I can see them starting the next season with a return to the stairwell and the stand off of the police and Rick and Beth etc. This time Beth thinks about stabbing Dawn in her mind and sees the outcome we all saw and then rethinks her decision and says something really profound and smart ass to Dawn and the outcome changes and Beth lives and someone else dies. Mostly likely the black guy that Dawn wanted to keep to do laundry . Easy to change the whole thing and Beth lives on. Or the black guy from season 1 that has been stalking them suddenly shows up and tips the balance of power in the situation and changes the outcome. Either way they could easily rewrite the whole thing to keep Beth alive since the fans want her to live. On talking Dead she really made a case with tears ,even the producer /director said : Ok we will bring you back and you're not dead.