing Maggie, Lydia and Elijah to flee. After they're gone, Lance and more of his men sweep the Hilltop, putting down one of the soldiers who had ended up reanimating after the explosion. Lance is furious at his losses, but Leah is unrepentant as she has succeeded in drawing Maggie out.

The next day, Lance and a large contingent of soldiers move through the woods, following a trail to Leah's Cabin. Seeing them outside, Daryl shoots at Lance, grazing his face, and exchanges fire with the soldiers. Lance and his men storm the cabin, only to find Leah dead on the floor and Maggie and Daryl having escaped through a window. Enraged, Lance decides to "take it all."

On Lance's orders, the Commonwealth Army takes over the Hilltop, Alexandria and Oceanside, hanging the Commonwealth's banner over the communities walls and lining up the residents of Oceanside for Lance.

"Lockdown"[]

In the Commonwealth, the army has to deal with the protesting residents following the exposure of Sebastian Milton's heist and the people that he got killed doing it. Finally, Henderson orders his men to use tear gas to disperse the crowd when they continue to refuse orders.

A massive herd of thousands of walkers approaches the Commonwealth, getting past all of the checkpoints and the outer perimeter due to, according to Mercer, someone not doing their job. Mercer deploys his men in three jeeps, planning to split the herd in half and have one jeep each lead half of the herd away. However, one of the jeeps overturns and Mercer and Rosita rush to their rescue. Although they manage to save one of the soldiers, the other one is torn apart by the herd despite covering fire from both the other soldier and Rosita on the jeep's mounted machine gun. Despite the loss, Mercer and his other jeep successfully complete the plan, splitting up the herd and leading it away from the Commonwealth.

Elsewhere, Lance Hornsby and his forces continue to hunt for Daryl, Maggie, Gabriel and Negan and Annie. Realizing that the Commonwealth has never seen Negan's face, Daryl devises a plan to get Negan inside to warn their people. As two soldiers stop to fight a herd, Negan, wearing his old Whisperer mask, ambushes them, killing one while the other one is torn apart by walkers. Negan slides a hiding Daryl one of the men's radio and gun, steals the soldiers' vehicle and leaves. When Lance arrives to investigate the scene, Daryl opens fire, shooting Lance in the arm and killing three more soldiers in the firefight that follows. After hearing that Negan is being chased by two more soldiers, Daryl abandons the firefight and rushes to Negan's rescue. As the two men chase Negan through the streets, Daryl rams them with another vehicle, killing both soldiers and allowing Negan to continue on to the Commonwealth.

After arriving in the Commonwealth, Negan is taken before Mercer who dismisses the guard in the room. Revealing himself to be a friend of Daryl's who had sent him, Negan is able to convince Mercer to let him into the Commonwealth to warn the others about what Lance has been doing. Negan alerts Carol who enlists his help to find Sebastian as leverage. Bringing Sebastian before Pamela Milton, Carol informs Pamela of Lance and his soldiers' actions, something that Pamela had no knowledge of. Carol suggests pinning Sebastian's crimes on Lance as a way of helping her in exchange for Pamela helping them to stop Lance.

At the same time, Maggie and Annie ambush and kill a soldier that is trying to send a message to Lance's henchmen in the Commonwealth. Entering the sewers to try to get behind Lance's forces, Daryl's group instead decides to lure them into the sewers and ambush them. Aaron and Annie are able to hobble two of the soldiers while Daryl takes Lance hostage at knifepoint, but the group ends up in a standoff with a large number of Commonwealth soldiers.

"A New Deal"[]

The standoff between Daryl's group and the Commonwealth Army is defused when Carol and Negan arrive with Pamela Milton and Mercer. Mercer orders Lance's soldiers to stand down and Lance is arrested for his and Sebastian's crimes after Daryl reluctantly lets him go at Carol, Pamela and Mercer's insistence.

Later, Commonwealth soldiers stand guard as Pamela addresses the Commonwealth and during the wrestling show on Founders' Day. When the crowd turns on the Miltons, the soldiers perform crowd control, but Mercer has to stop one of them from firing into the enraged crowd.

