Michonne’s journey in The Ones Who Live, episode 2, continues a dark trend that the franchise started back in The Walking Dead season 3.
The Walking Dead started a dark trend back in season 3 that Michonne’s The Ones Who Live story continued over a decade later. While it hasn’t been as prominent in recent years, The Walking Dead was once well-known for its horror elements, which the recent spinoff has re-established. The franchise was never overly scary, but it did have some startling and disturbing moments that helped make the TV series so iconic. This has led to The Walking Dead utilizing its zombie apocalypse setting to create some unpleasant scenarios, one of which has been explored repeatedly over the years.
Outside of The Walking Dead’s brutal battles and gory deaths, the franchise has also shown the more passive ways the apocalypse has impacted people’s lives. In season 1, it was established that everyone was affected by the virus, meaning that anyone who died would turn into a zombie unless their brain was destroyed. This has caused many emotional moments involving characters having to put down an undead version of their loved ones. However, the franchise has explored even more twisted storylines, with one common dark theme revealing the horror of giving birth in this new world.
The Ones Who Live Continues The Walking Dead’s Pregnancy Horror Pattern
The Walking Dead has repeated the pregnancy horror pattern over the years, and The Ones Who Live continued this. While there have been several healthy and successful pregnancies in the franchise, not all of them end well in the zombie-infested world. Rick and Michonne’s spinoff continued the theme of tragic pregnancies after Michonne and her allies were attacked with a chemical weapon. Michonne spent a long time recovering in The Ones Who Live, but Aiden died from her injuries and lost her unborn child in the process.
Aiden dying while pregnant was a horrific moment in the spinoff, but it wasn’t a first for the franchise. Back in season 3, Lori Grimes died after the birth of her daughter Judith, setting the tone for how cruel the franchise would become. Daryl Dixon had an even darker pregnancy involving Laurent, as his mother died during childbirth. While Laurent was being delivered, his mother, Lily, turned into a zombie, creating one of the franchise’s most messed up scenes. With Michonne’s story continuing this theme, it seems pregnancy horror will continue in The Walking Dead.
Why The Walking Dead Uses Pregnancy Horror So Often
Pregnancy horror has become frequent in The Walking Dead, presumably to emphasize how far gone the universe is. Although the characters have tried to rebuild and restore humanity, the franchise has continuously shown how much things have changed. With hopelessness and desperation being one of the overarching themes, pregnancy horror further reinforces the new world’s sinister nature. Pregnancy is seen as one of the few sacred and pure things left in The Walking Dead universe, making these horrific moments all the more twisted and proving that even the most happy and uplifting moments can be tainted.
The frequent use of dark pregnancies does make the future generation’s survival more meaningful.
There is already so much uncertainty about the future for the survivors, making the horror around pregnancies even bleaker. Laurent and Judith could be among The Walking Dead’s main characters if the franchise ever decides to explore that far into the future, suggesting their survival is incredibly important. The circumstances around their births may have been brutal, but the fact they managed to grow up and potentially become future leaders, proves that there is still some hope among the horror. Therefore, the frequent use of dark pregnancies does make the future generation’s survival more meaningful.
The Walking Dead Is Part Of A Wider Pregnancy Horror Boom
Despite the twisted nature of pregnancy horror, The Walking Dead isn’t the only franchise using the dark theme. American Horror Story season 12’s premise focuses entirely on a twisted pregnancy, with the show returning to the story in April. The First Omen and Immaculate will also be released in 2024, and both movies also have sinister premises around childbirth. The concept of pregnancy horror is not new, but there is certainly a current trend focusing on the topic. While The Walking Dead may not have intended to be a part of it, the recent spinoffs have utilized this theme.
The death in The Ones Who Live may be less disturbing than some of The Walking Dead’s previous horror moments, but there is no doubt Aiden’s pregnancy was used to make her death more emotional. Pregnancy looks like it may become the next modern horror trope, mainly because of how it impacts emotions and makes the story that much more hopeless. Whether this current trend will continue to impact The Walking Dead is unclear, but it will undoubtedly affect Michonne and her The Ones Who Live Story.