The Walking Dead: World Beyond New Trailer Teases the Truth Behind Rick Grimes Disappearance

A new trailer for The Walking Dead: World Beyond threatens to expose the truth behind the Civic Republic Military, the shadowy organization responsible for the six-year disappearance of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). The teaser incorporates footage from The Walking Dead Season 8 episode 5, “The Big Scary U,” where Rick spotted a CRM helicopter fly overhead, as well as Season 9 episode 5, “What Comes After,” which ended with Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) urging the helicopter to rescue a wounded Rick in the wake of a bridge explosion. Also included is footage from Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 episode 5, “The End of Everything,” where Althea (Maggie Grace) encountered another CRM helicopter and soldier Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon) when investigating a conspiracy.

“I’m just so excited for everyone to get a taste of this so soon,” Nico Tortorella, who plays Felix, a member of the Nebraska-based Campus Colony introduced in The Walking Dead: World Beyond, said on a past episode of Talking Dead. “I’ve been thinking a lot about this and this is gonna sound a little shady, and I really don’t mean it to be at all, but I feel like Walking Dead and Fear deal with this universe in local news, and right off the bat with World Beyond, we’re dealing with national news.”

World Beyond will involve “a lot” of the black helicopters branded with the three-circle symbol representing three major civilizations. The new two-season series opens up a “whole new vantage point of the universe,” Tortorella said, adding viewers will for the first time “get to really meet who’s in those helicopters and where they’re coming from.”

One such character is Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond), a lieutenant colonel of the Civic Republic Military who has ties to professor Leo Bennett (Joe Holt), who has something in common with the missing Rick Grimes.

More than six years after his disappearance and presumed death, Rick’s partner Michonne (Danai Gurira) uncovered evidence Rick survived the bridge explosion in Season 10 episode 13, “What We Become.” There Michonne investigated a washed up boat, where she found Rick’s boots and a cell phone etched with an image of herself and daughter Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming). Following this lead on Rick, Michonne headed north in search of answers.

Audiences will discover more about the Civic Republic Military in World Beyond before the Walking Dead feature films following Rick Grimes unravel the “vast mythology” behind the far-reaching group.

World Beyond is “very much on its own,” series co-creator Scott Gimple noted at New York Comic Con in October, adding “there are points where there is a little bit of crossover” with the wider TWD Universe. The new show “very much gets very deeply into that mythology,” Gimple said. “As far as Rick’s story is concerned, it’s very, very separate, but we’re gonna get a very good look at just how big the world of The Walking Dead is.”

The Walking Dead: World Beyond was scheduled to premiere Sunday, April 12, following the Season 10 finale of The Walking Dead. Both episodes were pushed back to later this year due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.