Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiere.
After years of anticipation, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live finally brought an iconic Rick moment from the source material to life on TV. Andrew Lincoln successfully made his proper The Walking Dead return with the premiere episode of the latest expansion to the famed post-apocalyptic series. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 1, “Years” sees Rick, somehow in a more heartbreaking situation after surviving his near-death experience in The Walking Dead season 9.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiere sees Rick as a slave in a CRM facility. Considering the group’s tight security, all his efforts to escape have failed, further motivating him to resort to extreme measures to get away. Surprisingly, that includes Rick chopping off his own hand — a moment from the comics that has been years in the making for the AMC franchise’s adaptation. Talking with Bam! Smack! Pow!, co-creator Scott Gimple reveals why this is the perfect time to adapt the moment. Read his full quote below:
“I had played with it in different ways and different possibilities on the show, and then Angela got to do it with Aaron. And then in some of the development of the Rick stuff, I was thinking of it. But really, I think the gentleman who really put it forward was Mr. Andrew Lincoln. I believe that he was the one that pushed for it in our story because it really goes with our story. What would stop Rick Grimes or at least slow him incredibly from trying to get home?
“And seeing just how far he’d go. I mean, it really does speak to the story we’re telling, and that he did in many ways injure himself permanently, both physically and mentally, spiritually, with what he went through in trying to get home; and at a point, giving up.”
How Rick’s Injury Fits Into His The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Arc.
After spearheading the show for almost a decade, Lincoln decided to leave in The Walking Dead season 9. However, instead of the AMC series permanently writing off his character by killing him in a brutal manner, they kept him alive, but with an uncertain future. As frustrating as this was, especially since the main series continued with arguably its main character missing, it allowed the new expansion series to bring him back for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which Lincoln’s Rick co-leads with Danai Gurira’s Michonne.
Like his previous allies, having a physical disability will present Rick with more challenges as he makes his way back home. The Walking Dead franchise can fully explore the aftermath of him losing his hand while navigating his way on his own. His hardships, however, sets up a more satisfying payoff once he gets to reunite with his family — if that’s in the cards for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. For now, it’s a reminder of how gory and dark the franchise can be, with the spinoff’s premiere setting the tone for the rest of its run.
The Ones Who Live’s Massive Rick Grimes Moment In Episode 1 Explained
The Walking Dead’s protagonist returned in The Ones Who Live and the very first episode featured a huge, life-defining moment for Rick Grimes.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is intended to be a limited series, which means that by the end of its six-episode run, there will be a definitive ending for Rick and Michonne. That’s a relief, considering that the TV universe has already kept Rick’s fate in limbo for years. That being said, it’s also worth noting that Norman Reedus’ The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was also initially presented as a limited show, but was eventually renewed for a second season.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
Created by Scott M. Gimple and Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is a sequel spin-off series in The Walking Dead television franchise. The series picks up some time after Michonne departs from the original series, as she searches to be reunited with her lover, Rick Grimes. Meanwhile, Rick finds himself amid another war between the living and the dead.
- Cast
- Andrew Lincoln , Danai Gurira , Pollyanna McIntosh , Lesley-Ann Brandt , Terry O’Quinn
- Release Date
- February 25, 2024
- Seasons
- 1
