The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Old Acquaintances - full transcript

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Another round?

I really shouldn't.

I'm not in the best headspace.

What's wrong?

I got a cabin about
an hour from here.

I went out scavenging. Came home
to find it overrun by groaners.

Came to the right place.

We uh, got a guy here,
he does groaner work.

Could maybe loan him out.

Really? Is he any good?

He's the best I ever saw.



So he's, like, based out of
here, lives at the motel?

Generator needs a refill by now.

Wh... where's the
little girl's room?

Down the hall.
First on the left.

You know, I had a hunch
you were up to something.

Let me guess, Vasquez from down
the road sent you here to snoop?

Mm-mm-mm.

Well...

I've got a little
message for Vasquez.

Hold her still.

I reckon you're
gonna have trouble

sniffing around after this.

Ah!

Ah! Ugh...



Hey! Where you going?

Come here, baby.

Sorry, thought you were
better on your feet.

Good to see you, too.

Wanted by the
New Babylon Marshals.

Well, goddamn.

For a wanted man, I look good.

Can I keep this?

I'm keeping this.

Ginny. Hey, come here.

You remember what I taught you?

Where's Annie and your kid?

Ginny, this here is Maggie.

See, Maggie and I are...

old acquaintances.

So, you are either
here not to kill me,

or you have gotten
seriously rusty.

A few weeks back, I got raided.

Outnumbered, overpowered,
stole all our grain.

Said they'd be back
in a month for more.

Then a month after that...

took a hostage as collateral.

They took your kid.

I tracked them all
the way up the Hudson,

by then they'd already
made it across.

Across to what?

Manhattan.

Hey...

That is a really nice job.

Will you do me a favor and go
finish checking on our shit?

Thank you.

I hate to even ask, but

how do I figure
into this, Maggie?

The man who's got Hershel,

they call him the Croat.

Bullshit. You know him.

When he scaled our walls,

had us surrounded in the dark,

right before he took my son.

Do you know what he did?

That rings a bell,
doesn't it? It did for me.

That's the last thing I
heard before I met you.

Oh, that Croat.

All right, so what
you're thinking is,

since I knew this
guy back in the day

when I was running the show,

that maybe I had some special
insight into his modus operandi.

Or, hell, maybe I could
just sweet-talk him

into giving you your boy back.

We're talking about
the same Croat?

Let's just say there were a lot
of psychos in my crew back then.

But he always stood out as being

an exceptionally
insane son of a bitch.

So the odds are

if it's the Croat
that's got him...

No.

All right, tell me this.

Why would I help you?

- Because you owe me...
- Because I owe you, right.

You're the last person that
I wanted to ask for help.

It doesn't look like you got
too many options yourself.

Because if I found you
here, the marshals will too.

Far as I can tell, you have
exhausted every shithole.

Still got a decent
setup at Hilltop?

Kids? School?

I'll put up that girl.

You, we see how things play out.

Fair enough.

Here, take
this. There you go.

Hey. I don't recall this
being the way to Hilltop.

It's because it isn't.

That's not what we
talked about, Maggie.

It's the same
people, same setup.

Just had to relocate after
you help burn it down.

If you recall that.

Here you go, kid.

I was on the run, doing a stint
on a farm about a year ago.

The marshals came poking
around. She asked to go with me.

Why doesn't she talk?

The tale the people
on the farm told,

she was living with her dad.

He took off one night,
didn't come back.

She went looking for him.

She found him.

He, uh, he'd turned.

It was bad.

She could tell by looking at
him that it wasn't the dead.

It wasn't an animal.

It was a person or people.

She just hasn't spoken since.

It's me.

Marshals!

What? Shit, put that
away! Put that away!

- Check the rooms.
- Sorry. For sure.

Have you seen this man?

Goes by the name of Negan.

The reason it's crucial
we find this man

is because he's murdered a
magistrate in cold blood,

along with four others.

Which means under Code 14,
Section 2 of New Babylon law,

he'll be executed.

But not just executed.

Nothing so magnanimous as
a hanging or beheading, no.

For what this man has done,

he'll be dangled upside down

and sawed in half lengthwise

from the groin to the head

very, very slowly.

This is a man who's
built up an empire

like a greedy king.

Story goes, he once lined
up a group of unarmed folks

and he bashed in a man's
head with a baseball bat

in front of the
man's pregnant wife.

Tranquillitas ordinis.

Tranquility, order,
justice, the law.

That's what keeps our
Federation of States at peace.

Safe, stable.

I'm going to ask
you one last time,

have you seen this man?

Alright, then.

Liquor, drugs,
gambling, whoredom,

all prohibited under Code 19,

together amounting to
a public execution.

Damnit, you're breaking my arm!

I am. You're very perceptive.

Okay. Yes. Yeah, Yeah.

Yeah, no, I did see
him. I did see him.

He... he's... he worked
here. He killed the walkers.

- Someone took him. A woman.
- A woman?

