An ending that could be mind-blowing...

Ok, just hear me out.
I know it's cliche at this point--been done before....sometimes very well executed (The Newhart Show)....and sometimes kind of a cop-out (Dallas). Besides, plenty have already said they'd be disappointed if the whole ZA was all just Rick's fever dream, with him waking up in that hospital bed. However....the way this COULD work and be pretty wild would be.......what if the show's producers had planned UPFRONT, during season 1....that they'd take this approach? That way, they could have filmed the Rick waking-up scene with an un-aged Lori....and a little kid Carl! Along with Shane, etc. I think THAT could actually work...because it would be wild to see Lori again, not only alive, but at the age of season 1. And even more crazy: We've seen Carl grow up quite a bit over 8 years. To see him reverted back to the little kid version, in the final scene...would be time-travel cool! And, we'd see clean-cut, young Rick returned.

Sure, the producers didn't do this, or even think to do it. But wouldn't it (MAYBE) be cool if the creative team behind a show that ends up with a long lifespan, had the forethought to film a time-shifting END scene up FRONT, so as to retain the actors' ages at the onset of the show? Just a thought.

Any other thoughts on a cool way to end it? For some reason, I think Judith (and Siddiq) will play huge roles in the ending. Judith may very well carry the antibodies for the virus within her. And, there's a reason Siddiq was saved.