Warning: spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2, episode 4.

The need to resolve a zombie plot hole is even more pressing as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 reveals additional information about variants. Since their official introduction during season 11, The Walking Dead‘s zombie variants have been stumbling and scrambling all across the franchise. Unfortunately, the specifics of how and why variants exist, as well as the extent of their abilities, have only been defined in the loosest terms. Each show in AMC’s The Walking Dead universe seems to offer its own individual take on the variant concept, raising questions and contradictions aplenty.

The variant twist has prompted much head-scratching since it happened, but viewer scalps are taking extra punishment as more and more conflicting pieces of the puzzle are added, none of which make the overall picture any clearer. One such piece comes in Daryl Dixon season 2, episode 3, “L’Invisible,” in which Melissa McBride’s Carol watches Genet’s evil Pouvoir du Vivant group turn a small crowd of zombies into variants using a serum created by Dr. Lafleur.

Daryl Dixon Says The French Variants Were Created By Pouvoir, But World Beyond Claimed Otherwise

Are Variants Made Or Born In The Walking Dead?

Previously, Daryl Dixon made clear that variants were being created by Pouvoir du Vivant, most notably the super-zombies brought out during the gladiatorial-style fight of Daryl Dixon season 1’s ending. Season 2, however, doubles down hard on Pouvoir being responsible for France’s variants. As they watch the experiments in action, Carol’s short-lived ally, Remy, describes how the burner variants from Daryl Dixon season 1 also originated inside Dr. Lafleur’s lab. Effectively, Daryl Dixon attributes the creation of all its variants to Pouvoir du Vivant.

The plot hole emerges when comparing Daryl Dixon‘s version of events against The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2’s post-credits scene, which gave a very different explanation for the presence of variants in France. The latter strongly hinted that the same scientists who developed The Walking Dead‘s zombie virus then created variants, most likely by accident. And whereas Pouvoir’s super-zombies are generated by administering a special serum post-reanimation, the variant seen in World Beyond displayed enhanced abilities immediately after coming back to life.

An Explanation For Daryl Dixon’s Variant Plot Hole Exists, But The Walking Dead Still Needs To Address It

This Isn’t A Plot Hole The Walking Dead Can’t Dig Itself Out Of

World Beyond and Daryl Dixon offer very different accounts of why France is crawling with zombie variants, but the two explanations can coexist. It is entirely possible that France is home to both Pouvoir variants and World Beyond variants, but the second kind simply hasn’t appeared in Daryl Dixon yet. Likewise, the World Beyond‘s variants may have been so rare that they died out years before Daryl Dixon‘s timeline. Plenty of plausible explanations exist; The Walking Dead just needs to pick one, drop the necessary exposition, and stick to it.

Daryl Dixon is only making The Walking Dead ‘s variant inconsistencies more glaring.

As long as Daryl Dixon continues to act like World Beyond never happened, the spinoff will look like it’s ignoring an older show in favor of writing a whole new backstory for French variants. The purpose of a shared universe – a category The Walking Dead undeniably falls into at this point – is to draw connections between individual releases and give audiences a sense of narrative cohesion. By implying that France’s variants are entirely the work of Pouvoir and ignoring revelations made elsewhere, Daryl Dixon is only making The Walking Dead‘s variant inconsistencies more glaring.

Daryl Dixon’s Variant Plot Hole Is Part Of A Wider Walking Dead Problem

The Walking Dead’s Road Has More Than One Plot Hole To Fix

Even if Daryl Dixon manages to bridge the divide between its own variants and World Beyond‘s, that would only solve one part of The Walking Dead‘s zombie riddle. Far away from France, the main The Walking Dead series has shown climber and roamer variants – more intelligent, agile zombies that can open doors, use objects, climb ladders, and block attacks. The problem here concerns The Walking Dead‘s timeline, as this particular variant was present in season 1, then fell off the radar until season 11, at which point they became surprisingly prevalent.

These plot holes are not insurmountable, but audiences have not been left enough breadcrumbs to deduce the right solution without guidance.

At the very least, The Walking Dead must explain why these climbing zombies suddenly increased in number during the Commonwealth arc. Delving into why variants exist would be the easiest way to do that and, once again, there are plenty of plausible routes The Walking Dead can take. Maybe travelers carrying the climber variant arrived in the US from France shortly before the outbreak, those early variants died out, then Pouvoir brought them back when setting up in the US years later. Alternatively, The Walking Dead season 11’s variants might represent an evolution, and the examples from season 1 were just one-off flukes.

These plot holes are not insurmountable, but audiences have not been left enough breadcrumbs to deduce the right solution without guidance. In one of its upcoming releases, The Walking Dead must find time to lay down the lore on variant zombies, first by clearing up the confusion between The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and World Beyond in France, then by clarifying why variants are suddenly getting a population boom over 10 years into the apocalypse.

Episode
Release Date

“La Gentillesse des Étrangers”
September 29

“Moulin Rouge”
October 6

“L’Invisible”
October 13

“La Paradis Pour Toi”
October 20

“Vouloir, C’est Pouvoir”
October 27

“Au Revoir les Enfants”
November 3