The Walking Dead: Dead City
Season 3 - Episode 1 - ”Trillium” – Season 3 Premiere

New Babylon members are canvassing the habitable city, posting ”Wanted: Dead or Alive” posters featuring Negan...and Maggie...

MAGGIE / NEGAN I: Somewhere in Central Park, Maggie finishes burying Ginny. An indignant Negan—still recovering from his knife wound—yels at Maggie, saying the task of burying Ginny was his responsibility. Maggie tries to express the fact she was doing him a favor, only to be met with Negan accusing her of not only stabbing him but luring him to the island to exchange him for Hershel—a boy who has a better mother in The Dama than Maggie will ever be to the boy. Initially, Maggie is angered by Negan's Dama comment, but pivots to apologize for all that's she done, and asks if they can just move on. Negan replies that he—thanks to Maggie—has nothing to move on to.

Maggie's had enough, stating while she's remaining in NY for Hershel, Negan is free to leave; Negan does not buy she's willing to let him go, as he represents the worst thing that's happened to her, and she needs that as some salve to make her feel less “shitty”” about her own life. Maggie's so fed up, she gives Negan her knife, offering him a chance to stab her only if it wipes their slate clean and he will—as she puts it:

”shut that gapin' bullshit hole! So either do it, or for the love of God, shut the fuck up!”

Negan grins, promising he will stab her, and he considers it, until both are startled by siblings Renata and Luis—armed and recognizing Negan's name as The Croat's number two. The pair take Negan and Maggie hostage, intending to use them as leverage in order to obtain a methane tank. Maggie warns their captors that New Bebylon now controls the methane tanks, and an of them—the siblings, Maggie and Negan—are caught, they would be executed.

LUIS / RENATA / NEGAN / MAGGIE I: The siblings force Maggie & Negan into the city; from around a corner, Hershel appears, calling for his mother, just as a massive explosion blows the boy to the ground.

As the air fills with smoke, Negan and Maggie are pushed down a makeshift slide into the basement of a building, where they're immediately attacked by Walkers, which—despite their bound hands, the unlikely duo manage to kill.

On the surface, Renata and Luis fight off Walkers...but run into the panting, stumbling Croat, who appears like he's seen better days. A raging Luis grabs The Croat, demanding the man lead them to the methane tanks...before he's killed. The Croat says he destroyed the tanks to prevent them from falling into the hands of New Babylon; Luis orders The Croat to devise another, but the inventive killer replies that there won't be enough time for that, lifting his shirt to reveal a Walker bite. Luis almost kills the man until Renata talks him back from that particular edge. Needing cover, the siblings head for the same building where Maggie & Negan continue their fight—only Renata has a second thought about The Croat and decides to drag him along, much to the irritation of Luis.

LUIS / RENATA / NEGAN / MAGGIE II: Hershel makes his way into the basement to free his mother, followed by the siblings. The second Negan spots Luis, he decks him, retrieves Lucille II and prepares to do what Lucilles tend to, when he's stopped by a pleading Renata...and greeted by The Croat, who—despite the way they parted, is genuinely happy to see Negan....

FOUR MONTHS AGO:

Flashback to happier times, when the siblings' family—using an abandoned hospital as their home—have a celebration in anticipation of the birth of Chuchu's (Renata & Luis' brother) and Yvette's child. Suddenly, The Croat and two guards interrupt the scene, making it clear they are not there to help the family celebrate, but to press the group about the cost of their “protection” services. Renata nervously suggests they just end the protection, which The Coat replies is necessary—if they are going to stay on the island. The siblings' uncle Ramon fires back, telling The Croat that his people have been on the island far longer than The Croat's—an insult the psychopath takes notice of.

The Croat reminds the family that the arrangement means they must contribute something valuable in return for protection...and he does not believe they are capable of that. Luis chimes in, stating he's training others—including little brother Chucho--in emergency medicine, to which The Croat brightens up, after all, doctors are a resource. Not forgetting Ramon's insult, The Croat gets Chucho to admit that he's a resource, but to prove it, The Croat reverse thrusts a knife into Ramon's abdomen, giving Chucho his field test. As the family screams in agony, Chucho rushes to his fallen uncle, but cannot save him.

