The Walking Dead (TV series) / Season 9

Season 9 of The Walking Dead
Logo of the series
Episodes	16
Country of production	United States
First broadcast	Oct. 7, 2018 - March 31, 2019 on AMC
German-language first broadcast	Oct 8, 2018 - Apr 1, 2019 on FOX
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► Episode list

The first broadcast of the ninth season of the American television series The Walking Dead was shown between October 7, 2018 and March 31, 2019 on the American cable broadcaster AMC ; the German-language first broadcast was on FOX between October 8, 2018 and April 1, 2019 Channel to see. The season, which was the first to have a fully animated intro, was broadcast in two parts of eight episodes each. The second part of the season ran from February 10, 2019 on AMC.

action

About eighteen months after the events of Season 8 and again six years later, the core plot continues to focus on the group around Rick Grimes and their numerous allies. With the mysterious Whisperers under the leadership of Alpha , a new, hostile group is included in the plot. The Whisperers are again an element that was carried over from the graphic novel series.

Episodes

No. ( total )	No. ( St. )	German title	Original title	First broadcast in the USA	German language first broadcast (D)	Director	script	Odds (USA)	Odds (DE, Fox)
116	1	A new beginning	A New Beginning	Oct 7, 2018	Oct 8, 2018	Greg Nicotero	Angela Kang	6.08 million	0.28 million
Eighteen months after defeating the Saviors, the communities of Alexandria, Sanctuary, the Hilltop, the Kingdom and Oceanside have strengthened their ties and are both in active exchange and in building. Rick and Michonne continue to run Alexandria, Judith has now grown into a toddler. Maggie was re-elected as Hilltop's leader in an election against Gregory, while Carol and King Ezekiel head the kingdom as a couple. Eugene and Daryl try to keep the remaining Saviors at bay and rely on Maggie's Hilltop's thriving agriculture because of uncultivated land. In addition, the remaining Saviors get to feel what it is like to have to live without weapons. A group led by Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Rosita and Carol set off for the ruins of Washington, DC , where items from the pioneering days are to be found in a museum. In addition to seeds, there are canoes, a plow and even a covered wagon that is still intact. In the entrance hall, however, a large part of the floor is separated by a fragile pane of glass from the basement, where Walkers cavort. When the covered wagon crosses the pane in an unavoidable way, the increasingly splintering pane breaks through and Ezekiel falls down, but can just about be rescued as he is secured with a rope. On the way back to Alexandria they noticed a bridge towards Hilltop, which was largely destroyed by the increased water level. On the further way home, the covered wagon finally gets stuck in the wet mud and can only be pulled out again with united manpower, as the harnessed horses cannot find a hold. However, as a larger group of Walkers gets closer, the group decides to leave the car and come back later. But Ken, a young man from Hilltop, tries to save the horses that are still attached to the wagon and is bitten in the arm. Despite the immediate amputation of the arm, the blood loss is too great and Ken dies. His parents, Tammy and Earl Rose, are informed of their son's death by Maggie. They are deeply dismayed by the fact that their son only died because of the procurement of some utensils that they considered dispensable. Maggie promises them a proper funeral, but the angry parents don't want their leader with them. At the funeral, Gregory finally took the floor and expressed himself full of pathos about the allegedly important member of the community who would now have passed away. He then visits the dry alcoholic Earl in his house and gets him to drink whiskey with him and to conspire against the "traitor" Maggie. Rick, Daryl and Michonne accompany the transport of equipment to the Sanctuary. There Daryl discovers a graffito that Negan swears allegiance to. This leads him to a conversation with Rick, in which he expresses that he no longer wants to lead the Saviors and longs for the times when he was still part of a small group where everyone could trust everyone. Carol then offers him to take his position in order to gain some distance from Ezekiel, whom she suspects of wanting to propose to her. Michonne advises Rick to come up with a code of conduct to maintain peace between the communities. When Maggie goes for an evening walk with Hershel, Gregory informs her that someone has desecrated Glenn's grave. Once there, Maggie is attacked by a hooded figure and injured with a knife. In the attempt to fend off the attacker, the hurried Enid also takes damage. Finally Earl is exposed and Gregory joins them, who also attacks Maggie, but is defeated by her. The next day, Maggie agrees to Rick to deliver food to Sanctuary, but only on condition that the Saviors provide labor to repair the damaged bridge. Earl is later put in a cell and Gregory is hanged to the horror of those standing by.
117	2	The bridge	The Bridge	Oct 14, 2018	Oct 15, 2018	Daisy by Scherler Mayer	David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick	4.95 million	-
Rick tells a stranger what has happened in the past few weeks. There are plans to blow up a roadblock and use sirens to lure away a horde of walkers. He built a camp in the forest near the bridge. Rick sends Siddiq back to Alexandria after he appears to have adequately trained Enid in medical care. Carol and Ezekiel talk about the danger that threatened the king in the museum and he makes a proposal to Carol including the ring, but she postpones answering. Anne (Jadis) and Gabriel tie up in the camp. Henry, whom Carol and Ezekiel have taken under their wing, distributes water to the workers at the bridge. A Savior, Justin, however, wants more than his ration and pushes the boy away. Daryl mediates and points out to Rick the problem that water and food are scarce, but the bridge should still be repaired quickly. The explosives are later detonated and Jerry is instructed by radio to let his siren go off. Justin's siren, however, remains silent despite repeated requests and so the horde moves towards a group of survivors who are currently lifting tree trunks from a large pile of wood. When a Savior lets go of the safety rope, Aaron's left arm is crushed under a trunk. Rick and Daryl save the seriously injured comrade and bring him to the forest camp. There Enid manages to amputate the arm and stabilize Aaron, but Rick feels guilty. He confronts Justin, who claims his radio was empty. Daryl points out that the devices are solar-powered, but Justin moves away. Michonne visits Maggie in Hilltop for an ethanol delivery from the Saviors, which should have been exchanged for food, but never arrived. Maggie is told to advance the food until a replacement comes, but she points to the empty tank of the tractor and Earl, the blacksmith. He sits in the cell and cannot repair the plow that was destroyed on the transport from the museum and that could temporarily replace the tractor. But she allows Tammy to talk to her husband under her supervision. After hearing the story of Earl's abstinence and the whiskey Gregory gave him, she releases him on parole, promises Michonne the food in exchange for a replacement shipment of ethanol, and agrees with her to work out a joint code of conduct. Rick talks again with the stranger, who finally turns out to be Negan. He still assumes that Rick would only set the world around him going again so that he can finally present it to him better than before. Standing on a crane, Anne is on the night watch and sees a helicopter in the sky in the distance, which seems to worry her. Justin is walking alone towards the Sanctuary when he seems to see someone he knows in the bushes. But the stranger knocks him down.
