Walking Dead Storylines That Disappeared Without Explanation

From the opening scenes of the pilot episode, "The Walking Dead" wooed viewers with promises of epic world-building and intricate character arcs. As its post-apocalyptic world expanded, so did the show's plots and main characters. By Season 5, our ragtag group of survivors joined Alexandria and we followed the detailed storylines of over a dozen people. The series' timeline and various subplots multiplied, but hooked viewers continued to immerse themselves in the post-apocalyptic world.

In the Season 7 opener, after Negan's brutal murder of the beloved Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), some critics and fans felt the show veered wildly off course. Central protagonist Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) departed the show in Season 9 and left a gaping hole. But some "Walking Dead" storylines inexplicably vanished long before these fan-favorite characters did.

The most powerful storylines in "The Walking Dead" have always highlighted how our heroes react to humanity's evil toward humanity. The undead threat proves the catalyst for the best and worst aspects of people. While some storylines fleshed out satisfying, finished plots — like Negan's redemption and the Whisperer War — others have simply disappeared.

From the Cherokee rose Daryl gives Carol to the lyrics of Beta's song from the "world before," "The Walking Dead" runs deep with symbolic moments and plot points. One symbol with prevalence throughout Season 4-Season 9 is the use of the letter A.

The A typically appears in bold writing as a purposeful background image. Most think of the As as an homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel "The Scarlet Letter." However, Jadis also uses it to denote the caliber of our survivors in messages to the CRM. In Season 4, the A shows up as train car graffiti outside of Terminus. It's emblazoned on the scarlet hand stamp Sam greets our survivors with to welcome them to Alexandria. When Daryl's taken hostage by the Saviors, a large mustard yellow A adorns his prison jumpsuit.

The A has such significance that "Walking Dead" showrunner Angela Kang expanded on it in a 2018 interview with Insider. In discussing the importance of the A to CRM, Kang recalled the junkyard container Jadis uses to trap Rick. "The container (Rick) was in was marked with an 'A', so Rick is clearly an 'A'," she said. After Rick and Jadis leave in a CRM helicopter, the scarlet As never show up again. The significance of the symbol has yet to be satisfactorily addressed.

The first whispers of the potential wolfy Big Bad appeared midway through Season 5. The Wolves don't appear in the comic book canon of "The Walking Dead," but their foreboding signs show great villainous potential. In "What Happened and What's Going On" (Season 5, Episode 9), our core group of survivors accompanies Noah back to his hometown of Shirewilt Estates. There they find torched, ruined homes and a horrific pile of body parts. Newly zombified Shirewilt Estates residents have a "W" carved into their heads. A spooky Wolves not far graffiti adorns a brick wall. A few episodes later, the survivors notice a walker with a "W" carved into his head — far away from Shirewilt Estates.

The Wolves continue to circle closer and closer to Alexandria. In the first episodes of Season 6, the Wolves infiltrate Alexandria's walls. They don't kill any main characters and are dealt with swiftly. No wolf ever faces Rick head on. The leader of the Wolves, played by Benedict Samuel, was only given the name "Owen" after his demise. The Wolves' murky motives for human destruction were never exposed, and these potentially excellent villains fizzled out without a huge impact.

Orphaned teenage survivor Enid (Kaitlyn Nacon) shows up in "The Walking Dead" in "Remember." She doesn't have family in Alexandria and mysteriously sneaks outside of the walls late at night. Her shifty behavior seems to coincide with the lurking presence of the Wolves. Carl catches her sneaking out one evening, and they form a bond, yet Enid won't speak of her past.

When Season 5 originally aired, fans speculated Enid was an undercover Wolf spy. Then showrunner Scott Gimple was vague when the Hollywood Reporter asked him about Enid's allegiances. To viewers, a connection between Enid and the season's major antagonists felt like the twisty reveal "The Walking Dead" so often excels at. However, the Wolves suffered a quick demise, and Enid then revealed her past: Her entire family was slaughtered by walkers, and she was left with abandonment issues. She sneaks out of Alexandria because she's afraid of losing those she cares about. Enid has no connection with the Wolves on any level.

Heath (Corey Hawkins) proved the rare Alexandria treasure — a character with both a name and a developed arc. When Rick and company reach Alexandria, they find most residents have never ventured outside the safe haven. Yet Heath has worked, along with two other Alexandrians (Scott and Annie), as a supply runner. Each day, he puts his life in danger to ensure the survival of his community. However, he hasn't experienced the horrors endured by survivors living outside of Alexandria's walls. Initially, Heath distrusts Rick and company, and he's not afraid to say so.

After Heath loses fellow supply runner Annie and other friends, his eyes are opened to just how bad the outside world can get. Heath's honesty, loyalty, and sarcastic persona endear him to viewers, and he begins to bond with our heroes too. He becomes a staple in our main group.

Heath makes it to Season 7 when he and Tara (Alanna Masterson) encounter an enormous swarm of walkers on a bridge. The two separate and Tara escapes with her life, falling off the bridge to the water below. Heath isn't anywhere in sight, though. Later, Tara returns to the bridge and finds Heath's broken glasses. Heath doesn't come up in conversation, and we're left to wonder what happened to him. Angela Kang confirmed that Heath was rescued by Jadis in the CRM helicopter. But this doesn't occur onscreen, nor has the flagship series explained Heath's fate in the four seasons since his disappearance.

Teenager Lydia has it rough. Her mom, Alpha (Samantha Morton), is an insane and cruel zombie cult leader. When Lydia escapes the Whisperers to join Hilltop, she's ostracized by everyone. The Hilltop kids bully her mercilessly, and the adults want her to prove she isn't a spy. Even non-judgmental Carol has a hard time accepting this struggling kid. When her boyfriend Henry is murdered by Alpha, our protagonists wrongfully cast blame on Lydia. Daryl takes on a paternal role for Lydia and tries to help her assimilate, but doesn't fully trust her. Michonne tells the teenager she would help keep people safe if she left the secure communities.

Negan, struggling through his own redemptive arc, is the only survivor to see Lydia with empathetic eyes. He protects her from Margo's attack, a survivor who blames Lydia for Alpha's murders. Ultimately, Negan saves Lydia's life when walkers swarm her and Margo. The bond between the two misunderstood characters grows deeper. Honest interactions in Season 10 grow their friendship — they don't have to hide their true selves, and they confront each other with love and authenticity. Negan uses Lydia as bait to kill her mom and knows she's angry with him. He allows her to unleash her anger, and wisely tells her to grieve her mom. The budding relationship rings with authenticity. But in the first ten episodes of Season 11, Negan and Lydia rarely interact — and when Negan leaves the group, Lydia hardly reacts.

It's a hard truth to swallow, but "The Walking Dead" isn't the same without Rick Grimes. He propelled the show through nine seasons — a significant feat for a single character. He served as the infuriating hero we hated to love, but always rooted for — we believed in his leadership, even when questionable. We yearned to see him stand tall at the show's end, and his departure from the flagship series leaves a gaping hole.

Carol and Daryl stand as the only remaining heroes from Season 1. We love these characters, but we miss Rick. Ostensibly, a trilogy of Rick-centered films is still in the works. But our hero left the series in 2018, and the it's yet to provide any answers regarding his fate.

After Jadis rescues Rick on the CRM helicopter, the films' timelines seem more lined up with "World Beyond" than the original "Walking Dead." The "Walking Dead" producers are taking a major gamble that fans will still care about Rick years after he left the show, and without his core group on board. The series still has a chance to tie up Rick's storyline, but fantasies of a last Andrew Lincoln appearance on the show have not yet materialized.