The Fatal Frontier

"*It began with The Veteran. It will end with **fire**,*"
—The series' tagline**[src]**

***The Fatal Frontier***, also known under the working title ***Swansong***,is a post-apocalyptic horror story and a spin-off of *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*. Stylized as a limited event, it takes place between *Season 15* and *Season 16* of the main series, following Harry Edwards in his "final canon appearance" on a solo adventure in southern Wyoming, as he confronts two tribal clans engaged in a brutal war. As he does so, Edwards must come face-to-face with his own damaged psyche and sins from his past while he fights to return home and join his people in their war against the Frontiersmen.

*The Fatal Frontier* is split into two parts: Part I, consisting of four episodes, and Part II, consisting of five episodes. It is the final instalment in the original series, which includes *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*, and therefore serves as the epilogue to the series. A direct sequel, *Forsaken*, featuring several returning characters was cancelled in favour of a universe rewrite, *Strain Zero*, in 2022.

## Plot

*On a noble quest for the sake of his people, the Veteran makes a solo journey into an uncharted land, where he must confront the most visceral horrors that humankind can become.*

## Synopsis

### 'Wildfire'

In 2052, an aged Edwards returns to an overgrown garage and begins to recount the experiences he endured during the prelude to the NGA-Frontiersmen War. Many years previously, five months after the events of *Season 15*, Edwards makes a solo journey south to make contact with a group called the Cobras, who inhabit what was a sprawling government bunker, in search of weapons to be used against the Frontiersmen. The Cobras, led by Walter, appear accommodating until it is revealed that they have no weapon stockpile before shooting and beating Edwards into unconsciousness. When he awakens, he has been taken captive by a primitive tribe wearing hooded robes and basic garments. He locks eyes with a fellow prisoner, a young woman with deep scars on her neck, who appears to recognise him. Edwards awakens once more in an underground prison, hastily stitched up and is injected with a serum that numbs his entire body. Edwards is marched out into a primitive village, where the locals chant a haunting Nordic tune. Edwards is then forced to watch the sacrifice of a mother and her child, before fighting a hulking creature known as the Champion. He is badly wounded in the fight, but he spots the girl from the cart in the chanting crowd, who throws him his tomahawk. Now armed, Edwards easily dispatches the Champion, decapitating it. He roars in victory to the wild crowd, who are silenced by the raging High Priest. Edwards throws the Champion's head to the feet of the tribe's leader, a woman adorned with black flowers. When feeling returns to his body, he realizes he has been badly cut by the Champion's blade arm and collapses from the shock as several warriors march into the arena to drag him away.

### 'Bloodshot'

A small plane crashes into a forest during a violent thunderstorm. The pilot, a British man named Jules, breaks his leg in the crash but is saved by a mute tribal girl named Lupa. Together, they run from a herd of walkers as well as an accelerating forest fire caused by several lightning strikes. In the present, Jules and Lupa infiltrate Haven and seek to assassinate Kyther. Lupa retrieves Edwards' jacket and tomahawk. They navigate through the underground tunnels beneath the village, before surfacing to watch an exhausted Edwards battle the Champion in the arena. Despite Jules' protests, Lupa throws the tomahawk into the arena, giving Edwards a fighting chance. Lupa and Jules break into Kyther's quarters but are forced to leave when guards track them down. While Jules runs off into the hills, Lupa returns to the village. Meanwhile, the victorious Edwards is brought to Kyther, the tribe's leader. She claims to be the embodiment of the tribe's Goddess of Death and reveals the tribe's name: the Norn, who decide the destiny of gods and men. Kyther claims that Edwards is *Mye'Akal*: the World-Ender, who will bring an end to the Norn but also prove to be their ultimate saviour. Edwards promises to kill her and all of her followers, but he is subsequently violently beaten by Kyther. He wakes up in his cell, badly beaten, and has nightmares of his zombified loved ones devouring him. He is rescued by the Wrinkled Woman, who is then killed by the Shark-Toothed Man with Edwards' tomahawk. Taking his weapon, Edwards flees into the underground tunnels, where he finally meets Lupa, who he recognises from the cart.