118	3	No exceptions	Warning signs	Oct 21, 2018	Oct. 22, 2018	Dan Liu	Corey Reed	5.04 million	-
Maggie drives a covered wagon with a protector from Hilltop towards the sanctuary to deliver the food as promised. On the way she is stopped by a group of Saviors who, instead of working on the bridge, are looking for Justin. When one of the men, Jed, steals a tomato from the car and begins to call her "the widow" like Negan, the two former lieutenants Arat and Laura step in. But suddenly the zombified Justin staggered out of the forest and was hunted down. It quickly becomes clear that he died by human hands. When news of Justin's death spreads in the camp, the mood changes and the Saviors want to stand against Rick's people, but are stopped by Rick just before the escalation. While Justin's friends accuse the "junkyard lady" Anne, Rick asks Daryl if he could comment on the matter, which the latter insultedly denies. Gabriel, who was on guard with Anne for most of the night, confronts Anne, but Anne does not mention the helicopter. Rick has several squads roam the area in search of possible clues that could expose Justin's killer. One party consists of Maggie and Cyndie, one of the young women from Oceanside. They come to a house that is infested with walkers both inside and out. Cyndie points out that some of the residents of Oceanside had sought refuge there before the commune was established. Simon and some Saviors went to see them there and killed all the men. When Cyndie is suddenly attacked by a walker, the other troops rush to help, except for Arat from Sanctuary and Beatrice from Oceanside. Not far from the house they find Beatrice, who had been knocked down, Arat has disappeared. Rick puts together search parties again, this time without the participation of the Saviors. He and Carol meet a group of Saviors around Jed, who suddenly grabs Carol and holds a knife to her throat. He asks Rick to surrender his gun so they can return to Sanctuary unmolested. Carol manages to get through and stabs Jed in the shoulder. Rick does not abandon him and offers him medical care back at camp. Meanwhile, Daryl and Maggie find several walkers killed, one of whom was struck down by a harpoon shot. Not far from the site they meet Cyndie, Beatrice and other Oceanside women who have brought Arat to his knees. They tell of the murders of their husbands, fathers and brothers, in which Arat was present alongside Simon. This would have personally indicated that "no exceptions" should be made. The young woman also refers to Gregory's execution. Maggie and Daryl leave contrite and Arat is executed. Anne returns to her junkyard, where she radios a stranger and requests a helicopter. The stranger promises her one, but only if she could offer an "A" or a "B" in exchange. Gabriel, who followed her, shows up and confronts her. He suspects them to have traded people for equipment and other benefits in the past. Anne promises Gabriel that they could have a better life together and separate from Rick and the others. But the priest wants to betray Anne and is then knocked down by his supposed girlfriend after she has told him that he could be an "A" that she needs. The next day, the Saviors leave camp in the forest and return to Sanctuary. Maggie and Daryl talk about the fact that Rick's path is the wrong one and that they must now enforce their own. And that means, among other things, to visit Negan.
119	4th	Hunger strike	The Obliged	Oct 28, 2018	Oct 29, 2018	Rosemary Rodriguez	Geraldine Inoa	5.10 million	-
Michonne, who leads Alexandria during Rick's absence, works out her code plans during the day and raises Judith. At night she usually lies awake and kills Walker with her sword in the wilderness. She is briefly distracted when she sees a writhing walker tied to a tree and is attacked by a second. She can only fend off the attack with a baseball bat found on the ground. This reminds her of Negan, whom she visits in his cell. He's on a hunger strike and wants to talk to her. He tries to get closer to her by creating a supposed connection. He would have lost his wife Lucille, Michonne their son Andre. But that doesn't impress the woman very much and when asked where his baseball bat is, Michonne only replies “somewhere out there”. Gabriel finds himself tied up in the junkyard across from an armless walker who is strapped to a hand truck menacingly close above him. He apologizes desperately to Anne for his mistakes and she finally removes the walker, then she anesthetizes him with chloroform. When the priest wakes up again, the woman is gone and lets him know on a piece of paper that she “had to leave quickly alone”. Daryl and Maggie want to kill Negan and Maggie goes to Alexandria. Jesus, who wanted to talk her out of her plan beforehand, can inform Rick about Maggie's plan. He looks with concern at the half-finished bridge, which could soon be destroyed again by the thundering masses of water. To make matters worse, according to Eugene, there are also two large hordes of walkers roaming the area. When Rick receives Jesus' message, he asks an Alexandrian guard over the radio for help not to let Maggie walk around the settlement unaccompanied. But the young woman, who originally comes from Oceanside, is on Maggie's side and does not pass the instruction on. Despite everything, Rick wants to make his own way home and is spontaneously taken by Daryl on his motorcycle. When Daryl intentionally takes a wrong turn, Rick tells him to stop immediately. The two get into an argument and roll wrestling with each other into a deep hole in the ground off the road. After blaming each other, they make peace for the sake of survival and try to get out of the hole. Meanwhile, a group of Saviors, led by Jed, arrives at the forest camp and now has a few weapons. They know about Arat's murder and demand that all weapons be surrendered. Jed threatens Carol with a gun, which in turn points one at the man. When she finally tries to make way for him, she misses a kick and the shock causes a shot from Jed's pistol, which provokes a firefight. This attracts various walkers, also at the hole in the ground, which is not far from the camp. Daryl and Rick are massively hindered by zombies falling into the hole with the help of roots on their difficult ascent. Rick finally makes it up and also pulls his friend up before the walkers can pull him down. The rest of one of the hordes has now joined the small group of Walkers and Rick wants to lure them away on a horse that has fled from the camp. Daryl's plan to lead her to the bridge and bring it to collapse, he refuses. Daryl drives to camp and Rick rides, the horde behind. At a bottleneck, the second horde suddenly crosses his path. His horse shies and throws him off. At first Rick only notices that he is unable to move, but then he sees what position he is in. He is lying on a pile of rubble, a metal rod protruding from it has dug deep into his stomach.
