The Walking Dead pulls back the curtain on one of its most enigmatic characters, revealing Jadis' backstory with the CRM, as well as drawing a new connection between her and Gabriel. Pollyanna McIntosh made her Walking Dead debut in season 7's "New Best Friends," making an immediate impression as the tribalistic, Rick-stripping leader of the Scavengers. Jadis and her junkyard people promised, "We take; we don't bother" but soon found themselves caught in the midst of a brewing war between Negan's Saviors and the other local survivor groups - Alexandria, Hilltop, The Kingdom, and Oceanside. Switching loyalties between Rick, Negan, and back again, Jadis' Scavengers were ultimately slaughtered by Steven Ogg's rogue Savior, Simon.
Though Jadis presented her junkyard group as a self-sufficient and rudimentary bunch, they harbored a deep, dark secret. The Scavengers were covertly abducting other survivors and shipping them to a shady, helicopter-flying organization, eventually revealed to be the CRM (Civic Republic Military). Failing to transition from the junkyard to Alexandria, Jadis resolved to join the CRM, and took Rick Grimes with her after finding an ailing Andrew Lincoln washed up on the riverbank. Neither has been spotted since.
Finally, The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2 reintroduces Pollyanna McIntosh, a full 6 in-universe years since Rick's fateful departure. Now a fully-fledged member of the CRM, Jadis generously reveals key details about her pre-junkyard life, her actions during The Walking Dead, and everything after she flew away alongside Rick.
Walking Dead Explains Jadis' Life Before The Junkyard
Dropped into a very different environment compared to the junkyard or Alexandria, Jadis seizes the opportunity to reveal more about her zombie apocalypse beginnings. Chatting with Huck over a glass of Brazilian cane rum, Jadis explains how she began the undead outbreak living alone and surviving by her wits in the wilderness. Steering conversation toward the creation of the Scavengers, the group apparently came together "quickly" near the beginning. The Walking Dead season 7 takes place approximately a year-and-a-half after patient zero first decided someone's neck looked tasty, so it's safe to assume Jadis' Scavengers had been established a year or so before Rick encountered them.
Jadis readily acknowledges the Scavengers' odd way of life was pure theater designed to foster a sense of community. She tells Huck, "You want to create a civilization from scratch in a hurry... give them their own language." The naked drawing, living among trash, strange manner of speech - everything was purposefully introduced by Jadis to ensure her people remained loyal Scavengers. The Walking Dead had already revealed Jadis' real name is actually "Anne," but with a drop of fine alcohol swirling through her veins, the CRM officer acknowledges the identity change was about adopting a new post-apocalyptic personality. Who would you be most intimidated by? "Jadis" or "Anne?"
What Jadis Was REALLY Doing In The Walking Dead
Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2's "Who Are You?" finally clarifies the early relationship between Jadis and the CRM. In The Walking Dead, it wasn't obvious whether Jadis was already a CRM operative, working undercover at a junkyard to supply her military with fresh bodies. Speaking with Huck, it's clear the Scavengers only built a loose working arrangement with the Civic Republic - similar to Indira's Perimeter community. Jadis only joined the military ranks for real after jumping aboard that helicopter with Rick.
Jadis was incredibly difficult to read in The Walking Dead - a quality that endlessly frustrated Rick, Gabriel, and even Negan. Her poker face is even stronger in Walking Dead: World Beyond, but Jadis provides some deeper insight into events that transpired during her main show stint. Even as a CRM officer, Jadis remembers her Scavengers fondly, admitting to Huck she "loved" them, and regrets making the Negan alliance that domino-ed into Simon's slaughter. Seeing Jadis still deeply affected by losing the Scavengers says much about her inner kind streak, but it seems hypocritical that someone who openly rues aligning with Negan is now a fully-fledged member of the CRM, who are, in many ways, far worse than Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Saviors.