### 'Sacrifice'

In a dark mansion in the middle of a snowstorm, three people unlock the room of a young boy with self-inflicted injuries. The lead man tortures the boy by using a crafting file to sharpen the boy's teeth into fangs. In the present day, Edwards and Lupa decide to work together to escape Haven and demonstrate a strong ability in working together to take out several Norn troops. They run into the cornfields, where Edwards faces Interith, using his tomahawk to axe off the High Priest's lower jaw. Lupa uses a flaming arrow to set the crops alight, which quickly spreads to the village's wooden walls and houses. The half-naked Edwards, badly injured by Interith, rejoins Lupa and the two of them escape through a hole in the village wall. The two of them escape into the dense wilderness around Haven and take shelter in a ditch. Lupa reveals to Edwards that he has been in the region, known as the Wilds, for two weeks since his fight with the Champion. She decides to lead them to a town in the distance, and says a single word: "Home". The two of them ambush a Norn patrol and steal a horse, facing the other three riders; Edwards destroys a rotten metal beam, dropping a set of traffic lights onto the overgrown road and crushing a warrior, while a third rider retreats and blows into a war horn. Edwards and Lupa approach the town as the sound echoes across the plains. In the flashback, the Shark-Toothed Man burns the body of theWrinkled Woman and remembers that the woman was one of the two nuns present when his teeth were mutilated.

### 'Monster'

In the plains surrounding Haven, three hooded warriors use war horns to draw hundreds of walkers from around the hills, before charging towards the overgrown town. In the same town, Edwards and Lupa crawl through its bombed ruins, with Edwards remembering several instances from his past, including the corpse of Lunchbox Boy and his actions during the Second Hometown Uprising. He comforts Lupa when she tries to reveal the origin of her scars and her resulting muteness, but she panics upon seeing the three hooded warriors, calling them monsters. Edwards is shot in the ribs with an arrow by the leader, who reveals itself to be a pale creature with shark-like fangs. The leader prepares to kill him, but it is shot in the neck by an arrow. A troop of warriors arrives and fights off the encroaching walkers; one of them, Seth, cradles Lupa in his arms. Edwards tries to pull out the arrow, but Jules comes to him and stops him. Edwards passes out, having a vision of the Wrinkled Woman cradling the burnt corpse of a child.

### 'Feral'

Minutes after being shot with an arrow by the Pale Men, Edwards is still unconscious and being tended to by Jules; both he and Lupa stop Seth from stabbing Edwards in the head. Instead, they carry him to their town, where they tend to his injury. That evening, Edwards awakens and is met by Jules, who leads him through the community, explaining that the tribe calls themselves the Heathens. In his cabin, Jules begins to tell Edwards his story: Jules was born in northern England, and survived the first couple of years of the apocalypse on a farm with a large group of kids. Over time, the farm deteriorated, but they found a man named Alistair, who was a recruiter for a group that resided in the Tower of London. Jules and several other residents on the farm accompanied him on the long journey south but eventually reached the community; over the years, they formed a network with other communities in London, clearing out every street one by one until they had made several trade roads. They cleared out the radar station on an airstrip outside of the city, where they made contact with a group based in the United States. An exchange program was set up, where Jules took the place of a pilot who flew to the UK. Jules was due to land at an airstrip, but was caught in a storm and crashed. Rescued by Lupa, he agreed to help the Heathens against the Norn in exchange for guidance out of the Wilds and to the airstrip to fly back home. As Jules finishes his story, Seth approaches and tells Edwards of the "Dark Place", a manor from which the Norn emerged and began subjugating his people. As he is *Mye'Akal*, Edwards agrees to help the Heathens in exchange for guidance home. Far away, Kyther marches the Norn out of Haven while the Pale Men chant into the wind.

