The Walking Dead: World Beyond actor Annet Mahendru confirms the series directly leads into the upcoming Rick Grimes movies. The second spin-off series to spawn from AMC's The Walking Dead, World Beyond centers around a group of teenagers who have grown up in the apocalypse. The group must leave their guarded community to venture out into the dangerous world on a mission to save their father. Like Fear the Walking Dead, World Beyond is set in the same universe and time period as The Walking Dead and has major connections to the original series, specifically its protagonist who departed the show in season 9.
CRM, the mysterious group who took Rick (Andrew Lincoln) away in the helicopter in The Walking Dead season 9, episode 5, has raised many questions regarding who they are and what they want, but World Beyond is finally shedding some light on them. CRM, or Civil Republic Military, have been revealed as a military force of the post-apocalyptic world, but appear to have more of an antagonistic role. Bearing a three-ring symbol identical to the one on the helicopter that took Rick away, the mysterious organization is clearly connected to Rick, and it was widely rumored that he would appear in at least a cameo in World Beyond. However, AMC denied rumors that Rick would appear at the end of season 1. While Rick is still presumed dead by the other characters in The Walking Dead, his story is very much still left open as his whereabouts currently remain unknown following his helicopter rescue from Alexandria. World Beyond has made it clear that it will help fill in the missing pieces of the Walking Dead universe, and now one of the show's stars reveals that the events of World Beyond set up the explanation to Rick's whereabouts.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Mahendru, who plays Huck in World Beyond, confirms that the series will directly lead into the planned Rick Grime movies. Mahendru said:
"We're the lead-up to the movies, so we're going there. All the questions fans have had for, I don't know, inherently a decade, right? Our show is the answers to that. So we are very much heading to CRM. I mean, that's the helicopter... We're getting really close, you know?"
The trilogy of Rick Grimes movies was first announced at Comic-Con in 2019, and will reportedly focus on Rick's story after he is taken in the helicopter. AMC has since announced that The Walking Dead will end after the upcoming season 11 and will be followed by a spinoff series centered around Daryl and Carol as well as anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead. While the Walking Dead universe will continue to expand, the upcoming movies are expected to end Rick's story properly.
While CRM and its exact connection to Rick's story remains a mystery, more information is likely to come out of The Walking Dead: World Beyond as it goes on. The two-season series still has a lot of explaining to do, like why CRM labels people "A" or "B", and why Rick would be labeled "A." It will be exciting to see just exactly how the series will lead into the Rick Grimes movies and what the franchise has in store for the important character.
Source: ComicBook.com