Walking Dead: World Beyond‘s impending gas attack could have major ramifications for Rick Grimes’ The Walking Dead movie. When Andrew Lincoln announced his departure from The Walking Dead, many expected Rick Grimes to meet an untimely end at the hands of a hungry zombie. Instead, Rick was taken away by a mysterious CRM helicopter, setting up future storylines for the grizzled protagonist. Sure enough, AMC confirmed a series of The Walking Dead movies in the works with Rick as the lead. That was in 2018, and progress has been akin to a zombie climbing a steep staircase, with almost nothing in the way of significant updates since.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2 has come closest to continuing Rick’s story, bringing back Jadis (who references Andrew Lincoln’s character directly) and developing the CRM as a villainous outfit intent on restoring humanity by *checks notes* killing over 100,000 people. In World Beyond‘s penultimate episode (inventively titled “Death & The Dead”), the Bennett family and their allies discover the CRM’s dastardly plan to launch a chemical gas attack on Portland, killing another massive community after already slaughtering Omaha and Campus Colony. The heroes resolve to stop the CRM’s Project V assault, and their efforts will inevitably take up much of Walking Dead: World Beyond‘s finale. Now the spinoff’s endgame is revealed, it’s possible to infer some details about the franchise’s future – specifically the Rick Grimes movie.
Firstly, The Walking Dead fans can rest assured Rick’s movie is actually happening. Even if Iris and the gang stop the CRM’s Portland attack, there’s not enough time in the concluding episode to bring down the CRM as a whole. With Fear The Walking Dead set in the past and The Walking Dead season 11 ignoring the Civic Republic entirely, Rick’s movie alone can resolve World Beyond‘s unfinished CRM storyline. Not only does this confirm the cinematic project is still going ahead, but it’s safe to assume the Civic Republic Military will be the main antagonistic force Rick Grimes must face.
World Beyond‘s Project V gas attack also hints at the kind of threat Rick could be dealing with upon his eventual big screen debut. Leo Bennett’s facility isn’t the only outpost the Civic Republic controls, and there are undoubtedly other Lieutenant Colonels leading other dangerous projects that put other innocent communities at risk from extinction. We’ve not even seen Major General Beale yet, suggesting Project V is just one pie of many the CRM has its mucky fingers in. Perhaps Rick Grimes spent his time off-screen riding around the U.S. stopping similarly inhumane CRM experiments. Also, the Project V stockpile revealed in “Death & The Dead” probably isn’t the last of the stuff, meaning the weapon could be used against Rick in his near-mythical Walking Dead movie.
It’s increasingly likely that at least some characters from World Beyond will return in Rick’s Walking Dead movie. Should any of the main Endlings make it out alive, the CRM will be hunting them relentlessly – especially if the Bennetts save Portland. Rick would have natural allies in Iris, Hope, Silas, and/or Elton, but even if the main quartet all die horribly, there’s still the Civic Republic scientists they rescued. World Beyond puts a suspicious amount of effort into getting the scientists (and, more importantly, their research) out of the CRM. With only a single episode remaining, that plot thread can’t be resolved before Walking Dead: World Beyond wraps up, meaning Rick could reap the benefits of Hope’s zombie-melting mushroom theory.
The Bennetts’ plan involves warning Portland about the CRM’s incoming gas attack. Assuming they succeed and Portland believe the accusations, Walking Dead: World Beyond could trigger a war between communities. Will Rick join – or even command – the Portland forces in battle against the CRM in his Walking Dead movie?