Getting to what the audience really want to know, Jadis touches upon her dramatic helicopter departure from The Walking Dead. Tantalizingly claiming Rick Grimes is "valuable" to the CRM, Jadis tells Huck how she saw Rick's dying body as an "opportunity" - her ticket straight into the CRM. While Jadis certainly used Rick to bargain for a seat on that chopper, she's massively underselling her genuine desire to save the then-leader of Alexandria. Is Jadis just downplaying her former attachments in front of Huck? Or does she genuinely now view rescuing Rick Grimes merely as a ticket to a better life?
Everything We Know Happened To Jadis After Walking Dead Season 9
Just as the shift from Scavenger to Alexandrian wasn't easy for Jadis, she also struggled moving to the CRM, recalling a loss of purpose to Huck in their Walking Dead: World Beyond conversation. Without her junkyard community, Jadis felt directionless as a resident of the CRM, despite having more food, security and hot showers than she could've ever imagined whilst curled up between a burned tire pile and a broken dishwasher. Unfortunately, lost souls are perfect candidates for CRM soldiers. Jadis appears to have bought fully into the Civic Republic's rhetoric of repopulating the planet at any cost, and has thrown all her eggs into Major General Beale's villainous basket. This might explain why she joins another evil group, despite having regrets over Negan - the CRM gives Jadis the purpose she needs to keep surviving.
After signing up and deciding the all-black CRM uniform looked good on her, Jadis was apparently trained by Walking Dead: World Beyond's Huck - a.k.a. Staff Sergeant Jennifer Mallick. The dynamic feels unusual due to Jadis being older, but as the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Kublek, Huck has probably been a CRM soldier since near the beginning, explaining why it was her training Jadis, not the other way around. Because of The Walking Dead season 9's time jump, the CRM would've existed for around 4 years already by the time Jadis joined.
In the 6 years since, Huck has been disgraced and forced to go undercover, while Jadis went from strength-to-strength, now operating as a warrant officer. Effectively the CRM's internal police, this position gives Jadis authority to investigate officers of any rank and potentially bring charges against them for betraying the Civic Republic. Working as a warrant officer is precisely the opposite of Jadis' role in The Walking Dead. Previously adopting the "take; don't bother" mantra, Jadis' job is now bothering literally everyone. And where Jadis trusted her loyal Scavengers completely, she's now paid to suspect even her closest allies - Huck included.
Jadis' New Name & Gabriel Connection Explained
The most intriguing element of Jadis' The Walking Dead return is her new name - Jadis Stokes. This would've been the moniker Pollyanna McIntosh's character chose for herself after the helicopter dropped her and Rick off at CRM headquarters, and both forename and surname are very interesting choices.
Choosing to go forward as "Jadis" rather than "Anne" confirms the former Scavenger is, once again, playing a fictional persona, as opposed to her true self. Taking the "Jadis" name helped Anne survive during dark times, and reverting back to her pre-apocalypse identity in Alexandria proved impossible. In order to commit the horrific deeds demanded of her by the CRM's higher-ups, perhaps Anne needs to be "Jadis" once again, blocking out her inner humanity in favor of the cold, hard survivalist qualities of her Scavenger days - but this time cranked up to 11.
Jadis is going by the surname "Stokes" too, which directly references The Walking Dead's Gabriel Stokes. Following the Saviors' defeat, Jadis and Gabriel enjoyed a brief romantic relationship, and though genuine feelings were evident from both sides, Jadis couldn't quite adjust to Alexandria's peace, causing her to strike out alone with the CRM. Carrying Gabriel's surname proves part of Jadis remains emotionally attached to The Walking Dead's resident priest - and despite physically leaving him behind, she couldn't let go of that bond completely, needing something to remember Gabriel by wherever she went thereafter. Perhaps calling herself "Stokes" is also supposed to remind Jadis of the person she can be - the kinder, more human "Anne" Gabriel saw bubbling beneath the surface. Though she might bear his name, Jadis' allegiance to the CRM would surely disappoint Father Stokes if he could see her now.