120	5	Wake up	What Comes After	Nov 4, 2018	Nov 5, 2018	Greg Nicotero	Matthew Negrete & Scott M. Gimple	5.41 million	-
Rick can free himself with the help of his belt, which he pulls up. Severely wounded, he mounts his horse and slowly rides off, which has meanwhile become a horde of people. He finds refuge in an abandoned hut, where he can put on a temporary pressure bandage, but has to flee from Walkern again. In the hut and then on the back of the horse, he fights against the constant loss of blood and passes out several times. In his maddened fever he meets his old friend Shane, with whom he is sitting in a patrol car and looking at the accident vehicle that was part of their last mission together. In another dream he meets Hershel in a barn, outside it is peaceful and the sun is shining. In a third vision he meets Sasha in the middle of a sea of ​​corpses. His three companions are supposed to help him find his lost family, but they calm him down and urge him to wake up. Anne is on her way to a meeting point with the mysterious helicopter when her car gives up the ghost. She promises her negotiating partner that she has no bad intentions and an "A" for him. Maggie arrives in Alexandria, but Michonne is already expected outside Negan's dungeon. She wants to keep her friend from killing Negan, but finally the widow manages to convince Michonne of her plan and is given the key. Negan mocks Maggie and tells her how alive he felt during all the murders, especially when he smashed Glenn's skull. The determined woman pulls Negan out of the cell to look him in the face. But she does not see Negan, she only sees a broken man. His skin is pale, his hair gray and mostly fallen out, he is thin and writhing on the floor. He begs Maggie to kill him so he could be reunited with his wife, he wouldn't be able to do it himself. Maggie realizes Rick's ulterior motive and brings Negan, who in her eyes also has to suffer a much worse sentence than death, back to his prison. Outside, a resident brings the news that the forest camp has been overrun. Rick has meanwhile arrived in the deserted camp, a few zombies sneak through the destroyed tent city. Rick falls on the loamy ground and his horse runs away. With his revolver he can fend off three attackers and slowly moves towards the half-repaired bridge. In a waking dream his companions appear and he realizes that Michonne is his family. Shortly before the Horde can reach him, he comes to his senses again and continues his way across the bridge, bleeding heavily. But this does not collapse under the weight of the walkers, who inexorably come closer when suddenly a crossbow arrow comes flying towards them. Daryl, Michonne, Maggie, and others have come to Rick's rescue but are struggling to reach him. While most of the group set out to lure the horde in the direction they came from, a zombie knocks a box full of dynamite from a pile of wood. Rick aims and detonates the explosives, completely destroying the bridge and pulling dozens of walkers into the waters. Michonne, Daryl, Maggie and Carol watch the scene and burst into tears, convinced they have just watched Rick's death. Anne is waiting for the approaching helicopter on a bank of the river, which is just tearing walker corpses with it. She has already drawn her gun, determined to kill the pilot and usurp the aircraft. Then she discovers the seriously injured Rick in the bank mud and reports to her negotiating partner that she has a "B". Nevertheless, the helicopter finally lands and brings Anne and Rick, who is being looked after inside, to an unknown location. A group consisting of Magna, Connie, Kelly, Yumiko and Luke are surrounded by a group of Walkers six years later. Suddenly shots echo from a nearby piece of forest, knock down two walkers and the five survivors flee into the forest through the breach. There her rescuer, a young girl in a sheriff hat, introduces herself as Judith. Judith Grimes.
121	6th	The world keeps turning	Who Are You Now?	Nov 11, 2018	Nov 12, 2018	Larry Teng	Eddie Guzelian	5.40 million	-
Together with Rosita, Eugene and Aaron, Judith accompanies the group to Alexandria. Michonne, the new leader since Rick's disappearance, is not exactly enthusiastic about the newcomers and calls a council meeting for the next morning. While the injured Yumiko is being treated by Siddiq, the newcomers have to introduce themselves and hand in all their weapons. When Michonne discovers that Magna's hand is conspicuously covered with a cloth, she gets the woman to remove the cloth. A prison tattoo emerges, which makes the alarm bells ring at Michonne. She decides that the group can stay until Yumiko is back on her feet, but then she has to leave Alexandria again. Judith, who is not satisfied with the decision, tells Negan about whom she has developed a sporadic relationship through the window of his cell. Ezekiel decides to train the teenage Henry to be a blacksmith and sends him to Hilltop for this purpose. The boy sets off in a horse-drawn cart with his adoptive mother Carol. A group of Saviors around Jed ambush them as they stop in an industrial area and force them to hand over all goods on the cart that were actually intended for Hilltop. Since Jed remembers that Carol spared his life, he leaves them the horses and the cart and their lives, but collects Carol's wedding ring in addition to the food. Henry tries to help his adoptive mother with his stick fighting skills, but fails. At night, when he sleeps, Carol cannot let his disappointment in her inaction sit on her and tracks down the sleeping Saviors. She ties her up, takes her ring back and wakes Jed. Then she lights a match and previously spilled gasoline ignites so that the ex-Saviors burn alive. After the group in Alexandria voted not to turn against the residents, Magna, who was the only one who voted against, goes to Michonne's house with a hidden knife. But inside she sees the woman with her son Rick, Jr. and rejects her plan again. At the door she hands the knife to Michonne and leaves. Judith tells her adoptive mother that she is slowly forgetting what the voices of Carl and Rick sound like and she asks Michonne why the group couldn't stay. The next day the group wants to leave Magna, but is stopped by Michonne and sent together with Siddiq on the trip to Hilltop, where their chances of being tolerated would be greater. Carol and Henry continue their journey. As they leave a paved path, Henry silently discovers the ring on Carol's finger and immediately afterwards they meet Daryl. He now seems to be living alone, but accepts the offer to ride on the car. Rosita and Eugene ride to a water tower in order to install radio receivers for Gabriel, with whom Rosita is now in a relationship. As a group of walkers approaches, Eugene has to climb down from the tower again, but injures his knee when he has to jump several meters down after a piece of the ladder crashes. Since the horses have fled in fear, Rosita has to move on foot with the hobbling Eugene. In a wooded area Eugene tries to make her a confession, but the woman pulls her boyfriend on and they end up in a muddy hole. There they lie down, rub themselves in with mud and are not detected by the walkers staggering past. With horror they suddenly hear soft whispers from the ranks of the walkers. Somebody announces that the two must be found.
