Geeking Out About Television #8: The Walking Dead Rewrite | Making The Wolves Scarier

Problem: 

During Season 5-6 of The Walking Dead, we were met with a solid amount of build up and teasing leading up to the introduction of a new villain group called "The Wolves". The occasional warning signs in the world of their presence via painted on signs that says "Wolves Not Far", mutilated corpses, "Ws" appearing on the heads of certain walkers, and a short group appearances made for exceptional build up paving the way for their grand debut. And what a debut it was with an all out invasion scene in Alexandria showing the Wolves attack our heroes' main community in a savage display of brutality.

Unfortunately, the group as a whole, despite the incredible teasing and big action scene, ended up being nothing but a breeze to comb through by few of our heroes and never to be seen again. The interesting mythology by the leader, Owen, speaking to Morgan about the reasoning behind the "Ws" as well as the horrifying corpses shown in the previously passed upon community made the Wolves out to be more mysterious and threatening than they actually were. The fact that Carol and Morgan singlehandedly took out most of them with little struggle while Rick finishes them off fairly easily makes it a little hard to actually take them seriously. It's the perfect example of a story element failing to live up to the potential and excitement that it perfectly laid out for itself.

What starts off as a mysterious and possibly huge clan of strategic and savage bandits with their own culture and history eventually comes across as a small group of stragglers who can easily be taken out. This to me was a big mistake and a waste of what could've been one of the franchise's most memorable human villains to date.

Remedy:

The thought that kept ringing through my mind during Season 6 after the failed invasion by the Wolves was the repeated question of "What if that was just the first wave?". That is to say "What if what we saw wasn't the full extent of this faction and merely just the appetizer for the true terror that is to come?". This is what I believe to be the real potential hook that Season 6 could've taken advantage of when establishing this new villain. 

Imagine if the attention given to the Reapers in Season 11 in regards to presenting more formidable physical human threat scenarios as well as the Whisperers and Saviors in regards to memorability was given to the Wolves in Season 6? Imagine if the invasion on Alexandria that we got in the actual show was reduced in regards to casualties and acted as merely just the first attack driven by newer recruits of the Wolves whereas a bigger and much scarier sect was on the horizon. You can have it to where word gets out by scouts (who escaped Alexandria) informing to the leader that the first attack made on the community failed. Episodes later, as Alexandria struggles to recover from the carnage, you can have Rick and his crew of fighters going out to search and find the hideout of the Wolves to eradicate any more potential members only to end up being hunted and attacked in the woods themselves.

Before this search and eradicate mission takes place, you could have a moment back in Alexandria where Owen revealed himself to Morgan as not being "thee leader of the pack" but simply part of the tribe leading his own smaller crew that admittedly underestimated Morgan and his people. He then mentions that the actual leader of the Wolves is someone that Alexandria should be "very very afraid of" and that it won't be long until he brings "the others" (implied to be the most dangerous of the group) to finish the job. Morgan asks Owen "How could you be with someone like that? Seeing the things that they've done to innocent communities. How could you continue living this kind of life?". 

Owen responds "Because he took me in. Him and his people they...they protected me from the world. Made me one of his own. Made me see the world for what it really is and that we all have a special role to play. After that...well...no one could ever harm me again. I've never felt so safe in my entire life until I met him, you know? And now...[Owen nods in acceptance] now I'll do whatever they want me to. You see that's the way of life now. That means killing everyone here...including you, Morgan. Even if I don't want to. It's what needs to be done. You'll see.". This dialogue from Owen could be a nice build up not only for the attack in the woods to come later in the episode but also what awaits Morgan in this new continuity of events (which I'll get to later). An ominous foreshadowing for a challenge like no other that Morgan has to face. 

As our heroes enter into the woods, silhouettes of the Wolves can be seen darting around in the surroundings putting everyone on edge firing their weapons trying not to panic. As tensions start to raise and the area begins to darken with the evening rapidly approaching alongside rain clouds, the Wolves start savagely jumping after each member of our group as numerous walkers bearing the same "W" markings appear through the trees. Rick and the group barely manages to escape fighting their way through walkers and Wolves amidst the dark woods with Rick realizing that some of the members are heading towards Alexandria's direction. It's an intense chase and fight scene that takes place as a brewing storm approaches on the horizon giving the woods an increasingly eerie atmosphere. 

