The Walking Dead - Season 9

Eighteen months after Negan's defeat, the various communities are working on rebuilding society. However, the Sanctuary suffers from the infertile ground and underlying support for Negan. Rick leads a trek to a Washington, D.C. museum to recover pioneering supplies; on the way back, they find the main bridge to Hilltop has been wiped out by a storm, forcing them to detour. A young man, Ken, is killed while protecting the group's horses from walkers. Gregory, ousted as Hilltop's leader, convinces Ken's father, Earl, to try to assassinate Maggie, but he fails. Rick and Michonne ask Maggie for Hilltop's help in providing for the Sanctuary, but she refuses. That evening, Maggie has Gregory publicly executed for his actions.

A month after Gregory's death, the communities work together to repair the bridge; several Saviors have gone missing since construction began. After some persuasion, Maggie ultimately decides to deliver food to a starving Sanctuary. A herd approaches the repair crew after Justin fails to sound an alarm, and Aaron's arm is crushed under a log. Daryl rescues Aaron, and Enid is forced to amputate Aaron's arm to keep him alive. Anne and Gabriel pursue a romantic relationship, but Anne takes note of a nearby helicopter. Rick updates an incarcerated Negan on the bridge's progress, and Negan warns him that his vision will fail. Justin is banished, and on his way back to the Sanctuary, he is abducted.

Michonne's group manages to escape the cemetery, and they capture a young Whisperer, Lydia, on their way back to Hilltop. Michonne and Daryl attempt to get answers from the girl without much luck, though she admits that her mother is still alive and that her people live among the walkers. Rosita tells Siddiq that she is pregnant with his baby. Tara agrees to let Magna's group stay at Hilltop, while Michonne plans to return to Alexandria to warn her people of the new threat. After escaping Alexandria, Negan returns to the Sanctuary only to find it abandoned, and he thus returns to the comfort of his cell in Alexandria willingly. Luke and Alden are lured into a trap and captured by the Whisperers.

As Henry and Lydia grow closer, she reveals events of her past following the onset of the outbreak. Henry is released from his cell by Daryl when he feels the boy is revealing too much to Lydia. After aggressively interrogating Lydia, Daryl takes a softer approach with her after realizing she is the victim of abuse at the hands of her mother. Despite the risks, Magna's group searches for Luke against Tara's orders; they abandon the search after realizing it is no longer safe. The next day, a group of Whisperers arrives at the Hilltop led by Lydia's mother, Alpha, who demands her daughter be returned.

Daryl, Connie, Henry, and Lydia take shelter in a building from Beta's pursuit, using the structure to lay ambush to the Whisperers; Daryl pushes Beta down an elevator shaft, though the fall does not kill him. After entering their territory to retrieve the projector bulb, The Kingdom encounters a group called the Highwaymen that have stolen their gear; Ezekiel and Carol negotiate with the group to help patrol the roads prior to the Kingdom's fair. As the Hilltop group arrives at the Kingdom for the fair with the Highwaymen escort, Daryl vows to bring Lydia, Henry, and Connie away from Hilltop to hide from Alpha.

In a flashback, an old friend of Michonne, Jocelyn, is rescued by Alexandria, along with several children she watches over. The next morning, they find Jocelyn and her group gone, along with the children of Alexandria. Michonne and Daryl track them down, but are lured into a trap; Michonne is forced to kill Jocelyn and her children, and once back at Alexandria, declares that the community will no longer take in strangers. In the present, Daryl's group seeks a short respite at Alexandria before continuing on to Kingdom. Judith reveals she remembers what happened with Jocelyn, and that she does not understand why Michonne does not want to help her friends. Michonne finally has a change of heart and sets off with Judith to give Daryl's group an escort to Kingdom, unaware the Whisperers are following them.

The communities gather at the Kingdom for the trade fair; together, the leaders sign the charter and vow to band together against the Whisperers. Alpha infiltrates the fair disguised as a murdered Hilltop resident; after an encounter with Lydia, she disowns her daughter. Alpha later shows Daryl a massive horde of walkers that she threatens to unleash upon the communities if they cross into Whisperer territory again. At the border, the decapitated heads of Ozzy, Alek, DJ, Frankie, Tammy-Rose, Rodney, Addy, Enid, Tara, and Henry are found. As Daryl and Lydia visit the border, snow begins to fall.

Sometime after their devastating loss, the Kingdom finally falls and has to be abandoned in favour of the Hilltop. The communities come together to help perform the move as a massive and dangerous blizzard hits which force the Kingdommers to trek through Whisperer territory despite the danger. Everyone makes it safely, but Carol and Ezekiel, having fallen apart since Henry's death, divorce and Carol moves back to Alexandria with Daryl and Lydia. At Alexandria, the residents struggle to survive the blizzard. After Judith runs off to rescue Daryl's dog, Negan risks his own life to save her, injuring his leg in the process. He earns the respect of Michonne due to this. Unbeknownst to anyone, a woman calls out over the radio and questions if anyone's out there.