122	7th	Stradivarius	Stradivarius	Nov 18, 2018	19 Nov 2018	Michael Cudlitz	Vivian Tse	4.79 million	-
Rosita has been separated from Eugene and hears the eerie whispers everywhere. Eventually she passed out from dehydration . Hilltop is now led by Jesus after Maggie and her son joined Georgie's unknown group, according to Tara. Despite everything, the chosen leader, Jesus, is uncomfortable with the role and expects Maggie to return soon. Outside the settlement, he meets with Aaron for hand-to-hand combat training and discusses with him how Alexandria and Hilltop can get closer to each other again. A rocket ignited nearby causes them to break off the conversation. The men find Rosita in a forest and bring her back to the settlement. There is no trace of Eugene. Michonne, who is now with us, Siddiq and DJ are now arriving with the group around Magna at their former camp. Luke, a music teacher before the apocalypse, takes some flutes, Magna an item of clothing from a man she seems to be close to. Michonne wants to go back home, but the group persuades her not to go to help them convince Maggie. As it is already getting dark, they find refuge in an abandoned factory building. While everyone else is sleeping, Michonne is woken up by noises and goes to see. She spots Luke rummaging in the garbage, pulls her katana and tells him to drop whatever he's holding. When Luke turns around, the sword rushes through the air and destroys a Stradivarius violin that he had recovered some time ago. In a subsequent conversation, Luke explains that he is convinced that art, including music, is what distinguishes humans from animals. With the help of the preservation of art, humanity could be kept alive and the Walkers defeated. The group wants to leave the next morning, but the factory site has meanwhile been ravaged by walkers. With combined forces, everyone can escape unscathed, but Bernie, a friend of Magna, is among the killed zombies. In the vicinity of Hilltop they meet two riders who have just come from there and want to deliver the news of Rosita's whereabouts. Siddiq confesses to Michonne that he knew before leaving that Maggie had not been at Hilltop for a long time. Meanwhile, the deaf Connie thinks she has seen something in the forest, but then decides to change her mind without knowing that someone is really watching her. Daryl takes Carol and her foster son to his camp, where his dog named Hund is already waiting. Carol worries about Daryl, who she believes is undereating in the wild. Henry later informed him that he was still a very important friend of Carol's and that he missed his presence. During the night, Daryl and the dog go into an adjacent forest to examine his traps for trapped animals. Suddenly dog gets tangled in one of the traps and some walkers come closer. Henry wakes up and uses his fighting stick to rescue Daryl, who is in distress while freeing the animal. The next day the three arrive at Hilltop with their dog and learn from Rosita, who has awakened again, that she has lost Eugene and that they both have come into contact with strangely behaving Walkers. Daryl, Aaron and Jesus set out to find their friend.
123	8th	Whispers	evolution	Nov 25, 2018	Nov 26, 2018	Michael E. Satrazemis	David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick	5.09 million	-
Daryl, Jesus and Aaron follow the trail of Eugene. In a field, a column of Walkers slowly approaches, moving in a strange order. The three men walk around the zombies without realizing that they are also being watched. The traveling group around Michonne and Magna is only reluctantly allowed to enter Hilltop. Old friends like Carol or Tara welcome Michonne, but they are still distant. Tara, who is in command during Jesus' absence, refers to him regarding the decision to take in Magna's troops, Michonne and Carol are talking about a planned fair in which all the settlements should take part. Henry begins his training as a blacksmith with Earl and discovers, visibly irritated, that the doctor Enid, who has meanwhile matured into a woman, is apparently with Alden, a former Savior. Frustrated, he accepts an invitation from some other young people to celebrate with them in a hut outside Hilltop. The Teen drinking Moonshine and then move to a covered hole in the ground. The boys have caught a walker in it, which they abuse from time to time as a throwing target. Henry jumps into the hole in the ground and kills the walker, then the others disappear and he is left alone in the hole. At the gates of the settlement, Tara and Earl pick up the drunk boy and put him in a holding cell. Henry does not want to admit to Earl what he did and with whom, but promises to behave immediately and make his parents proud. Earl indulges the boy as he thinks of his own alcoholic past. In Alexandria, Gabriel tries to let Negan relax with the help of singing bowl therapy. But Negan makes fun of the priest and he is angry about it, also because he is forced to deal with him instead of looking after his girlfriend Rosita. When the two riders from Hilltop announce the message of Eugene's disappearance, Gabriel leaves the dungeon. Rosita warns Tara and Michonne about the strangely acting Walkers and that Daryl, Aaron and Jesus are in great danger. The three men track down their friend Eugene in a barn near where Rosita was found. They make slow progress with the injured person and finally separate to dispel their traces. Daryl, who is now alone with his dog again , tries to distract the horde with the help of fireworks, but the undead are still following the trail of the other three. Negan's tennis ball, which he repeatedly bounces against the wall of his prison, rolls through the bars. Then the man notices that Gabriel apparently didn't lock the cell door properly. With a malicious grin on his face, Negan leaves the cell as a free man. In the thick fog, Aaron, Jesus and Eugene finally see the Walker horde in a cemetery. The entrance gate cannot be opened because a large amount of earth restricts the range of movement. With their stabbing weapons, the men can eliminate large parts of the zombies and then dig the gate free with the help of the Tara, Magna and Michonne who finally arrived. Jesus wants to be the last to leave the cemetery and has only one enemy ahead of him. But he suddenly evades and stabs the Hilltop leader in the back, then he is struck down by an arrow from Daryl's crossbow. While examining the corpse, Daryl discovers that the attacker is a human who wore a Walker mask and who was apparently able to move undetected among the undead. Another part of the Horde approaches and threats can be heard from among their ranks prophesying their certain death for all those who survived.