Chucho rises to face The Croat, who is not quite finished; calling Luis a liar regarding his training anyone, The Croat slashes Chucho's throat, coldly making eye contact with the man until he dies. Referring to his past with his former mentor (Negan), The Croat recalls the lesson that killing the right person at the right time makes others fall in line.

Ever the sadist, The Croat feels his lesson did not sink in, so he engages in the “eenie meenie miney moe” game to select another victim. Before The Croat can act on his threat, Renata moves to a large oxygen tank, opening its valve, while holding a lighter in front of the stream of oxygen. She warns The Croat that she would die to protect her family, knowing he would not. Still trying to save face, The Croat backs down, but reminds the survivors that their business is not finished.

THE PRESENT:

MAGGIE / HERSHEL:

Maggie and Hershel break away to talk; Hershel has watched his mom from afar, long enough to see Maggie bury Ginny, which prompted the boy to seek her out. Hershel relates the disturbing level of manipulation from The Dama, who was responsible for pushing Hershel to twist Maggie's strained emotional state in order to enlist her to kill Negan, and has moved on, attempting to convince the boy to murder his own mother.

Hershel reprimands himself for not cluing in on The Dama's string-pulling, but Maggie assures him that his actions were all due to The Dama. Seemingly coming back to his senses, Hershel expresses his wish to reunite with his mother, and not hold anger in his heart for anyone else—perhaps that means Negan...

THE SIBLINGS / NEGAN / THE CROAT: Maggie has to stop Luis from choking The Croat, who tries to rationalize his murder of Chucho by referring to the training he received from a borderline sheepish Negan. The Croat plays his winning hand by agreeing only to personally show the siblings where the last methane tanks, instead of simply telling them, only to be murdered. Needing the methane to power an incubator, The Croat sees helping a newborn—and the opportunities his methane system will grant all survivors as his legacy (i.e. taking ownership of the island forever)—what his work stood for long after his forthcoming death. Maggie listens to that last part, perhaps considering potential for building a new life rests with The Croat's invention.

The one hiccup in dreaming about the future are the hordes of Walkers on the surface street. Needing experienced fighters, Renata looks to Negan, who refuses to help, noting that Yvette's baby will die.

NEGAN / DILLARD: Realizing the survivors were in the basement of a bar, Negan makes his way up to search for a drink, but hides when he hears the rustling of another living person—a mildly quirky man named Mason W. Dillard, who spends his days drinking some alcoholic concoction & “playing” games with Walkers tied to bar stools. Dillard discovers Negan, and invites him to have a drink. Wondering how and why Dillard's survived in the bar over the course of the ZA, Dillard gives Negan a tour of three floors above the bar—each serving as part of a “Closed Loop Vertical Food Chain”:

--the first floor has a room full of Walker compost, where large maggots grow and thrive on the corpses...

..in turn, the maggots are fed to a room full of frogs, and the fattened frogs are taken to the third floor...

...to be fed to wild turkeys and coyotes, which sustain Dillard.

MAGGIE / HERSHEL / RENATA I: With Maggie watching, Hershel helps Renata barricade the street level entrance to the basement. Hershel questions why Renata allowed The Croat to live, to which she responds by showing him her father's medallion of San Lazaro, the patron saint of hope and mercy; she recounts her father saying:

”...we had a choice. We could choose the fight, or we could choose the light.”

Maggie personalizes Renata's statement while looking at Glenn's wedding ring she wears as a necklace. Hershel asks if Renata forgives The Croat for his crimes against her family, and while Renata says she cannot, she implies that revenge would set into motion a life of neverending killing.

Renata: ”You know, choosing the light after that was the hardest thing i've ever done. Still is. But it's a choice that I wanna keep making.”

Embarrassed, Maggie claims she's making that same choice...in the wake of stabbing Negan the previous evening.

MAGGIE / HERSHEL / RENATA II: As Luis tends to a dying Croat, Hershel takes an interest in Luis' medical practices, while Maggie invites Renata and her people (along with the methane processing knowledge) to the Bricks, but the young woman and her family have been in New York for generations, and have no intention of abandoning it.