Add on the fact that you have these physically imposing and terrifyingly vicious murderers lurking at every corner making animalistic sounds and leaping out of the shadows attacking our characters from different directions with melee weapons and a couple of firearms. Their mannerisms and likeness are like rabid dogs or barbaric vikings wielding blades and axes making for some truly heart racing encounters. These are not mere street thugs or organized gunmen as our heroes have faced in the past, but instead ravenous murderers void of any humanity. They are as close to blurring the lines between man and zombie as you can get in this universe making this particular fight in the dark woods a frightening one for our survivors.

With Rick and the group, barely making it out alive from the fight in the woods, heading to Alexandria in pursuit of the remaining Wolves, we get our big climactic showdown. The Wolves presented in the woods that Rick and crew were fighting were shown to be a lot more aggressive and tougher to take down giving every one of our heroes a serious run for their money during their individual confrontations. This is in high contrast to the members shown during the first attack in Alexandria that Carol and Morgan were able to easily take down. Rick even mentions that the eyes of one of the Wolves that attacked him looked almost drugged out as if he was high off of something and was barely reacting to being shot or stabbed. This is our first implication that some of the Wolf members might be on some drugs although the episode never dives into this deeply enough and is left for audience speculation.

On the way back to Alexandria, our heroes manage to gun down a few more Wolves on the road, but realizes that quite a few of them were able to make it all the way into the compound. With thunder beginning to roar as dark clouds almost completely engulfs the evening skies, rain starts to drizzle down over our heroes as they enter into what looks to be a hellscape in Alexandria. A semi-foggy and dark Alexandria is shown with the sounds of screams of victims being heard, glass shattering around as the light of small fires begin to erupt in the backdrop right alongside maniacal laughter and howling echoing through the homes. 

It's a great horror-centric shot of the community painting Alexandria as not a community of hope as it once was but a plagued over nightmare taking place. Rick tells everyone in his group to quickly select a house to clean through any remaining members of the enemy clan. This leads into another great set piece following the action scene in the woods.

Multiple camera shots of several brutally victimized Alexandrians are shown with our heroes running through the houses and streets shooting after Wolves in the darkly overcast town while immediately being aggressively ambushed at different corners. For a somewhat visual reference point of this chaotic dread inducing action regarding our survivors being viciously assaulted at every corner barely surviving the fight, you can look to the Draugr confrontation scenes from the video game, Senna's Saga: Hellblade 2. Chaos ensues as victims are being thrown out of windows (some on fire) and few of our main cast struggles to fight for their lives trying to save pedestrians who are being nearly hacked to death. The efforts to take out as many Wolves as possible is proven to be a straining task that almost feels hopeless due to the fact that this particular sect is even more difficult to kill showing more crazed aggression and numbness to pain.

We cut to Daryl who enters into a dark home and sees one of the wolves pinning one of Alexandria's female residents down to the ground next to a window. Daryl quickly fires off his crossbow shooting the barbaric bandit right into his neck before he could kill (or worst) this helpless woman. As the woman cries from the traumatic encounter, she gets up and leans against the stained glass window in sheer panic and terror. Daryl tries to comfort her telling her that everything would be okay and that him and his people are used to handling "dangerous people". Immediately after he says this, a huge looming shadow silhouettes over the window behind her. 

Daryl looks at the large shadow in confusion as it just stands there behind the woman and cautiously tells her to step away from the window. The woman looks at Daryl in fear and confusion asking “What? ….Why?”. As the shadow looks as if it’s about to smash through the window with an object, Daryl yells to the woman to get out of the way, but before she could react, the huge figure bashes through the window with a large spear-like weapon that holds a club-like blunt end and a razor sharp tip on the other end and yanks her outside. Daryl quickly loads then fires a crossbow which catches the large figure in their shoulder (the camera never focuses enough on his face). The towering individual barely reacts to the shot, then stomps around the window towards the door as the woman cries in pain on the ground outside. 

