Spoilers below for those who haven't yet watched The Walking Dead episode "Something They Need."
In the penultimate episode of The Walking Dead's world-building seventh season, the final track pieces were laid down to take viewers into the All Out War between Rick and Negan. At this point in the comics, Rick had already staged an attack at The Sanctuary, drawing Negan's explosive rebuttal, but the AMC drama introduced an interesting wrinkle when the deadly tyrant revealed someone explicitly went all stool pigeon -- because it was a "little birdie," after all -- by telling him that Rick was planning something.
So if Negan will be the one drawing weapons first here -- and I use "first" liberally, considering all the mayhem Team Family rained down on the Saviors in the past -- that makes the identity of the offending culprit that much more important. And so here, we've rounded up the most likely suspects who could have potentially signed everyone in Alexandria's death certificates, not to mention the other communities. Don't forget to let us know at the end who you think is responsible.
Eugene
At any point earlier in the season, I would have assumed it impossible for Eugene to be capable of stabbing all of his fellow (relatively) kind-hearted survivors in the back with a metaphorical knife presented to him by Negan. But now that he's shown his true colors -- which are just various shades of yellow -- it's almost hard to believe that he'll do something to help the protagonists later on. And who has better opportunity and motivation than Eugene at this point? He knows everything Rick has going, and he called himself Negan almost immediately after entering The Sanctuary. All the proper Negan would have to do is threaten to pinch him with tweezers, and Eugene would squeal his darkest secrets.
Gregory
Speaking of bottom-feeding slimeballs...Well, no one was actually doing that, but that's all that can be thought of when Gregory's name comes up. In fact, the Hilltop Colony leader is probably the first name that people thought of whenever Negan brought up someone 'fessing up about Rick's plans, since he so clearly only does things for his own advantage. But as it was shown in "Something They Need," Gregory is now heading out to The Sanctuary, presumably to talk to Negan and/or Simon about handling any kind of Maggie-sponsored uprising. So while it's definitely possible he mentioned to Simon that Rick had plans to attack, that wouldn't directly benefit him, so he might be innocent here. Just here. And only might be.
Jadis
The junkyard-dwelling Scavenger group that was introduced earlier this season is basically still one heavily-populated mystery to viewers and comic book fans, since they're an original conceit for live-action. It's not like she seemed irrepressibly connected to Rick and his plight, and so far, she's only been seen to be as self-persevering as Gregory, just on a group level. Sure, she might be on the level in telling Rick that they'll help once he brings them more guns, but Jadis might also be setting Team Family up for a brutal massacre. All she'd have to do is let Negan know that the dropoff is happening, and then when Rick's crew arrives with the Oceanside-collected guns: all the murders.
Dwight
If there's one thing we know about Dwight, beyond the fact that he's got a mental boner for Daryl, it's that the dude can be trusted about as far as one can fit Lucille into one's nostrils. The first time viewers met him, he and Sherry were fleeing Negan, only to get caught and punished direly for it. And then Sherry turned traitor and let Daryl escape, later absconding herself. Dwight has decisions thrust onto him; he doesn't usually make them. So I'm kind of wary that his recent appeal to Rosita and Rick is the genuine shift his comic counterpart went through, since Negan could easily be using him as a mole pawn to get intel on the Alexandrians.
Natania
Yeah, it would be pretty fucked up and monstrous for Oceanside leader Natania to have some kind of side conduit of information flowing to and from The Sanctuary, considering Negan and his goons wiped out the entire male population of her former community. But as we've seen with Eugene, fear and tragedy can easily change a person's behavioral patterns, and perhaps Natania has actually secured Oceanside's safety and growth by keeping tabs with Gavin or one of the other slightly less sadistic Saviors. (Since it's possible at least one of the Saviors used to be a part of this community.) After Tara showed up and then screwed them, Natania would have had easy motivation to rat them all out.
Dr. Harlan Carson
The Hilltop's version of Dr. Carson, first name Harlan, has been a decent chap, if a slightly creepy one. But once Dwight doomed The Sactuary's Dr. Carson, first name Emmett, the Saviors came calling and took the non-crispy physician back to Negan's home base. Without knowing what his history is, either with his brother or with the outside world at large, it's hard to tell where Carson's loyalties lie, and though a doctor is priceless in this universe, Negan would have no problem with threatening the guy within an inch of his important life in order to find out secrets floating around the Hilltop. Particularly the ones that no one would be telling Gregory.
Nobody Did
When playing detective, it's easy to lose focus of the bigger picture, which is a portrait of Negan smugly looking down at everyone. The villain might like to play charming, but he didn't become who he is by following all the rules. So it's entirely possible that he was merely bullshitting Sasha about his little birdie's news, just to get a rise out of her. He could have easily tried the same tactic with Daryl and Eugene before her, only they could have denied it, which wouldn't have been worth watching on the show. Sasha, meanwhile, didn't make any effort to deny Rick's intentions, which could have tipped him off. Plus, he was extremely vague when wording that, meaning he might not know squat.
The Walking Dead will hit AMC with its extended tiger-licious Season 7 finale on Sunday, April 2, at 9:00 p.m. ET. While waiting to get some kind of confirmation on what wily bastard took Rick for a fool, head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see what's hitting the small screen in the near future.
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