The Croat's condition worsens by the minute, but he insists on ending where he began—the location of his methane tank.

Maggie locates Negan, imploring him to help transport The Croat to the tank; Negan laughs off the notion, but Maggie will not back down, promising that he will be free to go where he chooses—and away from her—if he just helps this one last time. To punctuate her sincerity, she—of all people—hands Negan Lucille II.
THE SIBLINGS / NEGAN / THE CROAT: Back on the surface street, Negan & Maggie drag The Croat along, trying to get him to reveal the location of the tank. He drifts in and out of speaking Croatian, while Hershel and the siblings fight through the armies of Walkers. Knowing The Croat's history, he guesses where he tank would be stored—the Croatian Consulate.

As the others enter the Croatian Consulate, Negan sets The Croat down on the steps, the former enemy gasping his acknowledgment of not being the leader Negan was in his last seconds of life. Calling out to someone else, The Croat dies, leaving a weeping Negan holding him (SEE NOTES).

MAGGIE / NEGAN / HERSHEL / THE NEWBIES: Maggie, Negan and their new companions wheel the prototype methane tank to the hospital, where Yvette is in labor—but at risk of losing the child without a functional incubator. Needing to power the methane tank for the incubator, Luis brings himself to do the one thing he could not before—kill the reanimated Chucho, who was locked in one of the children's exam rooms.

With the tank set up—and Chucho providing the gas source—Luis (with Hershel allowed to help) delivers the baby, immediately placing him into the incubator.

For the moment, all involved have something truly joyous to rally around. Maggie takes note of Hershel picking Luis' brain for his medical knowledge; Renata also observes this—and her relief that her brother is more like himself (since Chucho's murder). Renata admits The Croat referring to the island as a fortress was correct, but they need someone who knows how to keep people safe. Maggie gets the hint, but reiterates that the island is not her home. In any case, she won't make any decsions without talking to Hershel.

MAGGIE & NEGAN II: Negan sits in a waiting area, nursing his knife wound, as he;s aporached by Maggie. Negan confesses that back at Ginny's grave, he was not mad at Maggie because she buried the child...no, he was angry because Maggie did not kill him. Maggie replies hat she spared him because she knew he was capable of the kind acts he committed just one day later.

Before Negan heads back to the bar, Maggie openly considers staying on the island—if they can find The Dama.

THE DAMA: Two of the more bumbling New Babylon grunts (who were pinning “Wanted” posters earlier in the episode), recover from the methane tank explosion. They are approached by The Dama, who immediately plays Good Samaritan by promising to help them rebuild an empire...especially after she spots the “Wanted” poster of her two most hated enemies...

NOTES:

While viewers are expected to pick up where they left off, that never means pick up with plotting similar to earlier seasons. Once again, the series leads run into a new group of survivors with their own origin story somehow tied to the main antagonists; key members of the new group are presented as personable—perhaps one even serves as a parallel to the series leads (yep, already happened in this episode), but its doubtful Renata & her brother will last the entire season. A familiar pattern.

Perlie was referred to, but noticeably absent, so we can assume he's returned to the New Babylon invasion force (at least if the teasers are any indicator), but i'm hoping he's still on Maggie's side, rather than falling back into loyal lawman mode (especially as he now knows his daughters' fate depends on how cooperative he's going to be.
Pierce (the former pussy who was tasked with watching Ginny, and ended up—suspiciously--on the weapons rooftop): he was not killed last season, so presumably, he's still out there, either partnering with the Dama, or aiding New Babylon in their hunt for Negan and Maggie.

Maggie and Hershel – this episode's scriptwriters bent over backwards to make Hershel appear as if he's broken the spell of The Dama, but the way he speaks to his mother comes off as probing for information, rather than a conversation born of reconciliation. I will not be shocked it he's still working for The Dama.

GRADE: C.

NEXT for The Walking Dead spin-offs:

Thanks to a recent Reedus post, Daryl Dixon season four—at one time believed to premiere in the fall of 2026, is not postponed until 2027. The showrunners understand that TWD's loyal audience is still hanging around to see the Big Reunion, and said Big Reunion should've been the next production, instead of another season of Daryl Dixon, a series that's told as much story as one could expect from its premise.