Yeah. I... I'd never
seen her before today.

- Where'd she take him?
- I don't know.

- She drove off in a car!
- Describe the car.

I don't know!

It was a blue
truck parked out front.

That's it! That's
it! I swear! I swear!

That's it, I swear!

See. That's all
you needed to say.

The truth.

- And yet, Code 14, Section 8.
- What?

Aiding and abetting.

Ah! No!

I promise you something.

Alright? I will come
back for you soon.

'Kay?

It's getting late.

You be good.

They're going to take
care of her, right?

They're gonna... Good people?

That's how it's going to be?

Unless you want the law
catching up with you.

So it's her, huh?

Same woman's been
looking for him

and leaving all those
broken bones behind.

Hey.

What I did back there
wasn't 'cause I wanted to.

It had to be done.

What is it?

Mom!

Hershel!

Hell, when I was a kid, my
pop, he went on a business trip

or some shit to New York City,
and he brought me back this

little souvenir of
the Statue of Liberty.

I remember, I just couldn't
imagine how something so small

could also be so
giant. You know?

So, anyway, Pop, he, uh...

He promises he's going to take
me in to see the real thing and

makes a whole plan, you
know, picked a weekend and

train tickets, the whole nine.

And as generally was
the case with my dad...

something came up, I guess.

Anyway, I still haven't seen
Lady Liberty in the flesh.

All right, so how's this whole
operation supposed to lay out?

I mean, besides the part
where I charm my old pal

into giving you your kid back?

I got a plan.

Ah, top secret, huh?

I am on a need-to-know
basis, I guess.

That's cool, you don't trust me.

Hell, I wouldn't
trust me either.

You see, I got what I
wanted. Ginny is safe.

She is comfortable. I
could kill you right now.

You could try.

But then I'd have
to kill you first.

Well, there's
a big difference.

You see, if I'm dead, you
don't get your son back.

You need me.

I got a feeling
it cuts both ways.

And I'm sure the marshals

would have something
to say about that.

What I did...

It's not like the marshals say.

Besides,

I do believe I've paid
for what I've done.

So? Building's on fire in
a city that's gone to shit.

Camped out three days
watching the city.

Smoke shows up like that every
morning at the same time,

and then again at
night. Just like that.

You're thinkin'
breakfast and dinner?

Then again, Maggie,

sometimes a building on fire
is just a building on fire.

One more after this.

So what's the
deal with Manhattan?

What's so special about it?

Manhattan was one
of the epicenters.

Military destroyed all
the bridges and tunnels,

hoping to contain it,
hoping to contain them.

Once home to a million
and a half people.

Now...

Let's do a sweep.

Don't.

Shit! Gritz!

Empty your pockets.

And your gun.

They don't give you one until
you've been in the service

for three months.

Well, you got something
in your pocket.

They're for my
grandma. She's sick.

She's not my blood grandma,

but she looked after
me when I was little.

I'm all she has left.

Good try, kid, pullin'
on our heartstrings.

What are you doing?

Tossing him overboard. It's not
like he's coming to the party.

Hey, relax. It's a short swim.

You can doggy paddle.
You'll be fine.

No!

He is a marshal,
Maggie... Junior Marshal.

Whatever the hell he is.
Every second he stays,

he's a threat, a liability.

Yeah, or insurance.

Either way, it doesn't
matter what you think.

You know, you have been sticking
it to me in infinite little ways

since the second we hooked up.

Don't think I haven't noticed.

And I get how having Hershel
taken has you spinning out,

stirring up emotions,
memories, all sorts of shit,

but vengeful thoughts that I
thought you had put to bed,

clearly you have
woken the hell up.

But what I don't get is
after all these years,

you still think I'm the bad guy?

I'm not. No one is.

Or you know what, Maggie?
Maybe everyone is.

Ask yourself one question.

How many husbands and
fathers have you killed?

What you did,

you don't ever put
something like that to bed.

Fuck me.

Where are all the chompers?

In case we get separated.

Hey, when this is over, will
you look after Ginny for me?

- We don't have time for this.
- Hey, wait, wait, wait. Just...

please,

look after her for me.

'Cause you're not
going back to her.

Let's go!

Ugh!

If you try that again,

you are going to wish he
threw you off that boat.

This way!

Seriously, walkers are
falling from the sky now?

They must have heard
us. We have to...

The scaffolding.

Get your shit
together, dickhead.

Maggie, stop.

It's a trap.

What the hell is that?

Nope!

Pearlie! Gritz!
It's me, it's Jano!

Over here.

We got to find a
way out of here.

You're with me, kid.

Nobody gets out.

Miss? I'm guessing
you know this by now,

but I'm a New Babylon marshal.

Get down, don't do that again.

My name is Pearlie Armstrong.

I don't drink. I don't smoke.

I like a good hog stew.

Just want to give you a sense
of what kind of people I am.

I'm not your enemy.

