While there’s still plenty more story to tell on AMC’s The Walking Dead, that hasn’t stopped fans from theorizing what will happen in the end.

The long-running apocalyptic series is about a virus that has reanimated dead people, and they now roam the earth seeking out human flesh. Get caught and they will literally tear you open, eating you from the inside out.

Theories about the ending have ranged from sensible ones, like a cure is found, to ridiculous ones, like that the zombies never existed and the survivors are merely thrill-killing maniacs, or that Rick has been a walking zombie-man this whole time.

Here are 5 fan theories about how it will all end that make total sense, and 5 that are not likely to happen.

It Was All a Dream: Makes Sense

This is one of the most popular theories. That in the end, Rick wakes up from his coma and discovers that everything that has happened was all a dream. He finds Lori and Carl by his side, Shane popping in to check on him as well.

While this would make sense, it’s also a theory that fans probably wouldn’t like. They’d feel cheated. So we don’t expect this one to be true. Show creator Robert Kirkman has also definitively stated that it is not a dream and everything you see his happening. So that’s that.

An Alien Invasion: Doesn’t Make Sense

This theory suggests that the group discovers it was aliens that caused the outbreak and they are now looking to take over Earth. If this was a sci-fi series, maybe I could buy into that. But it isn’t. So it doesn’t make sense to delve into alien territory.

There is that mysterious group with the helicopters that are up to something, but we suspect they are living in a remote area, gathering people who can help them develop a cure or figure out what’s happening. But aliens? Highly unlikely.

Everyone Gets Bitten: Makes Sense

In true apocalyptic fashion, the series could end with the zombie outbreak still in full swing, no cure in sight. At some point, everyone will die and everyone will turn. So why not end with some type of event that takes all of the remaining characters out at the same time?

They can all rise up reanimated one by one, and begin walking into the sunset as the undead, in search of human flesh to feast on. This would leave us with no resolution, but do we really need things to be tied up with a nice little bow, a cure found and everyone living happily ever after?

It Was a Television Show: Doesn’t Make Sense

Can you imagine if TheWalking Dead ended like it was a The Truman Show scenario and all of the people were acting this whole time? It was just some apocalyptic TV series with incredibly detailed storylines, graphics, and convincing characters?

This theory makes no sense at all. Fans would no doubt be outraged if such a theory came true. Given that, it’s unlikely that there’s any truth to this one. And we can rest assured that everything that’s happening really is happening.

They Find a Cure: Makes Sense

The ultimate resolution would ensure that the group’s long fights were not in vain. They have all fought for their lives in hopes that their lives will mean something one day. Couples have had children, worked hard to provide for them, teach them about the world, and lived seemingly normal lives behind protective walls. It has to be for something.

So in the end, maybe they finally discover the cure and slowly restore the world to its previous state. That would be a fitting “the end” to the long story.

There Will Be a Civil War: Doesn’t Make Sense

Some believe that all of this is leading up to a civil war among the various groups of survivors who remain. But such an ending would defeat the purpose of the series. Is it to show that even with dead walking among us, the living still fight amongst themselves and can’t find a way to work together?

Plus, so many seasons have focused on our group of survivors fighting different mortal enemies. At some point, we need to see the fight shift back to the dead. So an ending that looks at all the humans fighting one another seems cheap.

The Last Walker Is Killed: Makes Sense

Maybe the series will simply end when the last walker is killed. The group knows that everyone is infected, which means anyone who dies from this point on needs to get a swift knife to the brain to prevent them from reanimating. But is it possible the group could finally kill the last walker on earth and begin rebuilding society?

It seems impossible that the entire population could be wiped out in just a decade, but the show has done a few time jumps already. So maybe the disease is never cured but can now be managed in a new world with only a few straggling walkers left.

Settling on a Remote Island: Doesn’t Make Sense

Logically, this ending makes sense. The group somehow finds a way to travel to a remote island that is completely unpopulated. There, they are free from walkers and can work on rebuilding the world while walkers elsewhere are slowly but surely taken out by new military forces.

It’s totally possible but it wouldn’t be the exciting ending that viewers likely expect. Having the group fight to the death to simply pick up and leave would be wasteful. They can’t let the zombies take over America!

Kids Continue the World: Makes Sense

A flash forward-type ending could show all of the fierce fighters we have come to love now long gone or old and frail while the kids, including Judith, R.J., Hershel, Coco, and others, are the ones who are working to re-build society.

Maybe the zombie outbreak has been contained, or maybe it hasn’t and this is just the new world we live in. Nonetheless, we can foresee a look ahead at a grown Judith with her own family (maybe a son named Carl?), an elderly Michonne rocking her grandchild while uncle Daryl comes by to visit and they stare at the grave of uncle Ezekiel.

Walkers Evolve: Doesn’t Make Sense

While this theory really is interesting, we can’t imagine the walkers ever being anything more than dumb walking corpses with a strong sense of smell for human flesh. They can’t think, strategize, or understand human chatter. They hear a sound or see movement and must follow it.

In this theory, the walkers eventually evolve to be able to use their brains again, as though some part of cognition reignites so they can talk, negotiate with people, assemble armies – you name it. It doesn’t seem plausible, but it could happen. It would effectively be what the Whisperers have been simulating all along.