Daryl notices the direction that the Wolf is heading to (being the front door of the building that he's in) so he reloads his crossbow and heads to the door in anticipation for it to open. There's a moment of suspenseful silence as Daryl watches as someone appears to be standing in front of it judging by the light underneath it being blocked. After the tension raises, the door slams open, and as Daryl is about to fire, he stops just in time to realize that it's one of the Alexandrian civilians being held up by the spear tip of the same weapon through the chest by the large figure using them as a shield. You can also tell that it's the same person due to the arrow still sticking out of them in the same location. This massive individual charges at Daryl with the speared corpse causing Daryl to stagger back in disarray as the body gets thrown towards him.

Daryl trips backwards to the floor but quickly rolls to the side avoiding the body as it flings down besides him. As Daryl aims up to shoot his crossbow, the large figure kicks the gun out of his hand, aggressively grabs Daryl off of the ground, and throws him into a fireplace. As Daryl reacts to the pain of his body hitting into the bricks of the fireplace, the figure then yanks Daryl by his feet towards him. Daryl quickly pulls a knife out and stabs them in their leg. Instead of being severely struck by the pain of the stab, the person just angrily growls, grabs Daryl by the shirt lifting him up, then punches him furiously twice to his ribs causing Daryl to yelp out in pain. He then swings and tosses Daryl across the room flipping over a couch in the process. 

The figure then pulls the knife out of his leg, then pulls the arrow out of their body and drops the two items to then ground. Daryl now staggering on the ground coughing harshly while holding his side turns around to see the figure causally walking towards him. We see Daryl in a rare moment of looking fearful and completely helpless towards an enemy not knowing if he's going to survive or not. The figure looks as though he's about to pull out a blade but stops and dodges backwards as a piece of debris from the broken window flies through the room. He looks out the broken window to see the scared woman that he attacked as the culprit who threw the object. He then looks back to Daryl, back to the woman, then back to Daryl again.

Our first real look at the Wolf Leader's face is this chilling shot of his piercing eye which looks to be almost inhuman in aesthetics 

Daryl, barely being able to talk from the pain, tells the wolf "No...No it's me you want. Leave her alone you son of a bitch.". The camera then zooms into the person's eyes which look strikingly unsettling as their voice can be heard saying in a sinister fashion, "Don't worry...I'll come back for you". Daryl helplessly watches in desperation to move as the large imposing figure walks out the broken window knowing that he's not able to save this helpless woman that he just tried to rescue. He turns around to see his crossbow on the other side of the room and struggles to crawl over to it. 

We then to cut to Morgan who is shown sneakily entering into a home. As he walks in one of the rooms, he stealthily takes down one of the Wolves by knocking him out with his staff from behind. A loud smashing of glass can be heard outside alongside a woman screaming which distracts Morgan for a moment but another sound grabs his attention coming from upstairs. Morgan cautiously walks up the dark staircase in a defensive position with his staff. He hears stuff being thrown around as if someone aggressively rummaging through a bunch of items. Slowly entering into a bedroom, he sees one of the Wolves, a woman this time, grabbing a bunch of random items and shoving them into a bag. Morgan hesitates with his staff despite having the perfect ambush. He then tries to psyche himself out of the hesitation to do what needs to be done.

However, as he's about to proceed, he stops as if hearing something behind him, then swiftly dodges out of the way as another Wolf pops up from behind charging after him with an axe. Morgan quickly dodges again as the Wolf swings his axe at him furiously slashing through furniture around him. The woman then pulls out a gun to shoot Morgan, but Morgan throws his staff at her just in time to disarm her, then rolls over the bed to both dodge the axe wielder while simultaneously kicking the woman into a floor mirror. Morgan picks up his staff then holds the woman up from behind with the staff to her neck in a choking-like position. Although he has the perfect position to kill her with it, he mentally snaps himself out of the prospects of doing so and instead pushes her forward and knocks her out. 

