As the creator behind The Walking Dead, Oblivion Song, Invincible and several other must-read comic books, Robert Kirkman knows how to weave a tale that keeps his audience's attention spans on the hook. Even though TWD's comic book series has ended, with the TV show's final stretch already confirmed, the zombie-filled universe continues to expand on AMC and beyond, and Kirkman put the Walking Dead fandom on high alert by teasing the highly requested return of franchise character Clementine.
While promoting the recent Amazon debut of the star-studded Invincible animated series, Robert Kirkman took part in a Reddit AMA, where fans put him through the usual grinder asking about every project under the sun, from the Rick Grimes movies to his general inspirations. But when one fan offered up the punctuation-free request of "Clementine pls," Kirkman's two-word answer sent jolts to my brain:
Stay tuned.
While no angelic choirs came out after I read that, I could feel the presence where they once were. For many, Clementine sits within the Mount Rushmore of Walking Dead franchise characters, despite not coming from the comic book source material or the AMC TV series. Voiced impeccably by Melissa Hutchison, Clementine first appeared in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead and returned in several of that game's sequels, cementing her importance within the fandom. She last appeared in the fifth game of the series, titled The Final Season, but fans were already clamoring for Clementine to join the live-action universe long before that.
Thankfully, while those two words above were definitely enough to reignite my hopes that Clementine will one day return, they weren't the only words that Robert Kirkman devoted to the issue. Granted, he didn't share any concrete details or anything, because such is not his way, but he did double-down with another teasy line for anyone who might have thought he was just trolling hopeful fans. When asked if Clementine would be back for another video game, Kirkman said:
There will be Clementine news before the end of this year. That's all I will say.
One might think that Robert Kirkman would be slightly more positive, even if still vague, about Clementine's video game future if that was indeed the route that Skybound (and others) wanted to go with her. Like, I know he wouldn't offer up major details, but I'd expect even just a tip of the hat to the medium, since that's where people would expect to see her the most.
As such, I'm keen to think that The Walking Dead TV show will find a way to work her into Season 11 with The Commonwealth, possibly with plans on giving her a full-fledged spinoff that could tie back into the video game storyline and characters. On the flip side, they could just give Clementine her own spinoff without even adding her into the flagship TV narrative, or even bring her into Andrew Lincoln's world for the Rick Grime movies. On the flip-flip side, Clementine might get her own standalone comic series. The sky is the limit when it comes to characters like this.
While waiting to hear more about Clementine, The Walking Dead has yet to wrap up Season 10 with its big finale centering on Negan's backstory. If there was ever a character to serve as the fourth corner of the Judith-Negan-Lydia square, it's Clem.
