Whoever hasn’t seen “The Ones Who Live” must first know these 6 “The Walking Dead” facts
Darui Sven
February 29, 2024 11:59 am
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8 min read
To dive into the world of Rick and Michonne, you need some prior knowledge. Our “The Ones Who Live” guide revisits the most important moments.
It’s been over five years since Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln bid farewell to “The Walking Dead.” Now he’s making his big comeback in the spin-off “The Ones Who Live.” But a lot has happened in the zombie franchise in the meantime. We refresh your memory and explain in detail what you need to know to follow the story of Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira). Our video provides a first summary:
The main series “The Walking Dead” has provided us with new stories of Police Officer Rick Grimes and his allies for a total of twelve years. Not all fans have remained loyal to the series over this long period, but that does not diminish the interest in the new spin-off – quite the opposite. In fact, the departure of the former main character in Season 9 seems to have been a reason why large parts of the audience turned their backs on the zombie franchise.
However, “The Walking Dead” had already suffered significant losses after the glorious times of Season 6. So it should be even more exciting for you to find out what has happened in the meantime. If you had already turned away from the “The Walking Dead” universe (TWDU), or are completely new to it, you will find out everything you need to know to follow “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” – including how the Amazon spin-off “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” is involved.
Rick and Michonne: A “TWD” love story At the beginning of “The Walking Dead,” Police Officer Rick Grimes is severely injured on duty and falls into a coma. When he wakes up weeks later in the hospital, the world is no longer the same. Shocked, he not only discovers that the deceased are wandering around as undead creatures but also that his family has left the house. Rick embarks on a dangerous journey to find his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs) – successfully.
But the happiness is short-lived: Lori is pregnant and eventually dies during the birth of her daughter. This fate is hard for Rick to bear. As if the death of his wife weren’t enough, he doesn’t even know if he is the father or if the girl is the result of an affair between Lori and Rick’s former best friend Shane (Jon Bernthal). Nevertheless, over time, Rick forms a deep bond with the child, who, at Carl’s suggestion, is named Judith.
From then on, Rick has to see Carl and Judith (Chloe Garcia-Frizzi / Sophia Garcia-Frizzi) grow up without a mother. However, this doesn’t last long. With Michonne (Danai Gurira), Rick’s crew gains a new member. Although the survivors are initially skeptical of her, she quickly establishes a connection with Carl and is eventually allowed to stay as a permanent member of the community. After standing by Rick’s side as a helping hand for a long time and already having won Judith’s sympathies, Michonne finally captures Rick’s heart. Since Season 6 of “The Walking Dead,” they have been a couple.
“The Ones Who Live” Explained: What the title means In fan circles, Rick and Michonne are called “Richonne” because of their affection, based on boundless trust, understanding, and selfless sacrifice. “The Ones Who Live” will continue their love story. The series title is not chosen arbitrarily but has a deeper meaning. The phrase “We are the ones who live” first appeared in Season 5 of “The Walking Dead,” when Rick, holding a gun to the residents of Alexandria, explained that only he and his group knew how to survive the post-apocalypse. Since then, the words between Rick and Michonne have served as a kind of mantra to guide them through difficult situations. The phrase is still of great importance in the eleventh season of the main series. More on this below.
Abducted by CRM: How Rick was torn from his family’s life As the main character, Rick Grimes was indispensable from “The Walking Dead.” However, at the beginning of the ninth season, fans were faced with a fait accompli. In order to save his community from a horde of walkers, Rick blows up a bridge in the episode “What Comes After.” As a result, he disappears without a trace. While Daryl (Norman Reedus), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and others believe Rick died in the explosion, the audience knows better: Anne, also known as Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), the former leader of the Scavengers, found Rick severely injured near the bridge.
But instead of bringing him back to his group, she handed him over to the Civic Republic Military (CRM). While this saved Rick, it also condemned him to a life of seemingly eternal captivity in order for her to advance her own career within the Civic Republic Military.
Initial clues: Rick’s boots and a smartphone portrait Nine months after Rick’s disappearance, Michonne gives birth to RJ (Antony Azor), their son, of whom Rick knows nothing. Unlike her allies, Michonne still believes months later that Rick could be alive. After a harrowing trip to Virgil’s (Kevin Carroll) island, she finds evidence on a ship that Rick is indeed alive: both his iconic cowboy boots and a smartphone prove that he survived the explosion in Season 9.
Carved into the phone screen are Rick’s name and the Japanese characters for “Believe a little longer.” Below are portraits of Michonne and Judith (Cailey Fleming) – however, the drawing depicts the girl at the age she would be at that time, not the age Rick last saw her. Since Rick neither speaks Japanese nor knows Judith’s current appearance, it’s possible he didn’t carve the clue himself.
Michonne follows her instincts and sets out to search When Michonne contacts Judith to tell her about her find, the girl encourages her adoptive mother to leave her and brother RJ behind to search for Rick. With a heavy heart, Michonne indeed leaves her children behind in “The Walking Dead” Season 10. As she heads north to search for further clues, she encounters a couple (Breeda Wool and Andrew Bachelor) in need of help: the man is injured and needs assistance to keep up with his wandering community – which turns out to be a group of hundreds of people. As “TWD” showrunner Angela Kang revealed, Michonne was between Virginia and New Jersey at this time.
What happened to Rick and Michonne afterwards is only revealed in the epilogue of the grand “The Walking Dead” finale. We see Michonne writing in a journal – just like Rick, before he packs up his notes along with his boots and a phone in a backpack to make his escape. But before he can leave, a CRM helicopter locates him. Rick tosses the backpack onto a boat and raises his hands.
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By the way, the group Michonne rushed to help is also of great importance in “The Ones Who Live” because Breeda Wool and Andrew Bachelor reprise their roles as Aiden and Bailey. The trailer already reveals that Michonne will be traveling with them and Nat (Matthew Jeffers) for a while.
“The Walking Dead: World Beyond”: The connection between Rick and the CRM Aside from Rick’s abduction, the CRM doesn’t play a significant role in “The Walking Dead” – but it’s an essential part of the spin-off “The Walking Dead: World Beyond”. In the series, we learn that the Civic Republic is likely the largest community in the United States. To ensure survival, they keep their exact location secret. Therefore, residents are generally not allowed to leave the safe walls. This also applies to Rick, who attempted to escape several times – always without success.
As revealed in “World Beyond,” the military has far more drastic plans than the CR itself: in order to produce a cure to ensure a new world order, the CRM commits genocide – but covers it up from its own government. Like many others, Rick could have ended up as a test subject if Jadis had not classified him as a “B,” a person with weak, subservient character, before handing him over. Only “A”s, combat-ready survivors with leadership qualities, had to serve as subjects for the CRM’s unethical experiments.
Nevertheless, Rick doesn’t exactly lead a pleasant life in the CR. Apart from being separated from his family and group for years, the above trailer shows us that Rick is involved in decontamination efforts. With other prisoners, he must “cleanse” the surroundings of the CR of undead.
We’ll find out what Rick has been through in his years of absence, how Michonne manages to locate her great love in the secret city, and whether they manage to escape together, starting from now on a weekly basis.
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