AMC debunks a rumor that Rick Grimes appears in the season 1 finale of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The Walking Dead spent years vaguely teasing a mysterious group of zombie apocalypse survivors who flew over the carnage in helicopters, finally paying off the long tease when the helicopter group snatched a near-death Rick Grimes in season 9, episode 5 (with help from Jadis).
Rick is expected to reappear somewhere down the road in a Walking Dead movie, but in the meantime more has been revealed about the helicopter group, which goes by the name CRM. Indeed, the latest TWD spinoff show World Beyond has done a lot of work filling in fans about CRM aka the Civic Republic Military, revealing their policing role in the world of the zombie apocalypse. World Beyond also hinted that CRM is not necessarily on the side of good, as the debut episode implied the group's involvement in a massacre at a colony of survivors.
Given Rick Grimes' own connection to CRM, it was perhaps natural for fans to think the character would somehow show up on World Beyond himself. Indeed, fan rumors about Rick joining World Beyond in at least a cameo went into overdrive after IMDb listed Andrew Lincoln in the cast for the show's season 1 finale episode. But dreams of a Rick appearance on World Beyond have been dashed as AMC confirmed to the website Insider that the IMDb listing was false. The listing has now been removed.
In fact the Rick Grimes Walking Dead: World Beyond rumor had some life prior to the apparently erroneous IMDb listing, thanks to World Beyond actor Nico Tortorella, who on Instagram teased fans that they had shot a scene with Lincoln while also speculating about a crossover between their character Felix and Lincoln's Rick. Prior to that, Tortorella told Insider they knew Rick's whereabouts during the events of World Beyond, and insisted the show will lead into the planned Rick Grimes movies.
It's of course no huge shock to think that World Beyond is to some extent just a puzzle piece in the larger Walking Dead universe plan, and that the show's story will feed into the Rick Grimes movies. It's assumed obviously that Rick is being held somewhere by CRM, and since the main characters of World Beyond are all headed toward CRM headquarters in New York, it's easy to put two and two together and conclude that the spinoff show literally will lead back to Rick.
But of course none of this adds up to Lincoln necessarily showing up on World Beyond in the flesh. It's much more likely that once the puzzle piece of World Beyond clicks into place, it will be left to the Rick Grimes movies to fill in the remaining story with Lincoln back on-screen. This obviously comes as disappointing news to fans who were hoping that Rick would grace World Beyond with his presence for at least a flashback or tease (Rick could still show up in the show's second season for such an appearance). Of course, AMC's denial does not address why the Lincoln listing showed up on IMDb in the first place, or why Tortorella would tantalize fans with talk of his sharing a scene with Lincoln on The Walking Dead: World Beyond. These matters will have to remain as mysterious as Rick's exact whereabouts for the time being.
Source: Insider