'The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live': Where Did We Last See Rick and Michonne?

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 23, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 23, 2024 |

The subsection of people who stopped watching The Walking Dead after Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) left in the ninth season, or after Michonne (Danai Gurira) left in the 10th season, and who may still be interested in watching their spin-off is probably small. Likewise, the number of people who stuck with The Walking Dead to the bitter end (in November 2022) and are still interested in the franchise is also small. But for those of you who are curious or who have forgotten, here’s where things stand in The Walking Dead universe.

The Walking Dead ended nearly two years ago, and most of the remaining characters took up camp either back at The Hilltop or in their name home, The Commonwealth, which has most of the amenities of a modern pre-apocalyptic city. There are exceptions: Negan wandered back to New York, where he is currently helping his frenemy Maggie rescue her son, Hershel Rhee, from a bad man. Daryl Dixon, meanwhile, is gallivanting around France with a new crew of friends he’s picked up. Carol will be meeting him there in the spin-off’s second season.

We don’t have a lot of information on Rick and Michonne’s current whereabouts. For those who may have forgotten, in the 9th season, Rick blew up a bridge to save his people from an attack by a horde of zombies. He was badly wounded, and a character named Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) radioed someone who picked up Jadis and Rick in a helicopter. It was the last we saw of Rick. In the show’s time, it’s been more than a decade since then.

The last we saw of Michonne, she had found an iPhone belonging to Rick on a boat, realized that he may still be alive, and left the group in search of him. She had joined a large column of survivors.

However, we saw Rick and Michonne — separately — for a last, last time in a postscript to The Walking Dead finale. Michonne is still searching for Rick, while Rick, it appears, is on the run from the Civi Republic, the organization with the helicopters.

The easiest thing is simply to leave it at that: Michonne is searching for Rick. Rick is on the run. The possession of the iPhone suggests that the series will explore what happened to Rick over the last decade while also following Michonne’s present search for Rick.

I will add this, however: Andrew Lincoln left the series nearly six years ago. Immediately after the episode in which he departed, AMC announced a series of Rick Grimes spin-off films that were meant to screen in theaters. A lot has obviously changed in the last six years. For instance, there was another (very bad) spin-off, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, that was initially created to act as a bridge between Rick’s departure and the Rick movies. The series explored the Civic Republic, which is the military entity from which Rick is apparently on the run.

The World Beyond was a critical and ratings failure. My guess is that the series has basically been memory-holed by the franchise, which is fine. It didn’t tell us much beyond the fact that Jadis is now a high-ranking member of the Civic Republic and they still have Rick.

That’s it. That’s all you need to know, and to be honest, most of that can be gleaned from the trailer for the series, which kicks off Sunday night on AMC. We’ll have full coverage on Monday. I’m sorry. It may help to know, however, that Danai Gurira is a co-creator and co-writer on the series. Gurira has a Tony nomination for best writing.