Warning: spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 19.What's going on with The Walking Dead's new zombie variants? Here's everything we know after Aaron's Scooby-Doo unmasking attempt went horribly wrong in season 11, episode 19. A zombie evolution has been imminent ever since Dr. Jenner mentioned the word "variant" in The Walking Dead: World Beyond's series finale post-credits scene. Variant zombies are finally afforded a proper showcase when Aaron, Jerry, Lydia and Elijah make camp on their journey from the Commonwealth back to Alexandria. They notice erratic behavior among the herd and Aaron naturally assumes Whisperers are to blame, but as he rips off the attacker's "mask," he quickly discovers otherwise.
The Walking Dead's zombies are typically "roamers" - gormless reanimated corpses with minimal intelligence and the speed of an intoxicated tortoise. Occasionally, survivors will encounter a "lurker" that lays dormant until it's disturbed. While Aaron is well-versed in these two types, he's never seen anything quite like the zombie he battles in The Walking Dead season 11's aptly-named "Variant" episode. Although the mystery is only just beginning to flesh out, the bare bones of The Walking Dead's variant zombies are already crunching into place.
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Variant Zombies Aren't New To The Walking Dead
For the best part of a decade, The Walking Dead's zombies have been the slow 'n' stupid kind, so season 11's variants will feel as novel to audiences as they do to Aaron and Jerry. That's not strictly true, however, as The Walking Dead season 1 contains numerous examples of zombies behaving in a manner that seems unusual compared to the rest of the series. In episode 1, Morgan's wife attempts to open her front door. The following episode shows zombies chasing Rick and Glenn so quickly the protagonists are forced to run, and also features a zombie smashing a glass panel with a rock. The Walking Dead's creator, Robert Kirkman, has blamed this inconsistency on zombies being fresher earlier in the outbreak, but the real reason is simply that The Walking Dead hadn't yet defined its undead rules.
The Walking Dead season 11's addition of variant zombies retroactively explains what was happening back in season 1. The variant Aaron kills even picks up a rock in reference to the glass-smashing zombie Rick's group saw, while Aaron's comment about memory retention neatly explains Morgan's reanimated wife trying to open her front door. Variant zombies, in one form or another, have been around since day one.
Where Do The Walking Dead's Variant Zombies Come From?
The Walking Dead's biggest variant zombie question after season 11, episode 19 is how (and why) these evolutions are happening. We know variants have been present in the apocalypse since the beginning - not just through the aforementioned early-days aberrant zombies, but also because Dr. Jenner's World Beyond video message referencing variants in France must've been recorded prior to his death in The Walking Dead season 1. Variants' proximity to the virus' onset means they can't just be a natural evolution that happens over time.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond teased another explanation. The gunman who confronts the French scientist accuses her, "You started this... then you made it worse." The "you started this" part almost certainly refers to the outbreak itself, so "then you made it worse" could imply variants were accidentally created by the same scientists who developed the virus. That would certainly explain why super-zombies are more common in Europe than North America, but then why are experienced survivors such as Aaron suddenly beginning to notice their existence now, more than a decade into The Walking Dead's timeline?
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The best explanation based on clues and hints provided thus far is that zombie variants are a naturally-occurring progression of the virus, but World Beyond's French scientists somehow accelerated that process, meaning the mutation took longer for American undead than their rotting Euro cousins. Perhaps that initial wave of variants spotted in The Walking Dead season 1 had contact with someone recently returned from Europe, but they were so few in number, the enhanced strain quickly died out in the U.S., allowing classic roamers to dominate. Fast-forward to The Walking Dead season 11, the evolution starts to manifest of its own accord.
New Variant Zombie Abilities Explained
Based on Aaron's encounter in The Walking Dead season 11, episode 19, variant zombies boast a plethora of new abilities. The variant notices Aaron's team trekking through the forest even when the horde around him remains oblivious. Moreover, these zombies are so far away Aaron and company haven't even sighted them yet, demonstrating the variant's superior senses of hearing and/or smell. This power immediately gives undead a huge advantage when hunting humans. Next, a reanimated hand is seen reaching over a tall wooden fence. Usually, The Walking Dead's zombies would simply walk into the fence's base over and over, toppling it if there's enough of them. Climbing not only proves variants have better dexterity and movement, but that they're considerably more intelligent and strategic also. To that point, Aaron and Lydia hear the sound of an opening gate before sighting the zombie horde invading their camp, which means a variant must've scaled the fence then unlocked the door for their less smart friends to walk through.
Variant zombies possess a deep sense of their own survival. Whereas typical roamers know only to bite and claw for food, The Walking Dead season 11, episode 19 shows the variant grabbing Lydia's weapon with both hands, fending off her attacks. Variants are clearly aware of how they can be killed and how to protect themselves, but they also know how to more effectively kill others, since The Walking Dead's latest variant picks up a rock to smash Jerry over the head.
As if that wasn't bad enough, other variants in The Walking Dead have pulled off different tricks. Morgan's wife remembered where she lived, showcasing memory retention, while the French scientist in Walking Dead: World Beyond and the zombies chasing Rick and Glenn in season 1 both benefited from increased speed. Although the evidence is sketchy, The Walking Dead: World Beyond's post-credits also teased super-strength, as the recently-reanimated corpse dented a metal door with its fists.
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Generally speaking, variant zombies seem to share the same motivations and desires as their lesser counterparts - namely, feeding on human flesh. The difference lies in how The Walking Dead's variants have a better idea on how to achieve that goal in terms of sensing prey, reaching it, and picking the most effective method of execution before tucking in. A potentially important distinction comes when Aaron ponders to Jerry, "Maybe there's other kinds [of variant] too." The very deliberate placement of this line all but confirms that zombie variants do not possess identical skill sets. Some might be fast, some might be strong, some might be clever, others could even combine all three. That would also account for why the small number of variants seen thus far in The Walking Dead are never quite identical in their behavior.
How Variant Zombies Set Up The Walking Dead's Spinoffs
-on-The-Walking-Dead.JPG "The Walking Dead's NEW Zombie Variant Explained (4)")
The Walking Dead introducing variant zombies with only a handful of episodes remaining means these elite-level reanimates won't stick around in the main series. Instead, Aaron's shocking discovery is designed as a launching pad for The Walking Dead's incoming spinoffs. Daryl Dixon's solo series is now confirmed to be set in France, and while it's possible Norman Reedus' grizzled veteran merely wishes to ogle the Eiffel Tower and pick up some decent wine, the location probably has more to do with The Walking Dead: World Beyond's science lab. Maybe Daryl heads to Europe seeking answers on the outbreak's origin with hopes of finding a way to stop it. At the very least, he's going to encounter the spicier variety of zombie that runs faster, thinks smarter, and hits harder.
Beyond Daryl, Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes is returning in a spinoff series with Michonne. Since Rick was last seen being abducted by the Civic Republic Military (a group teased by Lance Hornsby in The Walking Dead season 11), it's likely the CRM will play overarching villains across the upcoming spinoffs. The Walking Dead: World Beyond revealed the CRM's involvement in experiments to stop the zombie apocalypse, but they're probably also aware of how it all started, which once again leads back to France and the variants. Whereas The Walking Dead was about survival, all indications suggest AMC's spinoffs will answer the franchise's bigger questions. One of those bigger questions concerns how zombies evolve.
Next: Finally, The Walking Dead Gets Revenge For Rick Grimes
The Walking Dead continues Sunday on AMC.
