Via Daryl Dixon, an incredibly dark – but plausible – scenario finally happened in the Walking Dead franchise, answering a 13-year-old question.

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 2

The darkest hypothetical scenario for a Walking Dead episode just happened in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 2. As a franchise set in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead has never shied away from especially bleak storylines in its shows. As proven by Daryl Dixon’s second episode, Daryl’s Walking Dead spinoff won’t hesitate to dive into dark territory either.

Shows set in The Walking Dead universe have a reputation for embracing the opportunities provided by its setting. Over the years, the franchise has expressed a willingness to take risks with its material, showcasing zombie children, gruesome deaths, and more. Over the years, it’s answered numerous questions about potential situations involving walkers. An episode of The Walking Dead season 11, for instance, confirmed the unsettling theory that unborn babies can turn into zombies if they die in the womb. Apparently, the franchise is prepared to carry on this trend through its spinoffs.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 – Renewal, Cast & Everything We Know

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has started strong, and with season 2 on the way it’s clear AMC has big plans for the Norman Reedus TWD spinoff.

Laurent’s The Walking Dead Birth Backstory Is Ridiculously Dark

Laurent Was Born From A Zombie

The Walking Dead’s propensity for doom and gloom continued in Daryl Dixon episode 2, which explored Isabelle’s past, and in turn, Laurent’s origin story. After hiding the two characters’ connection in the series premiere, the show revealed that Laurent is Isabelle’s nephew. In the flashbacks, it was explained that Isabelle’s sister was pregnant. Though she ultimately died in childbirth, her baby survived (much to the shock of the nuns in attendance). When she reanimated, the nuns strapped down the zombie and proceeded with the delivery. Since she was only a zombie and incapable of cooperating, the nuns had to forcibly remove the baby from the body by cutting him out.

The entire sequence was incredibly dark, even by Walking Dead standards. As if the death of the young woman wasn’t sad enough on its own, her child being trapped within a zombie only further added to the tragedy of the scene. The fact that the baby lived through the ordeal was the only bright moment in Isabelle’s entire flashback storyline.

Zombie Lily Answers A Question Walking Dead Has Always Avoided

Daryl Dixon Confirms That Zombies Can Give Birth To Human Children

While this was indeed a surprising direction for the episode, that’s not to say the story it told was completely unfathomable or unrealistic. In fact, it dealt with a predicament that actually feels quite relevant to life in the zombie apocalypse. A person getting bit and turning into a zombie while giving birth is something that has surely happened before, albeit off-screen. But in spite of all the years the franchise has been around, The Walking Dead has managed to avoid answering the question.

Lily is hardly the first woman to go into labor in the franchise, as The Walking Dead has also shown characters like Lori, Maggie, Rachel (Mo’s mother in Fear the Walking Dead) experiencing childbirth as well. But while multiple babies have been born in the Walking Dead shows, the franchise has never put the characters in a situation where they had to deliver a baby from a bitten mother. Of course, none of the aforementioned characters had to endure the dark circumstances explored in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 2. For that reason, what would happen in that scenario has been open to speculation for over a decade.

Walking Dead’s Laurent Flashback Has Major Ramifications For The Franchise

Laurent’s Birth May Explain His Possible Powers – But Is Likely More Symbolic

In addition to providing the spinoff with a horrifying backstory for one of its principal characters, Isabelle’s flashbacks hold important implications not just for Daryl’s Walking Dead spinoff, but also for the franchise as a whole. Early episodes of season one of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon strongly suggested that the boy is unique in some way. According to the nuns, Laurent drew a prophetic picture that predicted Daryl’s arrival. He’s also being treated by the nuns as the future Messiah who will save humanity. By revealing that his mother turned into a zombie while he was being born, Daryl Dixon is sending the message that this is why he’s special.

However, by the end of season one, it seems that Laurent does not have any actual supernatural powers as a result of his birth. The picture that he supposedly drew was actually drawn after Daryl arrived, as part of Isabelle’s plan to gain Daryl’s help. Since then, no other ‘powers’ have manifested – however, this doesn’t mean that his birth is meaningless. Instead, the show seems to be taking more of a symbolic/religious approach, showing how people in this world could view him as a ‘Messiah’ because his birth was life coming through death. Laurent (or others around him) could use this to set him up as a leader – a role that he seems well suited for. Religion has already been a major part of the first season, so there is little reason to think that this wouldn’t continue in season two.

Whether Laurent turns out to have actual powers, or becomes a prominent figure as a Messiah, such a development could have a wide-reaching impact on the future. After all, it’s important to note that while Laurent’s situation is new for the franchise itself, infected mothers going into labor is likely something that happens frequently. If Laurent was changed by what happened, there could be an untold number of people just like him hidden all over The Walking Dead’s world.