The Walking Dead's Judith Dies In The Comics, But What About The Show?
"We get to start over. We're the ones that live," Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) told her brother R.J. (Antony Azor) in her final moments in the series finale of "The Walking Dead." Judith and her brother do indeed make it out alive in the show, contrasting her fate in the original comics on which the show is based — although, the show did tease viewers of her fate before it was all said and done.
In "The Walking Dead" comic books, after only being born a month prior, Judith is killed accidentally. She was the youngest main character to die in the entire comic series. Judith is the newborn daughter of Lori Grimes and Shane Walsh. She became the first character in the books to be born after the apocalypse. After Shane's demise, Rick Grimes became the adoptive father of Judith and loved her as his own. Rick and Lori's son Carl loved Judith very much and wanted to protect her.
In the book's prison storyline, Judith was killed when the Grimes family tried to outrun The Governor during his assault on the prison in which they were staying. When The Governor saw the Grimes family trying to escape, he ordered Lilly Caul to kill them. Lori Grimes was holding Judith as they tried to run, and Lilly shot her in the back causing her to collapse on Judith. Both were killed in the altercation. Lilly was filled with so much regret that she ended up shooting The Governor as well. The show played things out a little differently.
Judith almost died in the finale of The Walking Dead
The character of Judith Grimes was not killed as an infant as she was in the comic books in AMC's adapted TV show "The Walking Dead." In fact, she got to grow up and become a pre-teen. Her backstory and familial relations remained the same as in the comics. Although she survived the prison storyline, she did not get to grow up with her adoptive father Rick. He disappeared, leading her, along with her adoptive brother R.J., to be raised by Michonne. When Michonne left the group to try to find Rick, Daryl became the parental figure for the Grimes children.
While she lived a lot longer than her comic book counterpart, the TV series version of Judith had fans on pins and needles after she was shot in the penultimate episode of "The Walking Dead." In the Season 11 episode, "Family," Judith was shot accidentally by Pamela during a raid of The Commonwealth. Daryl didn't want Judith to take part in it, but she did anyway and it almost cost her life. Because no one is safe in "The Walking Dead," and the show has a track record of killing children (like Sophia), fans thought this might be the end for Judith on the show.
However, Judith does survive the shooting after being rescued and carried away by Daryl in the show's series finale. She eventually sent Daryl off on his next adventure at the end of the show while standing along with Ezekiel and Carol. Daryl promised to bring Rick and Michonne back to them if he can find them. While there are several spinoffs planned with AMC, this might be the last time we see Judith. At least she got some semblance of a happy ending.