The Walking Dead season 8 episode 16: How does the war with Rick and Negan end in the finale?

The Walking Dead season 8 finale has aired bringing with it the conclusion to the All Out War arc which has shaped the AMC series for two whole seasons.

Titled 'Wrath,' the episode wrapped an action-packed season with one final showdown between Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his biggest adversary yet, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Negan - the leader of The Saviours - first appeared in the traumatic season 6 finale, an introduction which saw him bludgeon one of the main heroes to death. it wasn't until the season 7 premiere, however, that we learned he killed Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and then, mere minutes later, dispatched of Glenn (Steven Yeun) too.

“I'm gonna kill you,” Rick vowed all those episodes ago. Did he? Read on below to find out the outcome of the battle.

Beware spoilers

It seems fans have been treated to a happy ending... well, the happiest ending we could have got here. It's a victory for Rick and company thanks to Eugene who, along with Gabriel, has been supplying The Saviours with dud bullets. As The Saviours surround our band of heroes, Negan announces over a megaphone he's to execute them all the moment they hear the signal - a bullet to Gabriel's head.

Things don't go to plan. As they fire, bullets backfire killing scores of Saviours and leaving Negan with an obliterated hand.

Rick pursues the antagonist and the two have a scuffle. “Give me 10 seconds for Carl,” Rick says. Negan accepts and begins counting down as Rick tells Negan they can work to live together, to stop the bloodshed. Negan, in tears, clearly wanting this outcome appears to relent - as Rick slashes his throat with a shard of glass.

“Look what you did,” Negan says as blood pours down his neck. “Carl didn’t know a damn thing.”

Rather than let him die, however, Rick orders medic Siddiq (Avi Nash) to save him much to the dismay of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) who wants revenge for Glenn. Instead, Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) want Negan - now their prisoner - to be a breathing example that peace can reign. The remaining Saviours surrender as plans to co-exist together is set in motion.

“Negan is alive," Rick tells everyone. "But his way of doing things is over. Anyone who can’t live with that will pay the price. I promise you that. Any person here who would live in peace and fairness, who would find common ground… this world is yours, by right.”

Trouble is afoot, of course - in the unlikely form of Maggie, Jesus (Tom Payne) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) who conspire to kill defy their friends: they want Negan dead.

The Walking Dead season 8 finale airs tomorrow evening on FOX and will be available to stream on NOW TV. It will return to AMC for season 9 later this year.

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