Summary
- Maggie's leadership of Hilltop had to relocate due to the community being destroyed in a fire, and its new location is closer to Manhattan.
- Negan had a son named Joshua with his new wife Annie, and he sent them away to keep them safe after an attack.
- Maggie's resentment towards Negan returned in Dead City, and she continues to make jabs at him despite her previous hints of forgiveness.
The gap between The Walking Dead's ending and The Walking Dead: Dead City left for room for numerous developments to occur offscreen. When last seeing Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) in The Walking Dead, they seem to end on neutral . Most notably, Maggie's anger toward Negan is supposedly lessened. Plus, audiences also get a glimpse at Maggie's leadership over Hilltop as it starts being rebuilt. This and Negan's pregnant wife, Annie, suggest some kind of civility between Maggie and Negan will take place.
However, Dead City introduces major changes which can be seen with narrative beats either skipped over or told retrospectively. Aside from the obvious location difference, a few years have ed by the time the events of Dead City start, sparking curiosity over exactly what happened and why so much is different. Based on what's been said so far, here's what can be gleaned about the goings-on in The Walking Dead universe between the main show's finale and the first episode of Dead City.
10 Maggie's Hilltop Community Moved Locations
Maggie becomes the leader of Hilltop at the start of season 8 after she, Rick, and others take on The Sanctuary. At the time, Hilltop is a museum-turned-community with farming patches and a large wall. However, by season 10, the community is destroyed in a fire thanks to The Whisperers and Negan. Maggie addresses this in the Dead City premiere when she says she and the Hilltop residents had to relocate after he helped "burn it down."
It's not clear where the Hilltop's new location (The Bricks) is, but it's evidently no longer in Virginia as all travel seen in Dead City to The Bricks seems like it's not a huge journey. Instead, The Bricks appears closer to Manhattan and the New Babylon Federation. While Maggie doesn't explain the reason for the move, it's most likely for practical reasons such as trade or convenience.
9 Negan & Annie Had A Son Called Joshua
In The Walking Dead season 11, audiences meet Annie, Negan's new wife, a survivor from the now-defunct Riverbend group. She reveals she's pregnant in episode 14, and with the time jump between The Walking Dead season 11 and Dead City's pilot, it's obvious that she had the baby the time Dead City started. Negan confirms this in episode 3 when he talks about his family. Joshua should be at least 4 years old since The Walking Dead timeline sets Dead City 5 or 6 years after the end of the main show.
8 Negan Split From Annie & Joshua
A driving force behind why Negan is so difficult for Maggie to catch at the start of Dead City is him being on the run. Negan recounts a time when Annie didn't return one night from a trade, finding her beaten up and robbed, and killing the five men who attacked her. After the killings, Negan sends Annie and Joshua to Missouri and stays moving in order to keep them out of danger. This justification is a convenient way to justify Negan leaving behind his family, which seemed highly unlikely after the care and love he showed Annie in season 11 of the main show.
7 Negan Adopted A Young Girl Named Ginny
After parting ways with Annie, Negan apparently found himself in new company prior to Dead City. Negan befriended Ginny, a young girl who lost her father and doesn't speak. Negan explains in episode 1 that he found Ginny while he was on the run at a farm after her father died about a year prior to the events of Dead City's premiere. Taking Ginny under his wing might be an act of guilt since he reveals that one of the five men he killed was her father. While this may have been a lie, the instinct to protect a parentless girl might come from any guilt he feels about having to leave his own family behind.
6 Oceanside Recovered After Lance's Attack In Walking Dead Season 11
In The Walking Dead season 11, episode 16, Lance Hornsby claims Hilltop, Alexandria, and Oceanside as Commonwealth locations. While at Oceanside, he flips a coin to decide the fate of the residents, who are rallied together by Commonwealth soldiers. This raises whether the community regained control and if the residents survived. Dead City reveals that Oceanside must be operating effectively even after the attack since a teacher from The Bricks introduces Ginny to a class of kids as a member of the community.
5 Negan Moved His Family Near The New Babylon Federation
In episode 3, Negan explains that he and his family were living just outside New Babylon, which is presumably near The Bricks and Manhattan. This is contrary to where audiences last saw him since Maggie explicitly tells him at the end of season 11 of the main show that he and his family can stay at Hilltop since he's "earned his place." Why he moved may be due to the Hilltop relocation, for a fresh start with his family, or to give Maggie space to fully get to a place where seeing him doesn't cause her pain.
4 Hershel Became A Real Brat
Hershel barely said much as a 10-year-old in the main show's final season, but his capture in Dead City puts him at the forefront of the story. As a teenager, it's expected he would be somewhat moody, but in Dead City episode 6, he makes sarcastic remarks and is surprisingly argumentative after Maggie rescues him from the Croat. His "brat" behavior seems mostly rooted in what he calls Maggie's obsession with Negan. Hershel speaks to feelings of abandonment when he says, "You never see me." While Maggie has opened up about her frustrations with Hershel's anger toward her, this scene highlights how unaware she was of his real feelings since she has no valid counter to his claims about her obsessive hatred of Negan.
3 Maggie Made A Deal With The Croat
Maggie's connection to the Croat is flimsy at first, as he's treated as seemingly nothing more than a ruthless leader who takes her community's grain and kidnaps her son. However, as the season goes on and Maggie's insistence on Negan sticking with her continues, an ulterior motive is revealed. In order to get her son back, Maggie agreed to bringing Negan to the Croat for a trade. Despite her guise of needing Negan's help due to his history with the Croat, the Croat preys on Maggie's trauma and anger toward Negan to get her to do what he wants.
Although the Croat explains he's heard stories of Maggie and what Negan had done, by mentioning that she "had her own incentives," whether it's revenge or retribution, argues that risking her only living loved one's life for a man who took her husband from her basically guarantees a deal in the Croat's favor. Drudging up Maggie's negative feelings for Negan and using it as leverage to get her on board ultimately ensured he would capture Negan like he wanted.
2 Maggie's Resentment Toward Negan Returned (& Got Worse)
By the end of season 11, Maggie its that she doesn't know if she will ever forgive Negan. So, while this hints to possibly a more tame attitude from Maggie in the future, she completely undercuts this in Dead City. From the get-go, she makes jab after jab at Negan. While this seems regressive, without it, the Croat's main way to get her to stick to their deal is less impactful.
Hershel even echoes this resentment by telling her, "It's like my whole life you've been looking over my shoulder, watching for him [Negan]." Negan also addresses it by acknowledging that no apology will make her get over what he did, and even adds that she shouldn't. The cyclical nature of her hatred will arguably run its course since a rehashing of it in Dead City season 2 may become tiring.
1 Negan's War Against Rick Became A Walking Dead Legend
In the final episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1, the Croat shares that he's heard of Negan's conquests and brutal killings. This highlights how beyond the communities in Virginia in the main show, Negan's leadership of the Saviors and his methods of obtaining what he wants is known extensively. It also plays a large part in the reason behind why the Croat and Dama want Negan. His reputation of ruthless leadership and unapologetic conquering is what they need to exact power over neighboring communities in order to become an unbeatable force that no group, not even the New Babylon marshals, can infiltrate.