### 'Lies'

In a flashback, in the Dark Place, a woman gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. A young nun - revealed to be the Wrinkled Woman - takes the girl while cultist nuns smother the mother to death. The Woman prepares to throw the newborn girl in a fire, but a young girl - a young Kyther - demands that she be able to kill the newborn. The Woman reluctantly accepts, and Kyther digs her nails into the baby's throat. The Woman decides to save the newborn, burning Kyther's hand in the fire, and locates the baby's uncle, a young priest. The two of them retrieve the male twin and escape from the Dark Place while Kyther leads the children in killing the nuns and priests. This is all revealed to have occurred the evening before the outbreak. In the present, Edwards, Lupa and Jules discuss their mission to ride to the Dark Place and figure out a way to bring down the Pale Men, the Norn's best warriors. Edwards and Jules, as men of the Old World, are given rifles by Seth before they ride out with a Heathen troop towards the Dark Place. On the way, Seth reveals to Edwards more about his and Lupa's past: the priest and the woman - known to them as The Father and The Mother - rescued many other children during the outbreak and eventually built the community that would become Haven, where Seth and Lupa were raised. That was until the Norn emerged from the Dark Place and quickly took over the Wilds, including Haven. Seth was entrusted leadership of the Heathens and led them to the most hidden corner of the Wilds, where Lupa began hearing "Silent Voices" that spoke of *Mye'Akal*: an axe-wielding warrior who would bring about the end of the Norn, but also prove to be their ultimate saviour. Lupa began searching for this *Mye'Akal*, and believes that Edwards is the prophesized "They That Speaks to the Silent Voices". As the troop breaks out into the hills, they are attacked by a pack of Pale Men, who use flaming arrows to surround and trap the troop. Edwards and Jules use their weapons to dispatch them, but the fire and arrows kills most of the troop. Edwards, Seth, Lupa, Jules and a few other Heathens ride into a thorn thicket, losing the Norn warriors. They escape onto a cliff, where it is revealed that Lupa's eye had been caught by a thorn branch. In the distance, the remaining troop look over at the Dark Place in the distance. In another flashback to the Norn's takeover of Haven, the Wrinkled Woman's face is mutilated by the Norn warriors, giving her the "wrinkle scars" that she would carry until her death.

### 'Worship'

In a flashback, Seth and Lupa are born in the Dark Place and their mother is smothered to death. After Lupa is badly injured by a young Kyther, the Wrinkled Woman rescues her and Seth, escaping the manor alongside the children's uncle. That same night, the global zombie outbreak begins. In the present, Edwards joins a Heathen troop to the Dark Place to find the weakness of the Pale Men, the Norn's best warriors. What remains of the troop - Edwards, Lupa, Seth, Jules, Kail and Benjin - reach the Dark Place and discover it was once a hospital for mentally ill children and also home to a cult within the Catholic church that experimented on the children. They discover the true names of several Norn members - including Interith and even Kyther - before they discover a massive construct made out of the reanimated bodies of the nuns and priests of the Pale Order who were sewn together by the Norn. The troop is ambushed by Kyther and her people, and Edwards tries to reach to her using her real name. Although she appears remorseful, she nonetheless orders her people to attack. Seth sets fire to the walker construct and the troop flee through the halls of the manor, discovering that the Pale Men are repelled and vulnerable to fire. While running, Seth is shot in the leg with an arrow and sacrifices himself by staying behind and distracting the Norn, and he is stabbed to death. Edwards, Lupa, Jules and Kail run up the mountain as the Norn escape the burning manor. Kyther looks up at the manor and begins howling with laughter.

### 'Sins'

Edwards, Lupa, Jules and Kail sprint up the steep mountain away from the Dark Place and the Norn that are giving chase. They finally take shelter in a small clearing in a dense forest, where they catch their breath. As Jules and Kail start to panic, Edwards comes up with a plan to defeat the Pale Men, noting that they appeared to be incredibly sensitive to the fire that Seth lit in his final moments. He devises a plan to lure the Pale Men to the site of Jules' plane crash, where the wreckage remains, spilling unspent fuel; he also discusses luring away the Shark-Toothed Man to an overlook on the mountain, where he can finally be dealt with. He charges Kail with running back to the Heathens to gather reinforcements, while Lupa and Jules return to the crash site and lure the Pale Men there with a flare. Edwards says he will face the Shark-Toothed Man alone, and Lupa and Jules say their tearful goodbyes. The three of them head into the wilderness and rest until evening. Lupa and Jules find the crash site and lure the remaining Pale Men there with a flare. Once the creatures arrive, Lupa uses her lighter to set the fuel alight, burning them all alive. Meanwhile, Edwards uses a flare to lure the Shark-Toothed Man to the overlook, where their battle begins. The Shark-Toothed Man proves much stronger but is brought down when Edwards uses his sole remaining flare to burn the Shark-Toothed Man's skull. As the hulking man begins to cry in pain, Edwards uses his axe to cleave the Shark-Toothed Man's head in two.