When ten reanimated Commonwealth janitors attack the crowd, Mercer takes six of his soldiers to put the walkers down while leaving the rest behind to guard Pamela. With the help of Daryl and Judith Grimes, the soldiers are able to put down all of the zombies, but not before several Commonwealth residents are killed, including Sebastian.

"Variant"[]

In the aftermath of the riot and Sebastian's death, Mercer and the Commonwealth Army hunt for Eugene, taking each of his friends into custody for interrogation. After the soldiers capture Max, Eugene turns himself in and confesses to his role in the events, although he claims that he acted alone in making the recording of Sebastian in order to protect Max.

At the same time, several soldiers help Pamela with dealing with the aftermath of her son's death. On Pamela's orders, one of the soldiers executes Roman Calhoun for his role in Sebastian's death. Pamela has the soldiers chain up the reanimated Sebastian and put him, along with Roman's corpse, in Lance's cell for Lance to cut up Roman's corpse and feed it to Sebastian.

"What's Been Lost"[]

As Daryl and Carol sneak through the Commonwealth, they avoid a number of soldiers posted around, as does Yumiko later when she tries to follow the man who had attempted to kidnap Connie.

In the Commonwealth Jail, Daryl and Carol overpower and subdue two soldiers, taking their guns and keys. After putting down the zombified Sebastian, the two break Lance out, setting off alarms. Daryl gets into a firefight with three soldiers, sending Carol and Lance on ahead as he holds them off. Daryl eventually manages to escape, and Pamela is led to the cell where her son's mutilated body has been left.

After escaping from the Commonwealth, Carol and Lance dodge a patrol by making their way through a walker-infested tunnel. However, they are caught by Alpha Squad on the other side who intend to kill them and claim that there was a struggle to justify it. However, having hitched a ride on their jeep, Daryl ambushes and shoots the four soldiers with Carol finishing off one that he only wounds. The three then steal the soldiers' jeep for a quicker transport.

During Yumiko's press conference, several soldiers stand guard. Colonel Vickers reports to Pamela that they haven't caught the escapees yet, but they are searching all quadrants. As Yumiko passes Pamela and Vickers, she overhears a report on the Colonel's radio that Alpha Squad has been found dead and that Daryl, Carol and Lance have escaped.

On a hilltop, Daryl, Carol and Lance observe a building guarded by two soldiers. Lance reveals that the Commonwealth has a supply train for an effort to connect communities all across the continent, although Carol accuses Lance of the Commonwealth wanting to conquer them instead. No longer needing Lance as they can just find and follow the Commonwealth's train, the two attempt to exile him and then kill Lance when he grabs a gun instead.

In a convoy, the Commonwealth Army transports the people that they have made disappear from the Commonwealth, including Ezekiel, injecting their captives with sedatives.

"Outpost 22"[]

During the convoy's journey to Outpost 22, Maggie awakens and manages to free herself. Finding Jones asleep, Maggie awakens and frees Gabriel and Rosita who manage to escape from the truck. However, Jones awakens and, in the struggle that follows, accidentally shoots the driver of the truck. Maggie throws Jones out of the truck to his death before the truck crashes, throwing the other soldier through the windshield, killing him. As soldiers close in, Maggie escapes into the woods. The next morning, a zombified Jones attacks Gabriel and Rosita who manage to put him down and take Jones' machete, pistol and radio before setting out in pursuit of the convoy.

The convoy later stops at a railroad track blockage where a number of prisoners are made to work in clearing out the tracks. Before they are set to work, the Warden separates out a number of prisoners, including Annie Smith, and transports them elsewhere. Negan convinces a reluctant Ezekiel to plot a revolution amongst the prisoners with him while Kelly and three other prisoners attempt to make a break for it. However, Ezekiel stops Kelly while the soldiers shoot the fleeing prisoners in the back.

Observing the train, Daryl and Carol witness a captured Connie being transported on board and overhear the guards talking on the radio about how Connie is a Designation 2 which means that she has a different fate than the other prisoners. Although Daryl wants to rescue his friend, he knows that if they fail, the train will radio ahead and warn Outpost 22. Daryl and Carol race ahead of the train to Junction 7.

