The Walking Dead's Scott Gimple Addresses Rick Grimes Coma Fan Theory

Despite 193 issues of The Walking Dead comic, 177 episodes of The Walking Dead TV series, and six other The Walking Dead spinoff TV shows, one fan theory has prevailed: the whole thing is a dream happening in Rick Grimes' mind as he lies in a coma in a hospital bed. Like so many "it was all a dream" style fan theories, the "Rick is in a coma" theory was seemingly born from a hope that things would all work out for all the characters whose horrible fate we had to witness, not to mention the ongoing trope of  "it was all a dream" seen in shows like Newhart and St. Elsewhere. But it can't be true... right?

Speaking with ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview for the upcoming The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live TV series, we asked The Walking Dead CCO and series executive producer Scott Gimple if he had a favorite fan theory from all his years working on The Walking Dead and its many spinoffs. Having been a part of the series since its second season, Gimple has seen it all, and he was quick to note the Rick Grimes Coma theory as one he's surprised people appear to still be into.

"You know what? I try not to read too much of that stuff because I never want to like, you know, inadvertently take any of that stuff even though I love fan theories. But, I do like people who still believe that Rick is still in that bed and he's still in a coma. I mean, that's always, but that's like, even from the comic...That's not like a spoiler....He's awake."

When does The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live start?

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will premiere its first episode on AMC on Sunday, February 25, 2024. The six-episode series will premiere new episodes weekly, with the release schedule looking like this:

• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 1 release date – Sunday, February 25, 2024
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 2 release date  – Sunday, March 3, 2024
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 3 release date  – Sunday, March 10, 2024
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 4 release date  – Sunday, March 17, 2024
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 5 release date  – Sunday, March 24, 2024
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode 6 release date  – Sunday, March 31, 2024

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live series is the much anticipated return of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, filling in the gap of the story about what happened to his character after he left the flagship The Walking Dead series in season 9 while also continuing the story of Danai Gurira's Michonne following The Walking Dead series finale. Other cast members for the series include Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Jeffries, and Terry O'Quinn. AMC describes The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live as follows:

This series presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead... And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they've ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive -- or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead? Gimple serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Lincoln and Gurira.