Now that The Walking Dead has returned with its spin-off series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, avid fans are wondering: where is Rick Grimes after the helicopter scene?
The spin-off series aims to explain what happened to Rick and Michonne after leaving the original TWD series.
Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 1, so proceed with caution.
Where is Rick Grimes after Helicopter Scene in The Walking Dead Season 9?
Back in The Walking Dead season 9, Andrew Lincoln's iconic character blew up a bridge to protect his people. After that, he was arrested by the Civic Republic Military (CRM) and taken away via a helicopter.
Even though Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) and Daryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus) tried to look for him, Rick seemed to have disappeared forever. So where is Rick Grimes after the helicopter scene in season 9?
In The Walking Dead season 11 finale episode, Rest in Peace, we finally got to know what happened to Rick after being taken away by the helicopter.
It turns out that he was being held in a Civic Republic institution that is far from where the group was.
With The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live connecting the timeline to the events of season 9, we learned what happened to Rick all this time. The show revealed that Rick had been working as a walker disposal worker, considered the lowest job among the new recruits of the CRM.
We also learn from Rick's interaction with Donald Okafor (played by Craig Tate) that he has tried to escape several times to look for Michonne.
Right before his death, he shares his dream of overturning the CRM for the better; which could be something that Rick will want to do in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
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Why is Michonne Looking for Rick?
In The Walking Dead season 10, Michonne learns that her husband is still alive. This is after she discovers Rick's signature cowboy boots, and she demands Virgil (played by Kevin Carroll) to take her to where he found them.
He leads her to a ship that washed on shore. After going through the items on the ship, Michonne finds Rick's old smartphone with his name, Japanese writing, and illustrations of her and Judith on the glass.
She also finds the ship's manifest that suggests Rick's location is near New Jersey.
This gives her the courage that her husband is still alive. She sets off to look for her husband in the last entry on the ship's manifest "New Jersey Shipyard."
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Does Michonne Find Rick in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live?
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live has wasted no time in reuniting the two lovers. In just the first episode, it is revealed that Michonne finds Rick.
Although the second episode will show Michonne's journey to find her husband, some fans have complained about how fast the show is going.
But as revealed, The Ones Who Live was actually intended to be a movie instead of a six-episode mini-series.
Now that the two have reunited, the spin-off series will focus on how the two will rekindle their relationship after being apart for so long. More importantly, they have both greatly changed throughout their separation.
Gurira explains in an interview:
"I think it made sense. Because we had to get into the meat of the story, which is: What happens when these two people who obviously have been changed by all this time apart come back together? What does that look like with this massive barrier and obstacle of the CRM being between them? How do they get through that? What is it going to be? We can't do that until we connect them."
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