Does anyone else think that this series will end with Rick in the hospital waking up out of a medical induced coma with Lori, Carl, and Shane at his side?
Its funny you say that because a bunch of people have already been trying to guess.
Luckily Kirkman said when the show does end hes not gonna take the easy way out. Now if Darabont was still attached to the show then I could see that because he is all about happy endings.
Here are some theories that others have posted on various TWD boards
they're planning on making everything a dream. Maybe Rick comes back from his coma, leaves the hospital, goes home and finds a welcome home party with Shane and Lori and fellow deputies.
Rick wake up from the coma only to find himself in ANOTHER zombie nightmare but it's real instead, and so he knows exactly what to do to live
Other ideas are that Kirkman keeps joking about aliens; that they developed the 'plague' to wipe out the population so that they could inhabit the earth without even breaking a sweat. Maybe one of the producers liked that idea and will go more in depth with it.
"well we'll just have Daryl riding out into the sunset with Andrea and Carl and they'll live a happy life together in the zombie apocalypse, oh and we could have Rick die right before that to SHOCK the viewers!"
Maybe the military comes to save the day, or the survivors encounter the military? (but I'd imagine in any scenario like that, that they'd try to shoot them down ala "The Crazies"
the zombies all die out somehow and now the survivors have to deal with other humans?
somebody creates a cure, maybe a group of scientists in a small community like the Alexandria safe-zone? But they'd still get eaten alive, since a cure doesn't exactly get rid of the millions of walkers that inhabit the earth... it just loosens the weight on the survivors' shoulders.
only Rick dies but Carl lives, and he finds a safe community to stay in with tons of survivors
Happier ending: Group is wiped down to just a few, and they find a completely fortified community with sane, rational people ala the ending of I Am Legend (movie).
Darker ending: Group is wiped down to just a few, that few is cornered by about a thousand walkers. Only a few bullets left. One bullet short. One person kills everyone else and sets out to commit suicide by walker
Group finds sanctity and fortifies some place; building of some sort with virtually indestructable walls of some sort. Last shot pans away to them standing there watching the walkers who have completely surrounded them....
Daryl rides off into the sunset.