After escaping, Maggie sneaks through the woods, evading and eventually putting down a child walker. At a railroad crossing, Maggie attacks and mortally wounds a trooper before being found by Daryl and Carol. At Junction 7, Daryl interrogates the dying trooper, joined by Gabriel and Rosita who had followed the sound of the train. Gabriel is able to convince the man to talk, but he doesn't know where Outpost 22 is, having been called into the search after the group's escape, and he only knows by rumors that the people given Designation 2 are taken far away and are never seen again. The group sets an ambush for the train, jamming the junction switch and attacking the troopers while Maggie captures Wilson, the engineer. They are able to kill the soldiers and rescue Connie, however, Wilson kills himself rather than talk as he fears what the Warden will do to his family if he does.

As the convoy finishes transporting the prisoners to Outpost 22, Rosita contacts a soldier there via the train's long-range radio, posing as Trooper 301 who had actually died in the ambush and asking for directions. Successfully fooled, the soldier tells the group how to find the outpost and reveals, much to their surprise, that it's actually Alexandria, now renamed Outpost 22 following the Commonwealth's takeover of it.

"Faith"[]

Attempting to reach Oceanside, Aaron, Lydia, Jerry and Elijah encounter Luke and Jules who had managed to escape from the Commonwealth takeover of the community. However, they don't know the fates of the other residents, having been ordered to run by Rachel when the takeover happened. With Commonwealth soldiers searching the area for the two escapees, the group cover themselves in walker guts and hides within a massive herd. However, at night, Commonwealth soldiers in two jeeps begin leading the herd in another direction with Aaron, Lydia, Jerry, Elijah, Luke and Jules being forced to follow along.

Mercer and a number of Commonwealth soldiers stand guard at Eugene's murder trial. Yumiko tries to convince Mercer to testify against Pamela, but he refuses as Mercer believes that it won't change things. After Eugene is convicted and sentenced to execution, Mercer and several soldiers break him out instead, secretly defecting to the side of the growing revolution against Pamela's corrupt government.

At Alexandria, Ezekiel and Negan work to build a prisoner revolt against the sadistic Warden and his men. However, an altercation causes the map that they are creating to be found and Tyler Davis, the former Commonwealth soldier turned prisoner, reveals that previous attempts at a revolt had only resulted in good people getting killed.

At the same time, Daryl, Connie, Maggie and Carol use their knowledge of Alexandria to sneak in through the sewers in order to help their friends. Carol and Maggie subdue a soldier and eventually find and rescue Hershel, killing a soldier that's guarding him. However, Coco is missing and Hershel doesn't know where she is.

After finding out about the revolt, the Warden attempts to convince Negan to turn on the others. Instead, Negan claims himself to be responsible with the intention of allowing the Warden to execute him as a martyr. Catching on to this, the Warden decides to execute Annie as well, but Ezekiel leads a group of prisoners in forming a human wall to block the firing squad. The Warden simply orders them all to be executed, but Ezekiel is able to convince Roberts not to go through with it and he gets most of the other soldiers to stand down. Roberts kills Sanborn when he still sides with the Warden who takes Kelly hostage in an attempt to escape. However, Daryl incapacitates the Warden and saves Kelly.

In the aftermath, the Coalition regains control of Alexandria from the Commonwealth. Unable to find her daughter, Rosita demands answers from the Warden who merely taunts her. Enraged, Rosita feeds the Warden to a reanimated Sandborn in revenge.

"Family"[]

In Alexandria, the defected Commonwealth soldiers are held prisoner. Tyler Davis reveals that, when he was a soldier, the children without families were taken to the Commonwealth Children's Home, suggesting that they may have ended up there. With Tyler not knowing where the children's home is, he questions the captive soldiers at Gabriel's request and gets the location from them.

In the Commonwealth, Mercer and his rebelling soldiers, including Lieutenant Rose, escort Eugene to a vacant apartment where Max and Yumiko are waiting for him. Mercer orders Eugene to remain in hiding and Max and Yumiko to continue stirring up dissent while he gathers enough troopers willing to make a move against Pamela. However, Pamela becomes suspicious of Mercer's behavior and has Colonel Vickers keep an eye on him and a door-to-door search for Eugene conducted. Eugene is eventually forced to kill Brooks and flee the apartment with Brooks' gun after the soldier finds him.

