Walking Dead Repeats Aaron’s Introduction To Rick Grimes

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 13

The Walking Dead season 11 just repeated Aaron’s introduction to Rick’s group. Several years ago, it was Ross Marquand’s Aaron who set up the main characters joining the Alexandria community. Back then, finding and recruiting new people was Aaron’s main responsibility to Alexandria.

Aaron has since found himself fulfilling a similar role at the Commonwealth. In The Walking Dead season 11, episode 13, titled “Warlords”, Aaron reached out to Gabriel for help with making contact with a new religious community holed up in an apartment complex. Given Aaron’s history with scouting out new groups for Alexandria and his work with NGO, it made sense that the Commonwealth would give him this kind of job. But unfortunately, Aaron’s diplomatic approach didn’t make a difference this time around. Not only did their group leader turn out to be uncooperative, but the Commonwealth representative that accompanied them actually had no interest in helping these people or recruiting them. Aaron and Gabriel were both pawns in a clever scheme cooked up by Lace Hornsby to recover some lost weapons.

Interestingly, Aaron’s role in the episode featured a repeat of his season 5 debut. When he first crossed paths with Maggie and Sasha, he said “my name is Aaron”, which is exactly how he introduced himself to the people at the complex when he and the others were waiting to be allowed inside. When trying to sell their leader on the Commonwealth, Aaron employed the same tactic he used on Rick’s group. He had Rick look through some photographs of Alexandria. In “Warlords”, he handed a cell phone full of pictures of the Commonwealth to Michael Biehn’s Walking Dead character. He also tried to earn the leader’s trust in the same way that he attempted to convince Rick that he only wanted to help.

In both instances, Aaron’s goals were the same, which were to prove his community’s existence and leave a positive impression of what they built. One key difference here is that the photos in season 5 didn’t include any Alexandria residents, whereas his Commonwealth photos painted a much better picture of their society, complete with the people who lived there. Since the lack of people in the Alexandria photos were taken as a big warning sign to Michonne in season 5, it looks like Aaron may have learned a few things since those days.

Though the conversation ended in disaster, Aaron’s attempt to recruit the community into the Commonwealth amounted to an unexpected but fitting callback to a major season 5 event. Not only did it add a key character to Rick’s group, but it was arguably one of the most important moments in the history of The Walking Dead franchise. After all, Rick’s meeting with Aaron is ultimately what put the characters on the path they’re currently on in the series. Everything that’s happened since that day – such as the fights with the Saviors and the Whisperers – never would have happened if Rick and the others weren’t welcomed into Alexandria.

The Walking Dead releases new episodes on Sundays on AMC.

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