The Walking Dead: Why Rick Is Still Handing Over Guns For Jadis

In Sunday night’s Say Yes episode of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes carried out his promise with Jadis and the junkyard. He ventured the outskirts of Alexandria and found a carnival full of working guns to hand over to his potential new allies in the war against Negan and the Saviors.

When he delivered 63 guns to the short-winded woman, she told him her group is “twice that” and they will need more. Despite the audience screaming, “Take the guns and go,” Rick decided to take enough to defend himself and begin a hunt for even more guns to hand over to Jadis.

It’s surprising to see Rick elect to hand over so many weapons rather than arming his own people.

Speaking to ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview After the Dead following Sunday night’s episode, executive producer and Say Yes director Greg Nicotero offered some perspective regarding Rick’s choice.

“Well, it’s not just the guns, they need people,” Nicotero said. “The reason that Rick smiled at the end of episode nine was he saw soldiers. He’s recruiting an army, and when he went to the Kingdom, and then he met the people at the heaps, as far as he’s concerned, he needs numbers. Negan’s got a lot of people. And that’s really important. It’s not just about guns. It’s about building an army, and that’s what Rick is doing.”

According to Andrew Lincoln, he saw the group as allies from the start — which was his smile at the end of Episode 7×09.

“Rick sees the people as they’re friendly, or at least he doesn’t seem that concerned, but he’s just confounded,” Lincoln said.

As for whether or not Jadis’ group will hold up their end of the bargain is unknown. The storyline involving the junkyard bunch is unique to the AMC series and does not have roots in Robert Kirkman’s comics. With Pollyanna McIntosh comparing the group to the Scavengers from the source material, one might suspect they will ultimately serve as enemies to Alexandria, but there appears to be little in common between the Scavengers in comics and television.

MORE WALKING DEAD: Did We Just Meet The Whisperers? / Gallery Of Rick And Michonne Getting It On / Another Sign Michonne Is Taking Andrea’s Place / ‘Say Yes’ Recap With Spoilers / Nicotero On Sasha And Rosita’s Mission / The Sixteen Candles Tribute In ‘Say Yes’

The Walking Dead TV series airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.