World Beyond's Scott Gimple Lays Final Word On Rick Being At The CRM Facility
The Walking Dead has seen a lot of characters come and go over the course of its 10 seasons on the air, but none have been as important as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). While the series does function as an ensemble, Rick is unarguably the protagonist. It's his story of waking from a coma into the zombie apocalypse that set the series into motion, and until recently, he was the star that the other characters orbit.
That all changed in season 9, when Rick is gravely injured after blowing up a bridge full of walkers. He's discovered by Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh), who radios for a helicopter bearing a mysterious three-ring symbol which we now know is the mark of the Civic Republic Military (CRM). Desperate to save Rick, Anne says, "I have a B ... he's hurt, but he's strong." Following this, Rick and Anne fly away in the chopper, and that's the last we've seen of him. But fans have been holding out hope that he will reappear in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The spin-off revolves around two sisters, Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour), traveling to a CRM facility to rescue their scientist father. Given that Rick was also presumably whisked away to a CRM facility, some fans have been holding out hope that when Iris and Hope arrived at CRM HQ, they would bump into Mr. Grimes.
The first season of World Beyond ended with Hope being taken to that facility in a helicopter. However, in light of a recent interview with The Walking Dead franchise's Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple, it now looks like she won't be bumping into Rick when she arrives.
Gimple definitively declares that Rick is "not at that facility"
While speaking with Insider during a wide-ranging interview about The Walking Dead franchise, Gimple was questioned about whether Rick would make a return to the shows and appear at the CRM facility in World Beyond. The question elicited a surprisingly forthright answer from Gimple, who said, "You know what? I'm going to say this because I think it's critical to be straight with it. He is not at that facility. Definitively. Some people might be annoyed that I'm saying that, but I just, I wouldn't want people expecting that. You know what I mean?"
That's certainly not the answer fans who were hoping to see Rick cross over to the latest spin-off were hoping for, but at least it's straightforward. And it's not all bad news. Gimple went on to add, "I will say though [...] do we find out more about this mythology that Rick is tied up in? Absolutely [...] Could Rick have ever been there? Certainly possible, but we're not going to be rolling up to him hanging out there."
So, even though Gimple put the theory that we'll see Rick in World Beyond to rest, there's still the possibility that the second season of the show will provide fans with more background that could explain why Rick is a B and not an A and what happened to him after he was "rescued" by the CRM.
There's also another reason for those looking for some Rick closure to get excited. Later in the interview, Gimple was asked about the long-gestating series of Rick-centered films. According to the CCO, that project is still alive and well.
Fans will still see Rick in those Rick-centric Walking Dead movies
Back in 2018, it was announced that Rick's story would continue in a series of three feature-length films. They were meant to go into production in 2019 ... but that never happened. The only thing fans have gotten so far is a teaser trailer that's all tease and no trailer. You might see that, and the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown most of the film and TV industry for quite a loop, as reasons to be nervous about the future of these films. But according to Gimple, there's no reason to worry. Even though they've been delayed, they are still happening.
In his Insider interview, he said, "We are continuing to work on the movie. It is happening. We're taking this time from COVID and we're hunkering down [...] we're all charging forward it on it. It's just taking a bit more than TV."
Gimple made a similar confirmation in an exclusive interview with Looper, where he also hinted that World Beyond might go longer than its original planned two-season run, should the story call or it. Even though we now know we won't be running into Rick once we (hopefully) get to spend some time at the CRM facility in season 2 of World Beyond, it sounds like the possibly final season of the spin-off could be full of some exciting bits of lore that will get fans hyped up to see Rick return on the big screen.