I come from New
Babylon. Capital city.

It's more of a small
town, tree-lined streets,

families looking
out for each other.

I got a wife and
three daughters.

They're my everything.

Now,

I don't know why you with
that man I'm looking for.

Or why you've taken one
of our marshals hostage.

But I'm guessing you
got your reasons.

Heck, might even be a good one.

I'm open to hearing it.

And I mean that sincerely.

But if I get to you first,

I'm going to be a
little less open,

and I will get to you.

Follow me.

Next time I tell you
to move, you move.

My son.

I need him to save my son.

Look at you,

acting so tough.

Just like your mother.

Maybe your father.

Tell me,

did you ever meet the man

who killed your father?

He lived among your
mother's people for years.

Negan.

What do you know about him?

You can keep sitting there in
the dark trying to freak me out,

but I'm not saying shit.

Ha.

You know, when I was a boy,

I was fascinated by Manhattan.

All those people

on such a tiny island

pushing, shoving.

The irony is that in death,

the city is so much more
alive than it ever was.

Because the struggle,
it galvanizes you.

Shows you the strength
you had inside all along.

You know, I think you're
going to like it here.

- What?
- He got away.

Okay, enough!

You've nowhere to go.

Just tell me what I need
to know about your people.

You can dispense
with all this...

hysteria.

They'll be fine.

Twenty stories!

New record, no?

And yet...

Heh.

-Negan is here.

Find him.

-He has my son.

We get inside the
arena and we kill him.

-We make one badass team.

-It takes a monster to make one.

-There is no way they're
getting off this island.

Jorné: I'm Eli Jorné, E.P.
and showrunner of "Dead City,"

and this is your "Episode
Insider: Old Acquaintances."

When we first see Maggie at
the beginning of the episode,

I would say she's
pretty messed up.

We learn shortly thereafter

that, uh, that her
son has been taken,

so she's not in the
best head space.

You know, we see her just
destroying this walker.

We all know it's not
exactly about the walker.

So she's in a rough spot,
but she reels it in.

She holds it together
and getting on her way.

You know, I had a hunch
you were up to something.

And the one person out there
she feels who can help her

is the last person on earth
she wants to see again.

Negan is a wanted
man. He's on the run.

He's hiding out, taking care
of this young girl Ginny.

Ginny, this here is Maggie.

See, Maggie and I are...

old acquaintances.

As Negan explains, her
father went out one night,

and when she found
him, he was a walker.

And it was so disturbing

that she never uttered
another word after that.

Her... Her inability to speak,

I think, kind of pulls
on his heart strings,

and it makes him want to
help her that much more.

Few weeks back, I got raided.

Right before he took my son,
do you know what he did?

That rings a bell, doesn't it?

It did for me.

It's the last thing I
heard before I met you.

Still got a decent
setup at Hilltop.

Kids, school.

He'll put up that girl.

Maggie needs something.
He needs something.

And these are two people

basically entering a
business partnership.

But of course, they have no
idea what they're getting into.

When Maggie and Negan
are on the boat,

and they're
approaching Manhattan,

for so long, maybe
since the beginning,

I always imagined that
it was going to be

that the fog parts
to reveal the city.

We... We needed to
hide that reveal

'cause it was just so important.

We'd been teasing
the city for so long,

and to me, what's
special about that moment

is not just the city,

but the idea that
this is the moment

where Maggie and
Negan, you know,

there have been all these
things bubbling up throughout,

you know, all these little
passive aggressive jabs.

And... And finally,
it all comes out.

What I don't get is,
after all these years,

you still think I'm
the bad guy. I'm not.

Ask yourself one question.

How many husbands and
fathers have you killed?

What you did,

you don't ever put
something like that to bed.

But then the fog parts
and reveals the city,

and it kind of snaps
them out of it,

and it's like something so much
bigger is in front of them.

It's a really special moment.
This is not just New York City.

This is not just any
city in the world.

This is New York City,
the capital of the world,

with the lights out.

Who knows what's
happening there?

So, of course, we have to
talk about the cockroaches.

Every single person who read the
pilot script for the first time,

it was the first thing
they mentioned to me.

They said, "Oh, my
God, the cockroaches."

Lauren Cohan, I think the
first time she saw that,

literally, like, screamed.

Jeffrey insisted

on it being a live cockroach
going into his mouth.

Uh... No, I'm just
kidding.

There's actually a
scene that got cut,

you know, when Negan
and Ginny end up

in the back of Maggie's
truck, and Negan looks down

and sees a little
cockroach crawling around,

and we get the sense he's
not a fan of cockroaches.

Nope.

We actually had in that
scene a live cockroach,

and there was even
a cockroach handler.

But in the big scene in
New York, that is all VFX,

and I really was blown away
at how good of a job they did.

This episode is
really just kind of

like the "Heart of Darkness"
journey into the city.

They're about to go on
an incredible, crazy,

dark, interesting journey.

This way!