The New York Theory That Has The Walking Dead: World Beyond Fans Talking
It's only about halfway through its first season, but so far, The Walking Dead: World Beyond has kept a very tight focus on its narrative. After the first episode established the world of the series — America ten years after the events that kicked off the original The Walking Dead — it set the show off on a singular journey. Almost all of the action thus far has focused on sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour), as well as their traveling companions, who are on a journey across the country to find their father, who sends them a distress signal from the headquarters of the secretive Civic Republic Military (or the CRM) in New York.
The only time we leave the perspective of their Nebraska to New York odyssey is to get brief flashes of CRM HQ, where it now seems clear that they are awaiting the group's arrival. The Walking Dead: World Beyond is totally centered around this trip to New York.
However, as one fan of the series recently posited, what if the group never actually makes it there?
Fans recently took to the show's subreddit to discuss the possibility that the series isn't actually going to see its characters reach New York, and that the entire trip may have been one big bait and switch.
Some fans of The Walking Dead: World Beyond aren't convinced the New York trip will pan out...
In a Reddit thread titled "New York is a Red Herring" user AjufDia introduced their theory by writing, "Since Episode 4 I've been fully convinced that the 'New York Trip' won't ever actually happen."
They went on to explain, "What the 'New York Trip' is, is an arc that is used to get all these characters to know and care about each other, and to become more experienced with the outside world and in defending themselves."
According to AjufDia's theory, once we've bonded with the characters through the hardship of their journey, they expect the show to throw them into an even more intense and unexpected situation. For them, the improbability of the group — who are unprepared, under-supplied, and don't really even know where they're going — successfully traveling by foot from Nebraska to New York state seems too far-fetched, even for TV. They said, "[T]hey don't have enough episodes to show the journey to New York without a large time skip and there's far too many weird holes in logic...The entire trip just seems to fantastical for it to be a legit sticking point or focus of the show to me."
Other viewers chimed in with their own skepticism. User phillyphan19 wrote, "I would really like to see New York State in TWD universe. AMC consistently disappoints though so you're probably right." Likewise, profile01 claimed, "[IMO] it was obvious since the very beginning that they never make it and there will be a twist somewhere around the next few episodes."
Meanwhile, other fans had their own theories regarding whether the show will fulfill the promise of bringing its cast to New York and CRM headquarters.
...while other fans have shared their theories on how it might play out
Not everyone was on the same page about the "they'll never make it to New York" theory. Some viewers think the show is determined to get the group to the Empire State, and that it will make it work one way or another. User FriezasMom suggested, "[They'll] probably do a time skip where they reach New York in the beginning of season 2. Or multiple time skips where each episode, they are 400 miles closer."
Several fans had a specific theory about how the kids make it across the country quickly enough to avoid further dragging down the pace of the show. As user V2Blast suggested, "[T]he only way they'd actually get to NY within any reasonable amount of time is if CRM actually picks them up/captures them and takes them all the way to NY for some reason."
Even without a CRM intervention, user anch543 thinks they'll make it all the way to New York. They pointed to fungus-zombie apocalypse video game The Last of Us, which featured its own cross-country trip, as a reference: "Prob be like The Last of Us, they hot wire a car and pump whatever gasoline there are in [abandoned cars]. Then bam! Time skip to NY."
We'll have to wait and see what ends up happening with the New York trip on The Walking Dead: World Beyond. But just in case, if you're determined to watch a post apocalyptic road trip across America, keep your eyes peeled for that The Last of Us series coming to HBO.