The Walking Dead is a far cry from where it started in 2010. Its humble comic book origins have expanded into a bona fide franchise, and with it comes a boatload of lore. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) return brings a lot of excitement, yet there have been eleven seasons, six spinoffs, and a web series leading up to it. Before you start frantically scouring the Internet or settling in for the binge-watch of the century, let’s break it down. Here’s what to know before The Ones Who Live‘s premiere.
Where Rick and Michonne’s Stories Left Off
Michonne and Rick first met in Season 3 of The Walking Dead, but “Richonne” does not earn its canonical wings until Season 6. The romance, of course, was put on hold with Andrew Lincoln’s Season 9 departure. Just one season later, Danai Gurira followed suit to the devastation of many. Still, a lot happened right before their exits to set the stage for The Ones Who Live.
- Carl (Chandler Riggs) dies. If you kept watching after Glenn’s death, you already know this, but it’s worth the reminder since it greatly impacts both characters and Rick’s decision to let Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) live.
- In Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After,” Rick seemingly sacrifices himself to save his friends and the communities from a walker horde.
- Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) summons a CRM (Civic Military Republic) helicopter to save a badly injured Rick. His friends think he’s dead. The audience knows he’s alive. Regardless, Rick doesn’t appear in the flagship series again aside from a small cameo (more on that later).
- There is a six-year time jump after Rick’s disappearance, which reveals that Michonne gave birth to RJ (Antony Azor). Rick never knew about their son.
- Michonne doesn’t give up her search for Rick, eventually discovering his gun, cowboy boots, and a cell phone with an image of her and Judith (Cailey Fleming) carved into the screen.
- The evidence and encouragement from Judith spur Michonne to set out on a mission to find Rick in Season 10, Episode 13, “What We Became.” Danai Gurira departs the series.
- The Walking Dead finale, Season 11, Episode 24, “Rest in Peace,” concludes with cameos from Rick and Michonne. The alternating scenes show Rick on a beach wearing a CRM jacket, tossing his backpack onto a boat as someone on a CRM helicopter encourages him to surrender. Michonne is last seen clad in armor, riding on horseback toward a massive zombie horde.
The CRM Will Play a Role in The Ones Who Live
The Ones Who Live‘s trailer already revealed how important the CRM will be in the spinoff. It makes sense. The last time audiences saw Rick, a CRM helicopter whisked him away as Jadis frantically yelled, “He’s a B!” But just who is the CRM? While the flagship series first introduced the military organization in Season 8, Fear the Walking Dead and World Beyond fleshed it out even more.
In short, the CRM is bad. Although its goal is to slow and stop the zombie virus, that mission twisted into something vile. Experimenting on humans and bombing entire cities are just a couple of its worst sins. As World Beyond shows, the CRM is massive, largely thanks to its alliance with Portland, Omaha, and the Campus Colony in Lincoln. However, this “Alliance of Three” comes to an explosive end when the CRM destroys Omaha and the Campus Colony in a mass genocide.
With all this evildoing, it’s not surprising the CRM values secrecy above all else. Not wanting other communities to know about its resources and weapons means limiting who enters and who leaves. Audiences get a taste of that authoritarian control in Fear the Walking Dead when Althea (Maggie Grace) enters a romance with Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon), a CRM helicopter pilot. Isabelle confirms she is essentially a prisoner. The CRM would rather track her down and kill her than let her live free. This is likely what happened to Rick. Now that he’s with the CRM, getting out will be no easy feat.
Jadis Got a Major Promotion
Jadis is set to return in The Ones Who Live, and if you haven’t watched World Beyond, then you probably still think of her as the strange-talking leader of the Scavengers with a bad haircut. While the bad haircut is still intact, she has significantly moved up the corporate ladder, so to speak, since her time on the flagship series. She is a full-blown villain now, disturbingly deeming genocide necessary. However, her ties to the CRM are nothing new.
Jadis’ connection to the CRM stretches back to The Walking Dead, where she supplied the military with bodies to experiment on. However, World Beyond confirms she wasn’t an official member of the organization until after her helicopter ride with Rick. In a way, giving Rick over the CRM served two purposes. For starters, there is a part of Jadis that genuinely seems to care about him. As she confesses to Huck in World Beyond, “I had someone special. I had an “A,” but I said he was a “B,” so he wouldn’t end up in your mother’s lab. I owed him that much.” Still, Rick was also a bargaining chip. Using him to win favor with the CRM, Jadis went from a nobody to a high-ranking official.
Recommended Watching Before The Ones Who Live
If you want to get the most out of The Ones Who Live, the best advice is to watch the flagship series in its entirety. By making the CRM the main antagonist of World Beyond, you might also want to add that to the watch list. However, Fear the Walking Dead can be skipped since there is limited mention of the CRM outside of Season 5. If that sounds overwhelming, below is a (somewhat) condensed list for getting caught up with Michonne, Rick, Jadis, and the CRM.
- The Walking Dead (Seasons 3 to 10) – this covers Michonne’s introduction to her departure.
- If you want to watch just Rick’s big sacrifice and last episode, check out Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After.”
- If you want to see Michonne set off on her mission to find Rick, don’t miss Season 10, Episode 13, “What We Became.”
- The Walking Dead (Season 11, Episode 24, “Rest in Peace”) – skip to the episode’s end to see Rick and Michonne’s cameos and teaser for The Ones Who Live.
- World Beyond (Season 2) – while you can probably skip Season 1 entirely, Season 2 is important to understanding the CRM and Jadis’ rise to power.
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The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live releases February 25, 2024 on AMC.
