The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 20 Changes Lance's Fate From The Comic Series
The following article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 20, "What's Been Lost."
With the impressively gory passing of Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) behind them, fans of "The Walking Dead" who have also consumed the series' comic book universe must be tilting their heads in confusion. Lance's onscreen death — a memorably brutal arrow through the throat courtesy of Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), followed by him choking to death on his own blood onscreen — definitely doesn't even come close to resembling his fate in that version of the comic's universe. But for the television version of Lance — obsessed with Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) — there was no other way out.
After his world collapsed completely in the wake of his boss-slash-love object's betrayal of his faith, which even involved Pamela forcing him to feed his friend to her walker-ized son, and treating Carol's friends with contempt, he could not find any new allies. When he couldn't convince Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol that he was a changed man, his fate was sealed.
While the TV show's version of Lance will likely be spending eternity as walker chow, here's what differentiates his fate from the fate of his comics-world counterpart.
Lance is still alive in the comics world
In the comics universe, Lance Hornsby is still a chameleon-like person; he is still cruel at times but is a somewhat more sympathetic character. While he and Pamela are close, he doesn't become obsessed with her to the point of ruining his own life. Instead, he's able to adjust when Rick Grimes and Pamela work out a compromise that will help benefit both the Commonwealth and a rebellious Mercer and his squadron of guards, who were in conflict and endangering the citizens of the Commonwealth. This results in a free and fair election in The Commonwealth. Throughout the entire battle for power which takes place in The Commonwealth, Lance manages not to die. In fact, he is presumed to still be alive when the comic series ends, even after a 25-year time skip that sees Carl Grimes grapple as an adult with his father's legacy.
By the end of the comic book version of continuity, this version of Lance even manages to do what his live-action counterpart could not; earn the respect of the series' heroes. He's even one of Rick Grimes' mourners when the latter is assassinated by Sebastian Milton, taken back to Alexandria, and buried.