The Walking Dead Series Finale's Big Death Completely Ditches Comic Book Ending

That someone ends up being Rosita, who gets to say one last goodbye to all her friends and loved ones before passing away peacefully in the final minutes of the episode. Her fate is sealed much earlier in the episode, though, when she falls into a horde of walkers while trying to climb up a drain pipe to safety. While at first it seems like she’s miraculously managed to escape the horde unscathed (hardly the first time this has happened on the show), Rosita reveals to Eugene later that she’s been bitten on her back, which means no amputation is going to save her.

It’s a tragic end for one of the series’ longest lasting characters — Christian Serratos debuted as Rosita all the way back in season 4 — made all the more tragic by the fact that she leaves an infant daughter behind who will never get to truly know her mother. That said, it’s a much more peaceful end for the character. After all, Rosita never even made it to the Commonwealth in the comics by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard.

Rosita is killed in issue 144 by Alpha during the Whisperer arc, and her decapitated, zombified head ends up in the infamous pike scene from issue 145, similar to Henry, Enid, and Tara’s fate at the end of The Walking Dead season 9. To make matters worse, Rosita was pregnant when she was murdered in the comics, meaning the death of her unborn child, too. So those heartbroken by Rosita’s death on the show should find some small comfort in knowing that Rosita escaped a much darker fate.

Another thing to note is that Rosita joining Luke (Dan Fogler) and Jules (Alex Sgambati) on the list of the dead in the series finale is one final subversion from a show known for going off script when it comes to the source material. Although Rick’s death could never close out this series, it almost seemed like his daughter Judith would play that role. That Judith begins the finale slowly dying on a hospital gurney is no accident either, since it’s meant to rhyme with Rick waking up from a coma in the pilot — a Grimes waking at the start of the series and another closing their eyes for the final time in the finale were likely very tempting bookends to this saga.