124	9	Home sweet home	adaptation	Feb 10, 2019	Feb 11, 2019	Greg Nicotero	Corey Reed	5.16 million	-
Daryl, Michonne and the others can escape from the cemetery and recover Jesus' body. On the way back they are followed by a few walkers, including three Whisperers. Two of them can be taken out, the third, a teenage girl, surrenders and is captured. Meanwhile, Tara wants to search for them and Luke and Alden agree to leave. The groups miss each other and the returnees arrive at Hilltop with the prisoners. There the girl is taken to a cellar that has been converted into a dungeon, while Henry is still sitting in the other cell. After a while, the two cell inmates begin to talk, while Daryl listens secretly from outside. He hopes to get information about the remaining Whisperers, but according to his own statement, the girl would be the only survivor. While Eugene's injured leg is being treated, he makes a new attempt to reveal his feelings to Rosita. But this suddenly goes bad and she runs out of the infirmary. Outside, she confronts her friend Siddiq, to ​​whom Rosita expresses the suspicion of being pregnant by him - Eugene overhears the conversation. The settlement mourns for Jesus, for whom a coffin was specially built. Angry, Daryl storms into the dungeon and aggressively pressures the prisoner. This reveals that her mother and a few other group members are still up to mischief in the area. When Daryl is back outside, he hears the girl Henry introducing herself as Lydia. Meanwhile, Negan roams through Alexandria unmolested at night and steals a compass that belongs to Judith from Michonne's house. At dawn he wants to climb over the protective wall, but is suddenly caught by Judith, who points her revolver at him. She explains to the man that there is nothing outside the walls that is relevant to him. Negan promises not to kill anyone anymore and can finally persuade the child to let him go. But Judith vows to shoot him the next time they meet. He should keep the compass in order to always find the right path. Once in the sanctuary, only a few walkers hang around in the destroyed gang camp. Negan tries to soak up the atmosphere of the old place of work, but nothing is what it used to be. Even killing the undead is no longer fun after years of imprisonment, especially since he can no longer even use his Lucille. Frustrated, he drives off with a motorcycle that is still in the old factory hall. Suddenly a shot is fired on a country road and he falls. Judith stands in front of him, reminding him of her threat. Negan gives up and sets off with the girl in the direction of Alexandria. Alden and Luke track down several arrows, apparently from Yumiko's crossbow, stuck in trees. In the thick forest, they suddenly face a group of Whisperers who had placed the arrows. Their leader steps forward and points a sawed-off shotgun at the men.
125	10	Lydia	omega	17th Feb 2019	Feb. 18, 2019	David Boyd	Channing Powell	4.54 million	-
Lydia, who has now gained some trust in Henry, tells him her story. When she was about five to six years old, she was with her parents in a basement that had been converted into a shelter in Baltimore after the epidemic broke out. After a month or so, a warehouse fever had set in and one resident wanted to flee the basement in a panic. Lydia's mother stopped the man from doing it, and while she pinned him to the floor, he apparently died of heart failure. Tensions developed between the parents and little Lydia began to feel more and more of her pessimistic father's anger. Later that night, when she wanted to examine the corpse, which was still in the shelter, it suddenly woke up as a walker and bit her father, who had come to help. Daryl has listened again and frees Henry from prison. Following Lydia's story, he had told about his foster parents and the Kingdom, which made Daryl angry. In a conversation that follows, Daryl learns that Lydia's mother may be looking for her. When he tries to give the girl water in the cell, she tries to snatch the ladle from her. In the process, Daryl discovers stigmata on Lydia's arm, which suggests serious physical abuse. Daryl, thinking back to his own brutal father, agrees with Henry to help the prisoner while still gaining as much information as possible. Henry tries a new idea and takes the girl outside, but they have to hide quickly in order to remain undetected. Lying on the floor, Lydia eats a worm that she has pulled out of the earth and offers her new friend one too, which he quickly swallows. As the boy then turns his back on her, the girl slowly grabs a hammer, ready to knock Henry down. A flashback triggered by baby cries brings her to reason and Lydia painfully asks Henry to bring her back to her cell. There she asks him to stay with her and they both spend the night holding hands together, with Henry lying on the floor outside the cell. Daryl appears the next morning and is able to elicit her true story from the prisoner, as she admits to having reproduced the previous events in a modified form, as they had been drummed into her by her mother, who blamed her for the death of her father. In reality, it was the father who had become increasingly fearful, whereas her mother had apparently drawn strength from the death of the bunker occupant. Meanwhile, with her hair shorn close, Lydia's mother came up with the plan to leave the shelter after the resurrected carcass attacked another resident and triggered a mass panic. However, her husband wanted to remain in supposed safety with the child. Under cover of hysteria, Lydia's mother finally murdered her weak husband with a knife. Outside, Henry mentions his foster mother Carol, who also shaved her hair short back then to avoid her brutal husband, who regularly pulled her hair in his anger. Tara, Yumiko, Magna, Connie and Kelly are now looking for Luke and Alden for their part. But the group only discovers a few walkers who have been turned off, who have gnawed at the men's horses. Connie identifies the fatal injuries to the horses as wounds inflicted by human hands. Tara pulls the group off to forge a plan to be safe from the possibly approaching Whisperers. But at night the four women sneak outside again to finally track down their friend Luke. After a while, however, they also break off in the dark because of the uncertainty, with Yumiko and her partner going back to Hilltop, but Connie and Kelly want to continue looking for Luke. At dawn Magna and Yumiko arrive at their new home and are already expected by Tara, who is understanding, but also disappointed. A little later, Connie and Kelly appear, who had been tracked down by some of Tara's scouts. Connie, who remains a bit behind, then has to fight her way into an adjacent corn field in order not to be spotted by the Whisperer group approaching the settlement. In a firm voice, their leader, Alpha, calls on the new Hilltops leader, Tara, to surrender their daughter Lydia.
