Warning: spoilers ahead for the Season 8 finale of The Walking Dead, called "Wrath." If you haven't watched the episode yet, feel free to check out some of our non-spoilery articles until you get the chance to tune in.
The last couple of seasons of The Walking Dead have been a wild ride for Savior-turned-good guy Dwight, and it hasn't always been easy to surmise his true motives. He turned out to be a pretty great asset for Rick and Co. once he betrayed the Saviors, and he managed to keep the double agent act going for a while before Negan finally realized what he was up to and used him to set a trap for the Hilltop crew. In "Wrath," Dwight ended up in a dirty sweatsuit with the "A" on the front in a total reversal of fortunes from when he had Daryl in the same sort of plight. Well, Dwight's journey didn't end there. We finally learned his ultimate fate, and it wasn't pretty. Dwight didn't die, but he's definitely gone, all thanks to Daryl, and it was not what we expected.
The future wasn't looking too bright for old Dwight for most of his time on screen. He was dragged by Negan to the big battle of the long-teased all-out war, and he seemed destined for a bullet in the brain courtesy of Negan. Things began to look a bit better for him when Negan and the Saviors got a nasty surprise: Eugene had sabotaged all the bullets he'd made, causing them to more or less blow up in the Saviors' hands. The chaos enabled Dwight to beat a hasty retreat and he lived to make it to Hilltop after the Saviors lost the war. His future seemed grim when Daryl drove him out into the forest in a pickup truck, and he clearly thought that he was on the verge of being executed by everybody's favorite zombie apocalypse redneck. Daryl has been vowing to kill Dwight for a while, right?
Well, a cooler head prevailed for Daryl, and he decided to let Dwight live. He threw a set of keys at his former enemy and told him to go find his wife, although he did make it clear that he would totally kill Dwight if he ever returned. Dwight beat his second hasty retreat of the episode and returned to the house where Sherry had been staying. She wasn't there, but she left a note for "D" with the word "honeymoon" on it. He was clearly happy to see her message, and we have to wonder: could Dwight reunite with Sherry and enjoy a rare zombie apocalypse happily-ever-after? Will the next web series be Dwight's journey to reunite with Sherry? Probably not, but anything can happen at this point. I thought he was sure to bite the dust before the end of Season 8, so the finale definitely came as a surprise to me. Fans of the Walking Dead comics probably got a surprise as well.
In the comics, Dwight was on much friendlier terms with the good guys. Of course, Daryl doesn't exist in the comics, so they never would have had reason to meet and become enemies. He was also a former soldier, and he went on to become the leader of the reformed Saviors in the comics after Negan was toppled as leader. Dwight is still alive, around, and in the mix on the page. Being sent into exile in the finale, right after the war ended and the Saviors were reformed, was not what many comic fans probably saw coming on the show. The good news is that the manner of Dwight's departure doesn't 100% mean that he can't reappear, even if Daryl wouldn't be happy to see him. Who knows? Maybe he could show up on Fear the Walking Dead with Sherry. If Morgan can do it, maybe Dwight could do it too.
We'll have to wait and see. The Walking Dead may be done until Season 9, but there's still zombie apocalypse action to be found on AMC. New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead air on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET. For some non-zombie viewing options, check out our midseason TV premiere schedule and our summer TV premiere guide.
