Through nine seasons of The Walking Dead, there have been a number of pregnant characters on the series, and while the products of those pregnancies have all survived, the track record for the actresses playing the pregnant characters has not been stellar.
Lori Grimes was the first pregnant character on the series, giving birth to Judith Grimes in the third season. Judith is now nine years old, but Lori died while giving birth to her. Maggie Rhee was also pregnant for many, many, many seasons on The Walking Dead before finally giving birth during the first time jump in the ninth season. Now the actress who plays her, Lauren Cohan, has left the show (and may not return), and Maggie took baby Hershel with her when she joined up with Georgie. We spent very little time with Michonne while she was pregnant with Rick’s baby, but after a time jump, R.J. is now a part of The Walking Dead family. However, Michonne is not expected to be for that much longer, as she’s set to exit the show next season. She’ll join Rick Grimes in the movies and will undoubtedly bring R.J. along with her.
Are the writers are trying to say something about Christian Serratos’ future on the show this week by writing in another pregnancy storyline on the series? This time it’s Serratos’ Rosita, and the identity of the father is likely to create some soap-opera drama on the series. Rosita is currently dating Gabriel on the show, although Eugene is madly in love with her and determined (perhaps too determined) to win her affections. However, neither Eugene nor Gabriel is the father of her baby. That title belongs to Siddiq, who we learn this week “had some fun” with Rosita before she began dating Gabriel, resulting in Rosita’s pregnancy and a bout of morning sickness at an inopportune time (namely, as Eugene is professing his undying love for her).
Of course, none of the fathers of the children born during The Walking Dead are around, either (Rick was responsible for Judith and RJ, while Glenn was Hershel’s father), so the writers may also be cluing us in on the future of Siddiq.
The interesting irony here is that Christian Serratos was actually pregnant in real life during the seventh season of the series, which meant Rosita ended up wearing a lot of baggy t-shirts and sitting in the crouched position to hide that pregnancy. Given how time works on the show, however, it’s difficult to write real-life pregnancies into the series, because an actress could have a five year old child by the time the series covers nine months. This particular pregnancy, however, may have very meaningful implications.
Comic Spoilers
This storyline with Rosita is straight out of the comics, and that is not good news for Rosita. In the comics, Rosita has feelings for Eugene, but also has a meaningless fling with Siddiq, which results in her pregnancy. Eugene finds out that he’s not the father of the baby, but he tells Rosita that he’ll raise the baby as his own and never tell Siddiq that he’s the biological Dad. Eugene never gets that chance, however, because Rosita is decapitated by Alpha.
There is a slight twist in the TV storyline, however, in that Eugene and Rosita have never been an item, and while it is implied that her affair with Siddiq was meaningless, she has already told Siddiq about the pregnancy. Gabriel is another complicating factor. Does this mean that Rosita will be killed off the series by Alpha? Or is Angela Kang teasing us by luring us into a comics storyline only for Alpha to decapitate someone else? With Rick and Maggie gone, Jesus dead, and Michonne leaving, is The Walking Dead prepared to kill off another long-running character?
If I had to guess, it’ll be a major-minor character instead, like Enid, who ends up losing her head before the season is out, because that would be easier for viewers to take.
We should find out for sure in the coming weeks.