126	11	Deal with it	Bounty	Feb. 24, 2019	Feb 25, 2019	Meera Mennon	Matthew Negrete	4.39 million	-
In a flashback, Ezekiel, Carol and Jerry as well as Jesus and Tara meet to exchange some trade goods. The Hilltop residents also hand over the Michonne charter for the settlements of Kingdom, Hilltop, Alexandria and Oceanside. At the fair that will soon take place in the Kingdom, all leaders are to sign the certificate with a ceremony. In the present, Alpha emphasizes showing her face without a mask as a sign of her good intentions. As proof of her fighting strength, she refers to dozens of masked fellow combatants and a slowly approaching group of walkers. Then the woman presents her tied hostages, Luke and Alden. When a woman from the Whisperer group is unable to calm her baby, who is suddenly crying, she is persuaded by her leader to put the child down and leave it to the walkers. Alpha proves her ruthlessness when she describes herself and her entourage as animals. With the help of sign language , Luke can draw the attention of Connie, who is still hidden, to the child, who saves him and is brought to safety by some residents who also enter the cornfield via a secret exit. Daryl, who does not want to provoke a battle with the Whisperers, goes to the dungeon to get Lydia. But there is no trace of either her or Henry. Addy leads him to the remote hut where Henry had celebrated with the other teenagers after his arrival, where the two are finally found. Henry, who has apparently developed feelings for Lydia, had bought these new clothes and is vehemently opposed to Lydia's extradition. But despite all the agony, the girl misses both her mother and the group and agrees to the swap, with a kiss she says goodbye to her new boyfriend. Daryl tries to comfort him by letting him know that there are some decisions that you just have to live with. The prisoner exchange goes without complications and Alpha slaps her daughter first and then wraps her in her arms. Ezekiel, Carol, Jerry and a few others have set up a movie theater to get a pear for their film projector. After some difficulties, everyone can leave the Filmpalast unscathed, a pear and a large picture frame for the charter in their luggage. Earl and Tammy have taken the recovered baby and seem delighted to have a new child in their house. Daryl receives a message written by Henry, in which he informs his friend that he "cannot live with it" and wants to bring Lydia back. Daryl sets out to look for the boy and is reluctant to allow Connie to accompany him, who thinks like the boy.
127	12	leader	Guardians	3rd March 2019	4th March 2019	Michael E. Satrazemis	LaToya Morgan	4.71 million	-
On the way to her camp in the forest, Alpha wants to know if her daughter could find out anything special about Hilltop, but she says no. Once in the forest, Alpha's followers turn out to be larger than was previously known, most of them stay there unmasked and make masks for those wandering around from the faces of killed walkers. Lydia is also supposed to get a mask again, Alpha assigns it to her right hand, a giant who is only called Beta. This then finally tracks down Henry, who also discovered the camp, and hands him over to his leader. After he is knocked down with a punch to greet Lydia, he ends up tied to a tree. Then he has to watch a couple - Sean and Helen - turn against Alpha. Both think it would have been bad for the group to show themselves to other survivors, especially with an unmasked leader, and to bring back the renegade Lydia. Alpha, who first shows herself to be belligerent in order to take on the critic, finally pulls a strong piece of wire out of her pocket, puts it on Helen's throat and beheads the woman. She puts the severed and bleeding head in Sean's hands and stabs him right away. The corpses are disposed of outside the camp and left to the walkers. That night, Beta is sent to get Henry and Alpha asks her daughter to judge the boy with her knife to prove her strength and loyalty. As the crying Lydia approaches her boyfriend, a group of walkers invade the camp and attack some unmasked Whisperers. Lydia and Henry can save themselves and are matched by Daryl, who wears a walker mask, and Connie, who had led the undead to the shelter. At first Lydia is reluctant, but then she finally flees the camp with Daryl and the others. In Alexandria, Michonne, who is responsible for security, is angry that she was unaware of Rosita's and Eugene's plans to reactivate the radio tower, as the operation was known to have involved sacrifices. In addition, she continues to refuse to consent to Alexandria's participation in the fair, citing security risks as the reason. In a conversation with Negan, he then tries to convince Michonne that he has changed. He would have been outside if he hadn't harmed anyone and would have returned to his cell on his own initiative. But the woman doesn't want to trust Negan, if only for Rick's sake, and keep him incarcerated. From now on, Judith is forbidden to talk to her "boyfriend", but the girl shares Negan's view that this has changed. As proof, she cites that her stepmother has changed too. This makes the increasingly bitter Michonne think and finally tells Aaron that she no longer wants to stand against Alexandria's participation in the fair. Eugene and Gabriel, who both have romantic feelings for Rosita, cannot come to terms with the fact that Siddiq's wife is pregnant. But Eugene gives the priest better chances and encourages him to fight for Rosita.
128	13	bottleneck	Chokepoint	March 10, 2019	March 11, 2019	Liesl Tommy	Eddie Guzelian & David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick	4.83 million	-
Alpha sends out Beta and a few others to bring Lydia back. Meanwhile she arrives with the others at a skyscraper in which Connie and her friends had already sought refuge in the past. You can still find bandages, water and other supplies there. Since the house has a staircase at each end of the building, Daryl comes up with a plan to make one of the staircases impassable and to lure the pursuers through the other. Lydia wants to know from Henry why he was looking for her. The boy answers truthfully that she is important to him. Daryl interrupts a kiss to stop them both to keep watch. After a while, Beta's group of Whispers and Walkers reached the high-rise and was lured into it by Daryl. Inside, the passable stairwell is blocked so that only people can get over the obstacles. So the walkers are left in the entrance area and Beta and his people make their way upstairs. There Daryl locks Lydia and dog in a storage room, fearing the girl might stab them in the back. Both Daryl and Connie and Henry can take out some Whisperers, but then Beta rushes towards Daryl. The two men fight a brutal life and death fight, which Daryl finally wins through a trick. He pushes the giant into a meter-deep shaft, where it remains motionless on the roof of a transport elevator. Meanwhile, Lydia has freed herself and can barely chase Dog on a Whisperer who threatens to overwhelm Henry. But the boy injured his leg and had to be supported in the subsequent escape. After a while, Beta wakes up from his unconsciousness. He is bleeding profusely from his face, but otherwise seems unharmed and smells bloody revenge. A group calling itself The Highwaymen called, attacked a squad to Jerry. The king's bodyguard has his sword removed and a written request for Ezekiel is given. In it, the men demand a road toll for all treks on the roads around the Kingdoms. Ezekiel, Carol and some of their most skilled warriors make their way to the meeting point with the strangers who seem to have appropriated the territory of Jeds and other saviors who were killed by Carol. Ozzy, the leader, receives an offer to secure the roads around the kingdom instead of spreading terror. But the gang of thieves still insists on the required road toll. However, when Carol, who has a far larger group with guns behind her, offers that the Highwaymen be allowed access to the Kingdom, where they could see their first film since the collapse of the civilized world, the men agree. As a first act, they rescue a trek led by Tara, who is leaving Hilltop for the fair. In the Kingdom, both Tara and Carol notice that neither Daryl nor Henry are there.
