The reason for the CRM’s real location being such a big secret has finally been explained by The Walking Dead: World Beyond. While multiple cities, such as Omaha and Portland, are known to be linked to the Civic Republic, the Walking Dead universe has avoiding confirming where on the map that the CRM’s main base is located. The CRM have their forces in multiple parts of the country, but are apparently based primarily in one unrevealed area.
Thanks to the time that Hope (Alexa Mansour) and her friends have spent at the Civic Republic Research Facility in The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2, much has been learned about the mysterious CRM. Hope found out in an earlier episode that the Civic Republic’s endgame is a global cure to the zombie virus. This was followed by more information about the CRM’s ten-year plan, when they were founded, and more. The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2, episode 6, titled “Who Are You?”, went even further by bringing back The Walking Dead’s Jadis (Pollyanne McIntosh) and explaining what happened after she traded Rick (Andrew Lincoln) to the CRM in season 9.
One detail about the CRM that may have been overshadowed by Jadis’ return and her comments about Rick in episode 6 is what Huck (Annet Mahendru) said about the CRM’s secret base, which it calls The Hidden City. While being questioned by Hope’s group, Huck explained why no one knows its exact location. According to her, this decision was to ensure that “everything within its borders was kept at a statistical balance” in reference to the populations, food, and resources controlled by the CRM. She claimed that the CRM believes that an “influx of people” would be a “potential for conflict.” For this reason, it was decided that no one should know where this place really is.
Based on what Huck told them, the CRM’s motivations for keeping The Hidden City a secret and eradicating Omaha and the Campus Colony are connected. She believes that the CRM must have wiped out those communities to protect the “statistical balance” she mentioned. It seems that the CRM worries about high population numbers and what trouble that could cause. If the conflict they feared did arise, the Hidden City could be attacked. No one knowing where they actually has prevented this outcome from coming to pass. If Huck is right about the CRM and their plans, they may have applied a similar line of thinking to the Campus Colony and Omaha communities. Killing them may have been about balance and avoiding too many there being too many people in a particular region.
Iris (Aliyah Royale) asked Huck for the Hidden City’s location, but the latter declined to provide it. Right now, the main characters don’t know where to find it, and that may be a secret they never actually learn. After all, the Hidden City appears to be a mystery that goes much deeper than Walking Dead: World Beyond. Finding it could be a job for other Walking Dead characters, especially if this is where they’re keeping Rick Grimes.