The man looks in confusion as to why Morgan didn't just kill her then proceeds to attack him with the axe. Morgan, using multiple proficient hits after disarming him, finally takes him down. The look on Morgan's face shows a sign of surprise at how much hits this man was able to take (another hint linking back to Rick's speculation about this particular sect of Wolves). Hearing a woman crying in the street, Morgan looks out the window to see a woman not too far off into the distance (the same woman that Daryl was trying to save) just helplessly walking in the middle of the street as if paralyzed in sheer trauma. We then cut to a tracking shot showing Morgan following the screams outside as chaos ensues in the surrounding area. Imagery of Molotovs being thrown followed by gun fire from our heroes in addition to victims being tackled to the ground and being viciously slashed.

During this extensive shot, Morgan sees a window that looks to be completely smashed in then looks to the right to see the same woman being forcefully dragged halfway into a nearby building trying to crawl away screaming. As Morgan rushes towards the home, you can hear the sound of someone being bashed hard against an object silencing the screams. Morgan enters into the home to find blood splattered across a dented-in wall and the woman's fresh corpse lying on the ground twitching with a severely fractured open skull. The living room light highlights the grizzly details of the crime scene causing Morgan to struggle to keep composure at the messy sight. He readies his stick to fight as the sound of rain picking up and distant thundering takes over the sound design. The surrounding sounds of violence outside slowly fades out and we enter into a very eerie and suspenseful scene showing Morgan stealthily walking over the corpse and looking around. 

As Morgan carefully turns the corner into the kitchen, a notably large figure (who the camera never focuses on long enough to fully show their face) ambushes and tosses Morgan across the kitchen table showing tremendous strength. Morgan is dazed and shocked in the moment and tries to catch his breath. However, before he could regain any sense of balance, the huge towering figure rushes over to him, tosses the table aside like it's nothing, grabs Morgan (while he's holding onto the the stick) and bashes him into the surrounding cabinets aggressively. Due to the tightness of the close range situation, the person is strategically not allowing Morgan to use the staff by keeping it pressed onto him.

Morgan tries to punch him during the altercation, but the person swiftly dodges and blocks both punches then proficiently counters with a few quick punches to Morgan's side. The person then head butts Morgan, lifts him up over his head and throws him into the living room knocking the ceiling light down which covers the room in mostly darkness with brief sparks of light from the fixture damage. The staff rolls to the side of the room rendering Morgan seemingly helpless. 

The darkness in the room now raises the tension as Morgan is shown to be in pain glancing around in a dark blurry POV shot then towards the large figure who is shown slowly walking towards him. Morgan manages to throw a few picture frames and ceramic objects next to him towards the assailant out of desperation. Although the person does swat away the frames, the ceramic ornament (that held some sort of powder inside) cracks directly over their face temporarily blinding them. Morgan takes this moment to quickly stumble towards his staff that's laying across the room, and just as he's able to grab hold of it, the large figure rushes at him and kicks him outside the house causing him to roll backwards down the short staircase and into the rainy street. Lying in the rain coughing and struggling to breathe, aching from the severe pain that he's just been inflicted, Morgan forces his head up to glance towards the house as the large person slowly walks outside. 

Side Note: I'm using an image of one of the vampires from the movie, 30 Days of Night just as a visual reference point to present the idea of the leader's striking facial features

Here we finally have the full reveal of the true leader of the Wolves. The Wolf Leader is a massive in stature, scary looking man with striking facial features that seem to lean somewhere between both male and female. His face (especially his eyes) is something out of a nightmare; almost inhuman-like due to its visually uncanny aesthetics. The “W” on his head is carved into his skin accompanying a few other scars decorating his face. A necklace of what appears to be teeth of various types of animals as well as human teeth decorate his neck. This is followed by a tattered fancy looking black overcoat adorning several exotic looking buttons (some appear to be medals) on one side that drapes over a fully unbuttoned burgundy colored silk shirt. Briefly shown is a heavily scarred chest and waste visually alluding to a heavily violent history. 

As Morgan struggles to stand, using the staff as a support piece to help hold him up, the leader looks at the staff, then back to Morgan, and begins to smile as if having a revelation of who Morgan is. He pulls out a large blade with a jagged edge and points it towards Morgan saying with an unsettling deep voiced "You're him, aren't you? The man who spared my boys? I was hoping I'd find you. One more for the collection." That last line is followed by the leader tapping the necklace around him with the large blade to imply that he is planning to add Morgan's teeth to his necklace like a trophy from a prized hunt. Part of the leader's mysterious history (teased through various forms of storytelling on both the mainline series and even the spinoffs) is one of bloody battles against several diverse enemies which he has won against most...if not all.

