The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episodes – Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is a very unique show in the Walking Dead franchise. This is the only Walking Dead limited series (to date) and endeavours to finish the epic love story of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) across six emotional and action packed episodes.
The Walking Dead, the post-apocalyptic horror drama that had its 11 episodes end in 2022, has to wrap up some loose ends, most crucially what became of Rick when he was kidnapped from his home and family, and the trail that Michonne takes to find him, in Season 10. The reunion of the survivors that has been long awaited is covered in The Ones Who Live. But yes, they do end up on each other’s boat and find their way home, and that’s the real story of the real story, you will discover, if you are fine with how they reconnect as lovers after having been apart so long and fight to get home.
Scott M. Gimple (chief content officer of The Walking Dead universe), Lincoln and Gurira created The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Its streaming started in the US in October 2024 after its debut on AMC. Before you watch, here’s what you need to know.
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What’s The Backstory For The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episodes?
The events of The Ones Who Live happened in The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 4, ‘What Comes After.’ In that episode, Rick, the hard but good leader of the Alexandria community must herself prevent a large herd of walkers from gaining access to the community after falling off a horse on steel rebar, and would bleed out as a result of receiving an abdominal wound. Blowing up a bridge to stop the walkers, and sent himself and the herd in the river below.
He washes up just alive on the riverbank, where Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), a member of the community who are living with an underground deal with a shadowy paramilitary organisation, the Civic Republic Military (CRM), sees him. At that very moment her leaving on a CRM helicopter is about to spirit her away, she takes Rick with her, bartering his freedom for a better slot in the CRM for herself. Rick’s friends and family have to assume the worst, that he died in the explosion, and they fly off toward parts unknown.
What Is The Civic Republic Military, And What Do They Want?
Rick’s abduction reveals the existence of the CRM, but meaningful information about them, like their name, who they are, and what they want, gets parceled out over time in spin-offs Fear the Walking Dead and especially The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The CRM is the military wing of the Civic Republic, a large, technologically advanced survivor community based in what used to be Philadelphia. It’s part of an alliance with other colonies in Omaha, Nebraska, and Portland, Oregon, but those colonies don’t know how powerful and how untrustworthy the CRM actually is.
The Civic Republic and its military have resources far beyond any other community on The Walking Dead, and its members consider the organization to be humanity’s best hope for building a future. But the CRM operates independently of the government of the Civic Republic, often in secret, and it commits horrific, large-scale acts of exploitation and violence under the belief that the utopian ends it strives for will justify its ruthless means. By the time of The Ones Who Live, Jadis has become a warrant officer in the CRM.
What happens in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live?
The sequel series starts by filling viewers in on what’s been happening to Rick and Michonne since they left The Walking Dead.
Rick was a Civic Republic “consignee” for several years, surviving by working in servitude to achieve citizenship but repeatedly attempting to break free and go home. Eventually, he’s grant citizenship and becomes a CRM soldier. Convinced that there’s no escape from an organization so powerful, he gives up his dream of returning to his family and commits to improving the culture of the CRM from the inside.
Michonne, meanwhile, has been searching for Rick for a long time. While traveling with a small group, she’s attacked by the CRM, and most of her friends are kill.
We won’t spoil how Rick and Michonne reunite, but things are not immediately easy for them when they do. Even though they still love each other, they’ve both changed during their years apart, and their goals aren’t necessarily the same anymore. And even if they can align them, will it be enough for them to escape Jadis and the CRM?
Who’s in the cast of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live?
- Andrew Lincoln (Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities) as Rick Grimes, the former Georgia sheriff, former leader of the Alexandria colony, and current CRM soldier who will do anything for his family
- Danai Gurira (Black Panther) as Michonne, a katana-wielding zombie apocalypse survivor on a quest to find the man she loves and bring him home
- Pollyanna McIntosh (Vikings: Valhalla) as Jadis Stokes, an enigmatic CRM officer who will be whoever she needs to be in order to survive
- Terry O’Quinn (Lost) as Major General Jonathan Beale, the founder and leader of the CRM
- Lesley-Ann Brandt (Lucifer) as Pearl Thorne, Rick’s friend and fellow CRM soldier
- Craig Tate (Shameless) as Okafur, a CRM officer who recruits Rick and Thorne to his cause of reforming the CRM
- Matthew Jeffers (New Amsterdam) as Nat, a traveling companion of Michonne’s
How does The Ones Who Live connect to the larger Walking Dead universe?
The limited series is a direct sequel to The Walking Dead, and takes place during and after the events of the flagship show. Its two protagonists and primary antagonist are all from The Walking Dead, and it features other Walking Dead characters whose appearances we won’t spoil. The CRM pops up across the Walking Dead universe in The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, but hasn’t shown up in the other sequel series, Daryl Dixon and Dead City.
Conclusion of the Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episodes
“The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” offers a compelling and heartfelt conclusion to Rick and Michonne’s story, emphasizing the enduring power of love and the human spirit in the face of adversity.