Rick Grimes will not be in The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Although The Walking Dead: World Beyond has given us hints about what happened to Rick Grimes, fans waiting for an appearance are in for a disappointment.

The first season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond is officially over, and despite some fans waiting for an Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) cameo at the end, it didn’t happen. With the final 10 episodes airing sometime next year, we can expect a deeper exploration of the Civic Republic Military (CRM) and more clues as to where Rick has been; remember, he was airlifted away in a helicopter bearing the symbol of the CRM — three intertwined circles — during The Walking Dead season 9.

So clearly Rick is involved with the CRM somehow. Given that the CRM is a big part of World Beyond, it’s only a matter of time before he shows up…right?

ComicBook.com asked Gimple if World Beyond was working up to a Rick Grimes reveal. “You know what? I’m very happy to say… I’m not happy to say the answer,” he said, clearly aware he was about to disappoint people. “I’m happy to be definitive with people. It is not.”

"That’s one, I don’t know if people are being cagey about that. But I feel that one’s important not to be cagey about…I think people could watch this show and learn a lot about the mythology that Rick Grimes is caught up in. And they might even see places where Rick Grimes has been. But yeah, he’s not swinging around the corner. And I don’t even know if I’m making people upset saying that, but I just don’t like people watching it, sort of expecting Rick."

So World Beyond will reveal things about “the mythology that Rick Grimes is caught up in” and might even see places where he’s been…but he won’t be in the show. It feels a little like they’re baiting fans with a Rick appearance even though they know he’s not going to show up.

We probably won’t see Rick again until the series of movies being produced for him. With the pressure mounting, Gimple promised Insider that the planned trilogy movies will be “amazing”:

"I don’t mind telling people that we’re working on it. I know people are really itchy. These are no joke. We make an episode of TV in eight days. Movies are a different thing. It’s going to be amazing. For all the pressure that we have on us for taking this long, that only makes it [so] that we have to make it amazing. So we will."

Before the movies, we will still have the chance to learn more about the twisted ways of the CRM in The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and the next season of World Beyond. At this point, the CRM has featured in all three.

The Walking Dead season 10 returns for six additional episodes on February 28, 2021. Will we get any more Rick Grimes hints then? We’ll have to wait and see!

And in the meantime, AMC+ will air a one-hour Walking Dead holiday special hosted by Chris Hardwick where current and past cast members talk all about their zombie-fighting experiences. Look for that on December 13.

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