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Did Negan and Maggie survive? ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 3 finale has a brutal ending

Maggie and Negan face off against Dillard and his crew to save the community from his wrath

'The Walking Dead: Dead City' kicked off the Season 3 finale with all its major players in considerable danger. Dillard (Jimmi Simpson) and his crew had taken over the entire hospital community to avenge his walker friends. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who murdered these walker friends, is seen hiding in a nearby building to escape Dillard's wrath along with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Hershel (Logan Kim) in 'Tenebrae.' The trio will not be safe in there forever, as Dillard would sooner or later come for them. They need a plan, and a good one, considering how menacing Dillard and his crew are to their targets. Negan decides to take on Dillard alone, but Maggie stops him. Maggie confesses that even though she will never be able to forgive him for all he has done to her and her loved ones, he has now become the closest thing she has to a family. She won't give up on him, no matter what. Negan becomes emotional hearing this, believing that he does not deserve Maggie's empathy.

The three eventually come up with a high-risk but high-reward plan. Maggie goes to the subway pens with the tank walkers and frees the creatures. In the process, she manages to kill Luis' guard and get him to safety. Luis (Raúl Castillo) wants to accompany Maggie, but the latter refuses and locks him in the hospital. Negan makes his way into the apartment block by concealing himself under a walker's corpse. He then gets out and begins whistling to lure Dillard and his accomplices into an abandoned building. Hershel sneaks into the apartment building, frees the residents, and tells them all about Dillard's situation. Radomir (Johnny Halloran), one of Dillard's guards, barges in to avoid the walkers and begins threatening the residents. Hershel kills him by throwing a dagger at him. 

Most of Dillard's crew has taken their last breaths. Only Dillard and Psycho Reverend (Shawn Andrews) remain. Negan and Psycho Reverend face off in the building, and Psycho Reverend quickly overwhelms the former leader of the Saviors. Surprisingly, Dillard comes to Negan's rescue. He kills Psycho Reverend, claiming Negan is his. Maggie fails to execute the last step of the plan, and instead of making the killing shot, she only manages to hurt Dillard in the leg. It all comes down to Dillard and Negan, and to everyone's shock, the former is ready to talk. The bar owner confesses that he does not want to kill Negan, his best friend. He just wants to avenge his walkers, and for that, he wants to murder Maggie. He wants Negan to feel the pain of losing a close one.

Negan stabs Maggie and locks her in with the walkers to protect her from Dillard. Luis arrives in time and saves Maggie from bleeding out. During the fight, Negan gains an upper hand, but hesitates to kill Dillard. He confesses that, like the former cop, he also adored their friendship. Dillard takes this opening and grabs Lucille 2.0. Just as he is about to kill Negan, Maggie arrives and finishes her job. She chops off his arm, but Negan stops her from delivering the final blow. Dillard goes peacefully as Negan prays that his friend finds the connection he was missing. Dillard is last seen moving alongside other walkers. 

In the end, Maggie takes over as the group's leader, and Negan joins the hospital crew. He now mingles with the other residents in his apartment, slowly but steadily moving away from being a loner. The season ends with Maggie asking Negan to become head of security, giving him Dillard's old badge. All episodes of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' are now available for streaming on AMC+.