The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Easter Eggs Might Tease a Crossover

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.] “To injure an opponent is to injure yourself.” Those wise words of Morihei Ueshiba were repeated back to Morgan Jones (Lennie James) when he was a man at war with himself on season 7 of The Walking Dead, after his mentor Eastman (John Carroll Lynch) handed down a copy of The Art of Peace in season 6. Morgan would carry that book and Eastman’s teachings with him over to Fear the Walking Dead, which received a shout out by way of Easter eggs in the new Walking Dead Rick and Michonne series. To quote Morgan again: “Everything gets a return.”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live opening credits show a United States map marked with fuel drop sites used by the Civic Republic Military’s fleet of helicopters. Not only do the maps highlight the three communities that formed the Alliance of the Three and were represented by the three-ring symbol — the Civic Republic of Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; and Omaha, Nebraska — but Texas is marked with the radioactive sign after nuclear warheads detonated in the season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead.

The episode included another nod that’s easier to miss. When Sgt. Maj. Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Sgt. Maj. Pearl Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt) conspire with CRM Lt. Col. Donald Okafor (Craig Tate) and he explains the meaning of “A’s” and “B’s,” Okafor hands them a stack of books and materials to study. Included in the pile of books is The Art of Peace.

Are these Easter eggs hints that Morgan might appear on The Ones Who Live? The character’s final episode of Fear the Walking Dead saw him try to radio Rick Grimes with a message: “Man, I’m gonna come and look for you, whether you’re at Alexandria or not.” Rick has spent the past eight years trapped at the Civic Republic of Philadelphia, the hidden city protected by the CRM — and its soldiers previously ran afoul of Morgan over on Fear.

“I think one of the great things about the show — and in fact, about allof the shows — is that characters get to grow, get to incorporate theirexperiences into who they are,” James recently told ComicBook whenasked about potentially reuniting with Lincoln’s Rick on The Ones Who Live. ” Ithink if Morgan and Rick stood opposite each other, I think the changein who they were when they first met to who they would be now ishumongous. I mean, it’s almost kind of indescribable.”

“The things they’ve lost, the things they’ve learned about themselves,the skills, the terrible, terrible things they’ve done, and the amazingthings they’ve done,” James continued. “Those two men standing oppositeeach other, the history that passes between them would just beunfathomable. It would be massive. I think back to when that firstreunion came in Alexandria [in the season 5 finale], and it was thisjaw-dropping moment. Now, so much more has happened since then. It wouldbe incredible.”

New episodes of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow on Facebook for more TWD Universe coverage.