'The Walking Dead': How will Rick Grimes return to the narrative in the upcoming movies?
'The Walking Dead' Season 10 Episode 13 'What We Become’, marked the last episode of Michonne (Danai Gurira) where she ends up finding a pair of Rick’s cowboy boots that Virgil tells her “washed up" onto the island. She also finds Rick's cellphone, which had the drawings of her and Judith etched on it. This gave us hope that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), our favorite OG could still be alive.
Fans encouraged Michonne to go find her man, but if Grimes were to ever make a comeback, how would he fit back into the narrative now? If you're a fan, you'd remember that Grimes did not die in his final episode on the series - he somehow, seems to always be invincible. He was discovered by Jadis on the bank of the river and was taken to safety. While Actor Andrew Lincoln had expressed that he wanted to leave the show, in order to spend time with this family, AMC had announced that Grimes' character would make a comeback on film.
Regardless of the fact that the release date for the movie has not been set, it was said that the series will come from AMC Studios Original Films and that it would be a theatrical release. After Season 10 Episode 13 'What We Become', we presume Michonne will also make an appearance. While they may have not hinted at a narrative that would match Grime's comeback, the episode definitely got us thinking.
Following Michonne's final episode, it was said that the drawing on the cell phone of young Judith, doesn't match the timeline where Grimes had left the show. She was a toddler then, while in the drawing, she isn't. Not to mention the Japenese lettering on the phone was confirmed to be “Believe a little longer.” Showrunner Angela Kang said, “It was a message to Rick from somebody.” Grimes seems to be in danger of some sort, and while Michonne's figures out that he survived.
Towards the end of the episode, Michonne leaves to go find Grimes when she's approached by people asking for help. She decides to help them, and is lead to a group of people lined up at a valley - are these people the Commonwealth community from the comic book series? Did Rick make it there? While the series may have stepped away from the comic book narrative, the movies don't have to do the same.
If they do bring back the comic book narrative, there is no much that would be amiss compared to the show. We think that the three-ring group mystery might come into play in the movies, considering Rick was saved by helicopters that have that logo. If you recall in Season 5, Episode 5 of Fear, 'The End of Everything', we meet Isabelle from the three rings and they seem to have big things in line with them matching the Commonwealth part of the comics.
"We coordinated with [chief content officer of 'TWD' universe] Scott Gimple on what he needed the endpoint in the episode to be in order to set up the handoff to the TWD Universe," showrunner Angela Kang told Insider via email.
"One thing that emerged early on as feeling critically important to all of us on the writing side as well as Danai was the idea of concrete evidence of Rick's presence and a direction to go in. The boots are an iconic part of Rick's costume, would've been on his person at the time of the bridge explosion, and would be immediately recognizable to Michonne, so that's how we came to have this first clue," said Kang.
It would be wild if Rick woke up from the coma, and it was all a dream.