129	14th	scar	Scars	17th March 2019	18th March 2019	Millicent Shelton	Corey Reed & Vivian Tse	4.57 million	-
Looking back, you can see the one with Rick, Jr. pregnant Michonne on the river bank where Rick was found by Anne, she meets her boyfriend Daryl. She asks him if it is okay for him to be alone, which the latter replies in the affirmative, but the sad woman cannot say the same about herself. She finds Rick's filthy revolver in the mud between a few corpses, which she takes home, cleans and keeps in a box for Judith when it's old enough for a gun. In another flashback, a black woman comes to the gates of Alexandria, whom Michonne recognizes after a brief confusion as her old high school friend Jocelyne. In the present, in turn, Daryl, Connie, Henry and Lydia arrive at the settlement and ask for medical care for Henry's injured leg. Michonne is still suspicious of the girl and explains in a subsequent conversation that she is ready to do anything to protect her people and has already done things in the past that she would regret. Judith is proud of the stories she has heard about the fight against the Saviors and wants to persuade Daryl, whom she admires, to stay in Alexandria, but he and his small group leave the settlement the same day. Back in the past, Michonne and some of her friends are able to rescue some of the children whom Jocelyne had taken care of from a nearby warehouse. The children are brought to Alexandria and spend a fun evening by the fire with the children of the settlement. The children are orphans and well versed in the art of hunting, and a stag they hunt enables the whole settlement to enjoy a rich dinner. The next morning Michonne and some parents look for an empty house in which the children - including Judith - had stayed with Jocelyn, but find it deserted. You discover a body in the looted armory and finally some bloody footprints that lead to the entrance to the Alexandrian canal system. In the here and now, Judith leaves the dining table early and goes to her room. But when Michonne wants to talk to her, there is no trace of the child and Rick's revolver. She tries to find out from Negan where her daughter might be. Negan points out that Judith is sad that her mother does not want to let anyone near her or into the settlement and probably wants to tackle what Carl had in mind. A flashback shows Michonne and Daryl, who discover one of Jocelyn's children at an old school and run after him. However, the other children lurk in the building and overwhelm the two adults with gun violence. As a sign of “strength”, Jocelyn lets a boy burn an X into Michonnes and Daryl's back with a branding iron. A little later, the two of them are able to free themselves and face Jocelyne and two children, the rest of them go outside to a motorhome with the Alexandria children. In a short fight, Michonne overpowers the children, but is wounded in the stomach by her own katana, which a boy is wielding. After taking it, she executes Jocelyn outside with a stab in the heart. The children try to avenge their leader, but all but one are killed with a heavy heart by Michonne. Today Michonne tracks down her daughter and saves her from a walker. She explains to Judith, who can remember the events of that time, that it was precisely this fear for her and the betrayal of Jocelyne that ensured that Michonne decided not to let anyone go to Alexandria. The manhole cover was sealed and the ties to the other settlements began to tear. After a short pause at Carl's grave, the two set off for the Kingdom, on the way they meet Daryl's group, who they take with them on their wagon. Afterwards you see two of Alpha's scouts, who watch another tour group arrive in the kingdom.
130	15th	The calm before	The Calm Before	March 24, 2019	March 25, 2019	Laura Belsey	Geraldine Inoa & Channing Powell	4.15 million	-
Five years ago, a young couple went to Hilltop to save themselves from their lives in the wild. To celebrate her anniversary, the woman has carved wooden medals with an "H" on them. It is supposed to symbolize the words "home", "hope" and "hilltop". In the here and now, the Whisperers attack their trek, with which they wanted to bring the medals to the Kingdom, there are no survivors. The group around Michonne and Daryl arrive in the Kingdom, just in time for the fair. Colonels Michonne, Daryl, Gabriel, Tara, Rachel, Carol and Ezekiel meet in the royal theater; Judith, Henry and Lydia are there. The four leaders agree to work more closely again, especially since the Whisperers are a new threat that has to be taken seriously. Michonne and Gabriel agree to take Lydia into their home and, if necessary, to defend her against her mother. In addition, all leaders sign the charter drawn up by Michonne and put on paper by Ezekiel. Immediately a squad of capable people from each community is formed to support the weakest settlement, Hilltop. Especially since it is supposedly the only one whose location the Whispers know. Lydia, who is not exactly welcomed by the other young people, goes to the cinema with many others to see the film promised by the king. Suddenly her mother sits down on the seat next to her, which was actually reserved for Henry. The woman has taken the clothes, the hair and the sun hat of one of the killed Hilltop caravanists as a disguise and asks her daughter to return with her. The conversation moves outside and the daughter lets her mother understand that here people care for one another, that she is important too. Alpha calls her daughter a weakling and officially excludes her from the community. The security group for the Hilltop, led by Daryl, meets the Highwaymen on their way , who draw their attention to the attacked trek from Hilltop. Groups are formed to search for possible survivors. Daryl, Carol, Michonne and Yumiko are ambushed by the Whisperers and captured. By force of arms, Alpha separates Daryl from the others and brings him to the edge of a cliff, where they overlook a large valley in which thousands of walkers are flocking. The leader of the Whisperer points out that from now on she would not care about her daughter's fate, but that she would have marked her territory. If the united settlements were to enter their territory, it would be easy for them to bring the Horde to work. While Daryl and the others can leave, Alpha pauses for a moment and sheds a single tear. She secretly stabs one of her comrades-in-arms after watching this moment of weakness. Daryl, Michonne and the others meet Siddiq, who is tied to a tree. Amazed, he leads them to a clearing in which ten wooden stakes can be seen from a distance, on which heads have been impaled. Little by little, in shock, they discover the zombified and snapping skulls of Highwaymen Ozzy, Alek and DJ, the teenagers Frankie, Rodney and Addy as well as Earl's wife Tammy, Enid, Tara and Henry. At the same time, the slain friends mark the line in Alpha's territory. Later, on a stage in the Kingdom, Siddiq tells everyone present about the events. Everyone had fought bravely and should now be remembered as heroes. Then Daryl and Lydia go to the stake on which Henry's head had been impaled and the girl places one of the Hilltop wooden medals in front of it. As the two move away, it starts to snow a little.