The Coalition and the liberated prisoners take the Commonwealth's train to the city in order to take down Pamela and rescue their missing children. Princess makes contact with Mercer who agrees to support their rebellion. With the liberated prisoners acting as witnesses, Mercer is left with legal justification to remove Pamela from power and removes the soldiers guarding Tunnel H to ease their infiltration of the Commonwealth. However, Pamela has Mercer and his loyalists arrested for treason.

On Pamela's orders, Commonwealth soldiers bring three herds together, including the one that Aaron, Lydia, Elijah, Jerry, Luke and Jules are traveling with and lead them to the Commonwealth in order to trigger a lockdown and clear the streets as she had previously done during a riot. However, the herd contains a number of variant walkers that take down Echo and Theta teams and kill Livits who accidentally opens the East Gate, allowing the herd into the Commonwealth itself. During the fight that follows, 14 soldiers are killed along with many more civilians as the herd begins to overrun the Commonwealth.

During her ambush of the Coalition's forces, Pamela uses her government agents rather than soldiers. However, as the survivors begin to make their escape, a soldier guarding the door outside of Union Station is ordered to shoot on sight anybody that emerges. Before the trooper can attack anybody, Eugene sneaks up on him and knocks the trooper unconscious with the butt of Brooks' gun, allowing his friends to safely escape as Yumiko and Max join them.

Vickers reports on the situation to Pamela who, much to Vickers shock and horror, orders the soldiers to divert the herd into the lower wards while they focus on protecting Pamela's home and the estates, sacrificing thousands of people to save the elite of the Commonwealth. As the Coalition survivors attempt to get the badly wounded Judith to the hospital, Commonwealth soldiers lure the herd towards them and seal off the area as per Pamela's orders.

"Rest in Peace"[]

As the Commonwealth is overrun by a massive herd, Colonel Vickers and her men protect the Estates, keeping out desperate people looking for shelter to the point of shooting anyone who tries to climb the fence. At the same time, Max and Princess break Mercer out of jail and his loyalist forces join the Coalition in fighting the herd, arming themselves at the police station before it is overrun and directing civilians to take cover on higher floors. At the Commonwealth Children's Home, which has been overrun by the undead, Rosita, Eugene and Gabriel are able to find and rescue the missing children who had been abducted by Pamela's forces, just as Tyler Davis had suggested.

With Ezekiel convincing everyone to fight for the Commonwealth, Mercer's contacts are able to sneak the combined forces into the Estates where Pamela's forces and Mercer's forces enter into a standoff. As the herd approaches, threatening the people outside, Gabriel moves to let them in, increasing tensions before Daryl berates Pamela that the dead are the enemy, not them. Realizing that Daryl is right, Vickers orders her men to stand down and to give Gabriel the key to the gate. Vickers defers to Mercer's command, and he places Pamela under arrest for high crimes against the people of the Commonwealth. Spotting a zombified Lance Hornsby amongst the herd, Pamela attempts to commit suicide by having Lance bite her, but Maggie puts Lance down, knowing that prison is a fate worse than death for someone like Pamela.

With Pamela overthrown, the Commonwealth Army and the Coalition are left united against the herd. As the variant walkers are too dangerous to just lead away, Mercer has the combined forces draw the herd away for long enough to get a truck out of the Estates. Jerry, Vickers and some of her men make their way to the Commonwealth's fuel depot where they collect a large amount of fuel that is planted around the Estates and poured down its private sewer system while a speaker system is set up to draw the herd inside using loud music. Once the herd is inside, the fuel is detonated, completely destroying both the herd and the Estates and saving the Commonwealth.

In the aftermath, Pamela is imprisoned for her crimes, leaving the Commonwealth Army as no longer being an antagonistic force. A year later, Ezekiel becomes the new commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth Army when he is elected as the new governor of the Commonwealth with General Mercer becoming his deputy governor.

Members[]

Formerly[]

Killed Victims[]

This list shows the victims the Commonwealth Army has killed:

Deaths[]

Appearances[]

TV Series[]

Season 10[]

Season 11[]

Trivia[]

  • The Commonwealth Army is the second professional military encountered in the TV Series, with standardized weapons and armor. The first being the Civic Republic Military.
  • According to Angela Kang in Talking Dead for "No Other Way", the soldiers' armor is made out of a heavy foam material that is very quiet, and any sound of armor clanking heard in the episode is added in the post production process.

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