### 'Wolves'

After defeating the Shark-Toothed Man, Edwards, Jules and Lupa begin the long journey up the mountain to the visitor's centre; halfway up, Edwards has a change of heart and demands that Jules and Lupa head back down to safety while he ambushes Kyther. While Jules and Lupa battle Interith and the priests, Edwards and Kyther battle at the visitor's centre. Edwards ultimately prevails over Kyther, but stops short of killing her upon realizing she is pregnant. He screams at her to leave and never show her face in the Wilds again, and she hesitantly vanishes. Mortally injured, Edwards stumbles down the mountain, a herd of walkers behind him. Hallucinating his own death, he somehow manages to stagger forwards until he is rescued by the Heathens. Edwards spends a week recuperating, says farewell to Jules, and finally leaves the Wilds, gifting Lupa his jacket as a momento. He walks back to the Cobra bunker and kills their leaders before taking an identical jacket from one of their hunters, before returning to the overgrown garage. Decades later, an elderly Edwards finishes penning his story, still wondering what became of Kyther and her child.

#### Alternate Ending

Instead of turning his back on Lupa and the Heathens, and unable to return to his family after everything he had suffered at the hands of the Wilds, Edwards returns to Haven with them. Over the years he learns the Heathen's creole language, and learns to survive in the Wild. His true name is forgotten, and he is referred to only as the Elder. Years later, while hunting with Lupa and her children, the Elder stumbles across a bright light in a cave; venturing in, he is suddenly dragged into the light and vanishes.

## Conception and Development

### Conception

Ideas for a solo Edwards adventure had been around since at least the tenth season of the original series. While Edwards has had episodes largely focussed on him, the writing team always wanted him to have a solo venture away from the main series. *The Fatal Frontier* is described as "the most violent, most graphic, most disturbing and most visceral instalment" in the series universe, and concludes Edwards' story that began in the first-ever episode of *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*.

### Development

The series was confirmed by EDStudios to be in writing in late May 2020. It is split into two parts; Part I and Part II will both be released throughout the end of 2020. The first episode, "*Wildfire*", was released July 9th 2020; the second, "*Bloodshot*", was released on August 2nd 2020; the third, "*Sacrifice*", was released on August 22nd 2020; and the fourth, "*Monster*", on September 10th. The first episode of the second half, "*Feral*", was released on September 28th; "*Lies*" and "*Worship*" will be released in October; and "*Sins*" and "*Wolves*" in November. The final episode "*Wolves*" will also mark the release of the final instalment of the original franchise.

### Alternate Ending

A second ending is in the process of being written to link *The Fatal Frontier* to the upcoming *Cosmic Calamity*, which will feature an alternate version of Edwards who diverges from his mainline counterpart during the events of *The Fatal Frontier*.

## Trivia

* A "swansong", the series' working title, is "the final performance or activity of a person's career", a reference to this being the final instalment in the Original Series and the final appearance of Edwards.
* This will be EDStudios' first one-season limited series; all others have had at least two seasons or a cancelled second season.
* EDStudios confirmed that *The Fatal Frontier* will be the last original instalment in the original franchise, but at the same time that it is "not the end" of the shared universe.
* This series takes place during the roughly 7-month time-skip between *Season 15* and *Season 16*, during the prelude to the NGA-Frontiersmen War.
* Edwards is the only character from the original series that appears physically, with other such characters - namely Holly, Charlotte, Bart Rhodes and Grenowich - appearing as hallucinations or dreams.
* This will be Edwards' first living appearance since '*We Find Ourselves*' and his first appearance overall since '*The Better World*'.

* Universe
* Episodes

 **Part II** | "Feral" • "Lies" • "Worship" • "Sins" • "Wolves"