131	16	The storm	The Storm	March 31, 2019	April 1, 2019	Greg Nicotero	Angela Kang	5.02 million	-
A few months after the massacre, winter has a firm grip on the country. In the Kingdom, water pipes burst from the cold and other parts of the infrastructure are gradually giving way. After Ezekiel has sent a radio message to nowhere, he decides to travel to Hilltop with his subjects. Together with Michonne, Daryl and Yumiko he talks about Tara's death and her potential successor, especially considering the fact that Maggie wants to stay with Georgie. After a fight against various walkers buried in the snow, Lydia breaks away from the group and finds a walker half covered in snow. The girl starts crying and holds out her hand to the zombie, determined to let herself be bitten. At the last second, Carol stops Lydia from doing what she wants. Michonne finally leads the trek to the sanctuary, but in the absence of sufficient provisions, the old factory site is only suitable for a short stay. With the help of maps the group finds a way through the land of the Whisperers. Arrived at a frozen river to cross, Lydia has disappeared again. While the rest are fighting again against attackers buried in the snow, Carol is able to track down the girl again. Lydia still blames herself for all the dead and tells Carol to kill them. But even if the woman struggles with the death of her foster son and the relationship with Ezekiel has changed since then, she finally gives Lydia to understand that she belongs to the group and must live. A day later everyone is safely at the Hilltop, but Carol has bad news for her husband. She needs distance and gives her ring back to the king, and she wants to leave for Alexandria with Daryl. Carol, Daryl, Michonne, Lydia and a few others then set off on the journey. The snowstorm also caused problems in Alexandria, because the sun, which has become weaker and finally disappeared, can no longer store the urgently needed solar panels. Some residents gather in the church, Negan is also freed from his cell. When the residents find out that the chimney in the church is unusable, they form a chain connected by ropes to fight their way through the storm, which has since swelled into a blizzard , to Aaron's house. When Judith suddenly runs off to look for the dog that has run away, Negan runs after her. He is injured by flying debris, but can finally find the animal and Judith, who is about to freeze to death, and bring them back to the group. Michonne and Negan meet in Alexandria, the woman thanks the man for saving her daughter, who seems to be really important to him. Alpha and Beta are discussing their next steps. In preparation for “what is to come”, the leader asks her right hand to be strengthened with lashes on the arm. After Ezekiel ended a radio conversation with Judith in the Hilltop and left the room, an unfamiliar voice suddenly answers.

Production and background

On January 13, 2018, AMC extended the series for a ninth season and announced Angela Kang's appointment as the new showrunner .

On May 7, 2018 it was announced that Callan McAuliffe ( Alden ) and Avi Nash ( Siddiq ) were hired as new leading actors in the ninth season, who had previously only occupied supporting roles. Samantha Morton was also confirmed for the role of Alpha (leader of the Whisperers ), the new main antagonist. Series veteran Andrew Lincoln ( Rick Grimes ) had already stated in May 2018 that he no longer wanted to participate in the series for private reasons after the ninth season. In October 2018, Lauren Cohan ( Maggie Rhee ) followed suit in order to be able to concentrate more on other projects. According to showrunner Kang, the character would be left alive to allow Cohan to return. Austin Amelio ( Dwight ) was removed from the cast list to establish the character in the offshoot series Fear the Walking Dead .

Filming began on April 30, 2018. Greg Nicotero directed work on the opening episode and Michael Cudlitz (formerly Abraham Ford ) directed the seventh.

Scott Wilson (formerly Hershel Greene ) died on October 6, 2018 , and the first episode was dedicated to him.

Web links

• Season 9 in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Season 9 , foxchannel.de, accessed on September 9, 2018
2. ↑ AMC reveals The Walking Dead premiere date and trailer for season 9, part 2 , digitalspy.com, accessed on January 4, 2019 (English)
3. ↑ The Walking Dead: Season Nine Ratings. In: tvseriesfinale.com. November 28, 2018, accessed March 12, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Premiere was much less popular than in 2017 . In: DWDL.de . October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
5. ↑ The Walking Dead Renewed for Season 9, Angela Kang Promoted to Showrunner , ign.com, accessed on August 29, 2018.
6. ↑ ' Walking Dead' Promotes Pair to Series Regulars for Season 9 (Exclusive) , hollywoodreporter.com, accessed on August 29, 2018 (English)
7. ↑ ' Walking Dead' Taps Samantha Morton as Iconic Villain , hollywoodreporter.com, accessed on August 29, 2018.
8. ↑ Andrew Lincoln reveals why he is leaving The Walking Dead , ew.com, accessed August 29, 2018.
9. ↑ Cohan speaks about "The Walking Dead" exit , sky.de, accessed on March 24, 2019
10. ↑ Austin Amelio switches to "Fear the Walking Dead" , sky.de, accessed on March 24, 2019
11. ↑ The Walking Dead season 9 reveals filming has begun , digitalspy.com, accessed on August 29, 2018.
12. ↑ Michael Cudlitz Returning to 'The Walking Dead' as Director , comicbook.com, accessed on 29 August 2018 (English)