Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 15, "The Calm Before."
The Walking Dead just Ned Stark-ed 10 characters in the penultimate episode of Season 9. Only two of the killed were played by series regulars, Alanna Masterson as Tara and Katelyn Nacon as Enid. Enid -- the JSS loner who got close to Carl in Alexandria in Season 5, and later became something of a daughter figure for Maggie at Hilltop -- ended up with her head on a spike.
One of the great things about Walking Dead stars is they tend to be candid about their exits (just ask Tom Payne and Chandler Riggs). Katelyn Nacon said she wasn't surprised to see Enid killed off, since the show didn't seem to know what to do with her.
I thought I was going to die in like Season 6. I didn't think my character was going to last as long as it did. So I'm glad I made it as far as I did. But I mean, I don't know. I think around season eight, things started to slow down a lot for [Enid]. She was kind of in the background a lot, and her story wasn't really progressing. Even with Season 9, she became a doctor, but the show didn't really progress more with her character other than her becoming a doctor and getting a boyfriend. So I think, honestly, it was just running out of content for her, or something? I'm not really sure.
Yeah, the time jump showed that Enid went into the medical profession after some training from Siddiq. But she was shown most often with her new boyfriend Alden, a former member of the Saviors. The past few episodes, when we saw Enid at all, it was worrying over Alden or joking around with him at last night's big fair at the Kingdom.
As Katelyn Nacon continued to Insider:
I mean, at the beginning of the year, I thought it was going well with her learning how to be a doctor and everything. I thought there was going to be some exciting things to come, but I was a little bummed out with the second [half] of the season of her just kind of being pushed down into a love interest role.
Yeah, that is disappointing -- especially when she basically trained at Maggie's side, and could've easily been shown to step up and lead Hilltop next to Jesus or Tara. They hinted to that, but never really progressed her in that direction toward the end. Katelyn Nacon thought either Enid or Tara would end up leading Hilltop after Jesus was killed, but "they never even really cemented that. Then, Daryl came in all of a sudden and swooped up [Hilltop]."
Daryl Dixon may not want that job either. Hilltop has a leadership curse -- Gregory, Maggie, Jesus, Tara. It's the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts! But maybe Maggie will be back to take over in Season 10. We can hope/dream.
Hilltop had a lot of casualties in Alpha's border spikes. But Katelyn Nacon said a lot of the cast members were surprised that more serious regulars weren't included. Khary Payton and Christian Serratos thought their characters, King Ezekiel and Rosita, were going to be killed right up until the episode scripts came out. Nacon said it was kind of a last minute thing for her to have confirmation that Enid would be one of the characters killed.
Katelyn Nacon was also frustrated that The Walking Dead didn't show how Alpha managed to kidnap the people in her group, including Enid -- whose mantra was always JSS, Just Survive Somehow. On a bittersweet note, when Insider asked what Enid might've had as her final thoughts before being killed, Nacon said Enid was probably excited to see her parents again, and see Glenn. She was basically Glenn and Maggie's kid before Maggie gave birth to baby Hershel. Funny that she didn't mention Enid being excited to see Carl again.
Anyway, the episode definitely lived up to its title, "The Calm Before," with heavy foreshadowing across a full hour for almost every character. I watched the episode thinking that was probably Ezekiel's last speech, that was the last time Eugene and Rosita will talk, that's the final hug between sisters Connie and Kelly, Daryl may never see his dog again, etc. (Not that I really thought they'd kill Norman Reedus. I was worried for the dog.)
But The Walking Dead seemed to want to defy expectations, and not strictly follow the comic book, "remixing" writer Robert Kirkman's storyline to have different deaths. Honestly, from here, I only really cared about Tara and Enid. I'm sorry that Carol keeps losing kids, but she is cursed on that front too.
Next week's March 31 episode is The Walking Dead Season 9 finale. And there's a blizzard! Yes! Weather! I am looking forward to seeing snow walkers. The episode airs at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