The scars on his body and teeth decorating his necklace tells the story of these vicious confrontations. Be it against man or beast, this is someone who has slaughtered his way through life gradually becoming a highly feared upon yet respected figure amongst his tribe. This is the terrifying man that Owen was talking about who took him in and made him feel safe and the man who these savage murderers are lead by.

Morgan gazes upon his face in fear then tries to shrug off the pain while building the courage to confront this frightening enemy stating to him, “I gave your people a chance! Why couldn’t you stay away? Why couldn't you just leave and never return!”. Before the leader could respond, the sound of screams are heard in the backdrop alongside more howling which results in the leader closing his eyes and smiling for a brief moment almost as if basking in the killings taking place. He then looks to Morgan and tells him "Listen to that. Listen. The world has shown you the truth." He then looks at Morgan with a chills inducing, deadly serious expression on his face telling him "This place doesn't belong to you. This world doesn't belong to you. We...are the ones who rule now."

Now smiling again, he says "But you still have a role to play, yes?". That final line by the leader about Morgan having a role to play is followed by him pointing to the "W" on his forehead. The implication here, when adding the context of the leader clearly intending to kill him here, is that everyone who is not a part of the Wolves clan is simply a branded walker in the making to add to their arsenal as they continue to slaughter and pillage other communities. It's a terrifying idea that really highlights the unrelenting and remorselessly savage nature of this group. You can even see the look on Morgan's face being one of conflict and fear. This is unlike anyone that Morgan has come across on his journey and is deeply unsettled by the presence of the leader.

Unlike Owen and maybe some of the other Wolves that he ran across that may just be lost and ignorant survivors simply needing time to see a different way of life, the person standing before Morgan here is someone that he cannot see any semblance of humanity nor possible redemption. In Morgan's mind during this confrontation, he is essentially gazing upon the eyes of pure evil. Morgan then changes his expression from fear and conflict to focus and readiness as he positions himself into a fighting stance. 

The leader smiles at him as if approving of Morgan's will to fight and says to him while walking into the rainy street, "Yes. The fearless man who took down my people. The things I heard? I wondered if they were exaggerating. Tell you what...I’ll make a promise to you. If you are as good as they say…after I’m finished with you…I’ll make sure no one ever forgets you." The leader caresses one of the many teeth on his necklace again implying what he intends to do with Morgan and the twisted motivated sense of honor behind it.”

Morgan looks at blood that appears to be dripping from the leg of the leader (the stab wound that Daryl gave him) then back up as if knowing where to strike first. The leader then rushes to attack Morgan with his blade to which Morgan is able to dodge out of the way while attempting to strike with his staff. The leader swiftly is able to dodge and block the first couple swings but Morgan manages to strike him directly on the wounded leg. The leader reacts to the hit then swings at Morgan barely missing him. The leader begins to step forward and staggers on his wounded leg. He looks down at the wound then back at Morgan and subtly snickers to himself as if getting excited at the potential challenge. He spins his blade around his hand in a confident stylistic fashion and readies himself to fight. 

During the next attack, the leader proficiently dodges Morgan's staff and swiftly cuts him on his side showing that, unlike the other Wolves, this isn't someone who just rabidly attacks but instead has some level of tactical prowess in his fighting sensibilities. Morgan continues to show resilience considering everything that he's physically going through (being cut now and the previous house ambush), but is clearly outmatched here. He begins to stumble more in his swings showing a decline in his physical health as the leader continues to strategically dodge and counter Morgan's attacks while occasionally cutting him causing him to slowly bleed out. 

As Morgan staggers in his stance groaning in pain, the leader seems to be almost unfazed despite the few direct hits that Morgan did manage to land on him. Morgan begins to show signs of concern and discouragement leading to an intense moment where we get these edited fast cuts of the leader lightly cutting Morgan in various places as Morgan reacts to each attack in pain. The leader's expression and mannerisms are that of a dangerous predator tactically letting his prey tire out from blood loss and exhaustion. 

