Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Walking Dead series finale.Following The Walking Dead series finale, Scott Gimple - showrunner for the upcoming Rick and Michonne spinoff - updated patient fans about what to expect from the upcoming series. Gimple's update comes after the surprise return of Rick and Michonne at the end of The Walking Dead's final episode. The pair had yet to find one another, with Michonne now on her own as she searches for clues as to where Rick could be. As for Rick, viewers were treated to a scene where he is forced to surrender to a CRM helicopter, indicating he's done something major to antagonize his captors.
In an interview with Deadline, Gimple explained that Rick and Michonne's return in The Walking Dead's final episode is teasing part of the story that will be told in their upcoming spinoff. He revealed that, while the spinoff was plotted out already, he wanted to make sure Rick and Michonne's return didn't compromise the theme of the main show's series finale. Check out Gimple's full statement below:
We’ve been working on that story for like a long time, and we knew we knew each episode. And those episodes are turning out pretty much towards what we planned them to be, and I really wanted to stress that we did that together.
So, in some ways it was like picking the right moment from the story that we were telling. To get to that point or to be able to tell that story that we were telling in The Walking Dead, which is the way that you continue on through hardship is from the strength that you have drawn from all the people that you’ve known and love. So, we have the story pretty well down. We just were like, okay, what point works with what Angela and I are hoping to say. Yeah.
I mean, luckily those worlds you see are built out. We’re not telling you much in this. And in fact, I was really hoping not to…I wanted what they were saying to not overshadow what people were seeing as far as I didn’t want it to serve as a tease for the next thing, but rather a necessary view into the circumstances they’re in to get across the story that we’re getting across, which is the thing that keeps them going is the family that they have.
What Rick & Michonne's Finale Cameos Mean For Their Spinoff's Story
Gimple's revelation that what audiences see in The Walking Dead series finale is a specific moment in the story to be told in Rick and Michonne's spinoff means viewers aren't yet privy to how their spinoff will play out. While it's possible Rick and Michonne's next adventure begins where their respective cameos left off, the way Gimple speaks about the story indicates their return was somewhere in the middle of their tale. Given how long it's been since Rick or Michonne have appeared in the series, it's no surprise that missing gaps in their travels will be told during their spinoff series.
When audiences last left Michonne in season 10, episode 13, she had joined a massive convoy of traveling survivors. However, her cameo in the series finale indicates she is now alone, albeit sporting a new outfit and riding a horse. Her final scene in the finale harkens back to her spotting the caravan of survivors, as she begins riding toward a massive herd of Walkers that seems to be tens of thousands strong. Gimple's comment makes it sound like, during the first few episodes of Rick and Michonne's series, there will be an explanation as to how Michonne started traveling with a massive group of survivors but wound up alone later on.
Rick is in a similarly precarious position, being rescued - and captured - by the CRM in season 9, episode 5, only to have become a fugitive fighting against them in the series finale. Given his possession of a phone with a carving of Michonne and a grown-up Judith on it, though, it seems he has at least one ally in the CRM that knows about his family back in Virginia. Rick's absence appears to have been explained through his possible imprisonment by the CRM, but Gimple's statement indicates audiences will get more context as to what he did to warrant being captured again in the spinoff series. With Rick and Michonne's story set to continue next year, Gimple's affirmation that everything will be explained indicates The Walking Dead sequel series will be worth the wait.
Source: Deadline