Then, in a surprise moment of fortitude, Morgan is eventually able to muster up the strength to deal a strong enough hit to the leader’s face with the staff causing him to stagger backwards. Morgan desperately struggles towards him taking advantage of the moment by both strategically disarming his blade, hitting his leg again getting him on his knees, then attempting to jab him right in the face with the staff. Unfortunately, although it seems as though Morgan has finally turn the tables, the leader swiftly catches Morgan's staff, then proceeds to tactically disarm Morgan's staff tossing it to the side. Morgan, completely in distraught from the counter maneuver, watches in a gaze of both surprise and exhaustion. The leader then glares at Morgan with a focused glare then furiously tackles him onto the ground. 

Here we have a shot of Morgan now laying in the rain fighting with consciousness due to the impact of the fall. The leader walks away to grab his blade now limping and grunting along the way showing that he is somewhat hurt to a degree from the leg wound and Morgan's attacks however clearly being able to push pass it. As he takes up his knife and proceeds to deliver the final blow, the camera cuts to Morgan's barely conscious and blurred perspective witnessing the leader standing above him who stops first to look upwards at the rainy sky before getting ready to strike. You can vaguely hear the leader's voice saying "Thank you for this." before he looks back down readying his knife to stab Morgan. However, before he could finish the job, gun shots are heard in the distance followed by bullets wizzing by. 

The leader looks to have gotten shot in the shoulder angrily grunting at the impact and running off to escape whoever is firing at him. Rick and Carol now appear above quickly helping him back on his feet. The two carry him towards the nearest house after Rick ensures that it's been cleared out. Morgan, being in an in-and-out state of consciousness tells Carol "I couldn't see it. I couldn't see a way out". Not understanding Morgan's words, Carol just tells him to try to take it easy while Rick assures him that they'll get him to safety before taking out the few that are left (implying that the Wolves may or may not be losing the larger fight against our heroes in the background ). 

Carol tells Rick that she'll stay with Morgan to keep him safe watching the only entrance into the house while simultaneously searching for medical supplies. Morgan is shown bruised up and bleeding saying to Carol "I couldn't see a way out for him. He's too far gone.". Carol looks at Morgan concerned about his well being while tending to his wounds with bandages and alcohol. The scene then cuts to Rick now making his way through Alexandria with a rifle where the leader was last seen leading into one of the homes. As Rick enters into the home, he turns a corner into a room where a small blood trail can be seen. Then, with a big jump scare musical cue, the leader pops out to ambush him from behind with his blade but Rick manages to back out of the way just in time as the blade slams into and sticks to the wall.

The leader then quickly tackles Rick back into a china cabinet before he could aim and fire his gun causing Rick to yell out in pain from his back. Rick however knees him in the groin, hits him in the face with the stock of the gun, then attempts to fire at him. However, the leader smacks away the barrel to the side just in time for the shot to miss and pushes Rick back into the cabinet. He aggressively proceeds to throw a punch towards Rick's face (a more slower and sloppier punch than shown prior due to the pain of the recent wounds catching up to him), but Rick barely dodges in time resulting in the leader's fist going right through the cabinet. Rick quickly grabs one of the falling ceramic plates beside him and bashes it on the leader's face causing him to briefly stagger back a little. The leader then quickly retaliates by back hand smacking Rick right to the ground (the direction of the moment really emphasizes how hard that hit was). 

Rick has a quick moment where he's barely moving struggling to snap out of the daze from the impact. The leader now stumbles in his step reacting to his face being hit with the plate, Rick struggles to catch himself then finally manages to fire a few shots at him (albeit carelessly due to still being in a little daze). A couple of the bullets catches the leader as he staggers out of the building growling like an angry, wounded beast. As Rick proceeds to chase after him (limping along the way), he realizes that his rifle is out of ammo and switches to his Colt Python to which he notices only has a few bullets left. While staggering in pursuit, he stops to see that the leader has ceased running and is now standing in the rain looking up at the stormy sky. Rick looks down and sees the blood dripping from the man into the puddles of rain beneath him. He looks back up and yells "How many of you people are still out there outside the walls?! Tell me and I'll make this quick."

The leader, facing away from Rick, takes a few seconds before bringing his head back down. He responds "You will never be safe here". He then slowly turns around to Rick with blood running down his mouth and says "The wolves are not far. The only place for you...is here". The final line "is here" shows him pointing to the "W" on his forehead as if to say that the only place for Rick and his people are as branded zombies. As the leader's creepy eyes pierces into Rick's, Rick looks at him initially with fear at the man's unsettling likeness and threat implications but then angrily rejects the threat shooting him in the head. The camera shows the man's body hit the rainy ground as Rick stares down at him with a mixed look of disgust and concern then decides to run off into the distance after hearing screams and gun shots to track down the other Wolves. 

The camera then pans down and around at the dead leader for a few seconds highlighting to the audience that this wasn't just a random member of the group but a significant figure (who the audience will likely and correctly assume to be the leader). An epic dramatic score begins to build up cutting to now shots of our main and supporting cast taking the fight to the remaining members of the Wolves (including Daryl who is back on his feet) while trying to tend to the wounded surviving Alexandria citizens. Mutilated corpses of residents are shown lying in the streets and hanging out of windows on fire highlighting that the carnage is twice as gruesome as the first invasion (remember in this version of the story the Wolves' first invasion is much smaller in scope than what we got in the actual show leaving room for this second one to be a horrifying spectacle). 

And so ends the arc of the Wolves. A foreboding line from a terrifying looking man who nearly killed three of our most capable heroes (Morgan, Daryl, and Rick) and who lead a group that gave Rick and everyone else a serious run for their money causing massive casualties. The next episode, or perhaps later on in this episode, establishes that Rick and the crew were able to take out the rest of this faction who attacked Alexandria and that they'll have to up security just in case another attack is on the way. However the chances of surviving yet another wave of these people is not met with any optimism by any of the remaining residents (even some of Rick's people feel discouraged at the thought of fighting more of these marauders again).

Our entire cast is shown to be badly damaged with bruises and bandages while having to help clean up the several corpses in the rooms and streets highlighting the sheer impact that the Wolves left on everyone. Several residents are either in emergency care, dead and horrifically mutilated, or paranoid and traumatized by the possibility of another attack. Dialogue including some of our main cast stating that they've never faced anything like this before questioning how they'd be able to keep everyone safe any longer lands the impression that the Wolves were a human threat like no other and could quite possibly be the end to our heroes should an incident like this ever happen again soon.

The rest of the season in this alternate version leading up to the Saviors is one of constant tension as we never truly know if the Wolves are indeed dead or if another sect may not be too far away. Was the leader bluffing to scare Rick or was it a promise for an inevitable 3rd wave? Even when the Saviors start to appear and take over the show later on in the season, there's still this unavoidable air of uncertainty as to whether or not someone with a "W" on their forehead might appear unsuspectingly which is exactly how I feel this particular villain(s) should've left the show. Injured and psychologically shaken heroes, a town that has been plagued twice by terrifying marauders, and our survivors left paranoid by a mysterious clan who may or may not still be in operation. 

And there you have it. An alternate take on the Wolves that keeps their mysterious history and mythology intact, makes them more threatening and terrifying, and introduces a new villain who could've easily been the topic of fan discussions over the years following . Hopefully you guys enjoyed this rendition that I threw together out of equal parts disappointment and intrigue. Maybe someone will see this article one day who has connections to AMC or a comic book company and suggest inserting these ideas perhaps into the source material somehow or maybe in one of the spinoffs in a cool twist reveal. Just wishful thinking I suppose. 

Side Note: World Building Connections

There's an interesting idea of the Dead City or Daryl Dixon shows revealing the drug-like substance that this version of the Wolves may have been on. In other words, Season 6 doesn't have to be the entirety of the Wolves’ presence in The Walking Dead franchise. Perhaps you can accomplish this through some new character showing up who claims to have been a part of a lost tribe of marauders as a special herbalist without ever fully disclosing the name of the group. This herbalist character can speak of having nightmares about the man that he was supplying a special blend of herbs to despite feeling completely secured under his community. Anyone paying close enough attention can catch the parallels of his dialogue to Owen's words about his feelings towards the leader in addition to what we witness as fans surrounding his unsettling presentation. 

Shown throughout the franchise within the prism of fun world building elements, you can gradually piece together a puzzle of sorts of the leader and the Wolves' history. There is a loose narrative idea that the leader, before the apocalypse, was an abused cage fighter that made a reputation for himself rising up the ranks within the world of illegal underground fighting rings. At some point, he became a mass murderer and thief on the Most Wanted list leading an elusive small gang of criminals traveling around to small towns across the country beginning to make their presence known weeks before the apocalypse. 

The herbalist hints at this when telling one of our main characters (from whichever spinoff show) that he was told the story about the man that he supplied to being "someone with a terrible history of abuse...the kind that's hard to talk about especially for a young boy to endure. That boy became a monster before the world fell. And considering the timing of events and what the world eventually became...I guess you can say the world was meant for him.".

There's also an easter egg in the mainline Walking Dead series. You can quickly see a newspaper shown on the floor during Season 11's subway tunnel setting baring the headline "Mass Murdering Gang Strikes Again. Who Are The Wolves?". In the Daryl Dixon series during the flashback showing Isabelle's life right before the initial outbreak, two characters in the background outside of the night club are heard conversing. One of them asks "You think they might shut down the fight tonight? Everyone's talking about that big guy who won all the fights last year. The one with the "W" on his head?...they say he might show up. Maybe clear his name and get back in the ring. Something like that would be huge for publicity, you know?" The 2nd person responds "I doubt it. I think he's guilty. And with everything happening on the news, he's probably hiding from the police somewhere remote. I hope they catch him soon. They said that wolf gang killed 17 people so far."

So you have these connections littered throughout the franchise for fans to spot and find telling the story of this elusive character. The summarized version of it (though not entirely complete) is that the leader was once a boy who was born with notable physically feminine characteristics and an undiagnosed mental disorder that made him the target of bullying and physical/psychological abuse. Although his family struggled to support him, the world attacked him with his peculiar traits which lead to him eventually lashing out in hatred towards society by joining underground fight clubs and building himself up to impose anyone who would threaten him ever again. 

Over the years, he developed a gradual lust for violence due to a lack of proper therapy and desperately needed nurturing leading him down a spiraling path of dehumanizing people and becoming increasingly rebellious and dangerous towards the law. Through unforetold circumstances, he left the underground fighting limelight and became associated with a small gang of criminals robbing and killing people in small towns without ever getting caught. Their signature was a sign spray painted on a landmark building or structure in each town saying "Wolves Not Far" with a few people claiming to have seen the gang having a "W" written on their foreheads. His mother told the authorities that she believes the news reports of the small town crimes were connected to her son who she hasn't seen in a long time after he left home to "see the real world". 

In a video interview with a documentary crew, she talks about her son being interested in Native American history and mythology with a particular fascination over a specific tribe. The story that she tells about settlers and wolves with bounties on their forehead is a more extensive version of the same one that we hear Owen tell Morgan during Season 5. In the interview, she speaks about her son's mindset surrounding this mythology and how sometimes he would mark his forehead with a "W" and vanish off into the woods whenever someone hurt him or stole from him promising that everything would be made right once the wolves returned. Never knowing what he meant back then, according to the interview, she believed that he was living out that fantasy now in whatever twisted sense of justice that he was after. 

You could find this in-universe documentary interview on AMC's official website or part of The Walking Dead box set as a bonus feature clip. The name of the documentary video within the world is called "Identifying The Wolves: A Mother Speaks Out" which can also be found titling a promotional newspaper clipping during the Whisperer arc in Season 9 (the music store that Beta walks into). I firmly believe that the leader and the Wolves is something that fans would've been intrigued with finding more information about as the various spinoffs continued to possibly build out the lore surrounding them. Questions about the mythology itself that the Wolves prescribe to as well as how this one man was able to create and expand this dangerous group (especially with the type of people that are part of it) into what we see in Season 6 would've been the subject of much discussions online.

Like I said. Maybe someone will see this article one day who has connections to AMC or a comic book company and perhaps do something with it. Would be pretty awesome I think.