Jadis’ Return Raises the Stakes on The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

Sunday’s “Gone” episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live involved returns and reunions. First, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) separate stories intersected, with the long-lost loves crossing paths after they accepted that the other was gone. Just as Rick resigned himself to his fate as a soldier unable to escape the Civic Republic’s army, and just as Michonne called off her search for Rick to return to their children back home at Alexandria… fate intervened.

The couple reunited in a Pennsylvania field when Michonne’s companion, Nat (Matthew August Jeffers), fired the missiles that shot down Rick’s helicopter and killed his superior officer Okafor (Craig Tate). But the Richonne reunion was short-lived. Moments later, a CRM helicopter collected the pair, and they were separated as Michonne — an “A” pretending to be a “B” — was entered into the same consignment where Rick spent six years culling walkers on the outskirts of the Civic Republic of Philadelphia.

There was one more twist. After Michonne convinced a CRM council that she was a “B” named “Dana” during designation intake, the episode ended with the return of Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) — the person who loaded Rick onto the helicopter that took him away from Michonne, and the only other person who knows that Rick’s wife has found him.

“She found you. If anyone could, she could,” Jadis told Rick, before issuing a threat: “You have to know that if you try to escape with her, I will make sure that all those people that you love die, including a few that I like very much. You have to know that. I’m certain that you do. I’ve had to do things like that. My hands are already covered in blood. They can’t get any bloodier.” (Read our recap for a rundown of Jadis’ dirty deeds over on The Walking Dead: World Beyond.)

“When Danai and Andy and me started talking about this story, we all had a mind that we wanted to bring Jadis back in,” series co-creator and showrunner Scott M. Gimple said on TWD: The Ones Who Live Episode Insider. “Jadis heightens the stakes, and she was never worried about Rick escaping. But Michonne shows up, the two of them together, they can do anything.” 

World Beyond reintroduced Jadis/Anne as CRM Warrant Officer Stokes, a true believer who — spoiler alert! — carried out the Civic Republic Military’s clandestine “tactical military operations” that destroyed the Omaha Safe-Zone and Campus Colony communities. 

How bloody are Jadis’ hands? Omaha and its satellite colony had a combined population of more than 107,000 survivors. The CRM had them eliminated under orders from Rick and Jadis’ commanding officer: CRM Major General Beale (Terry O’Quinn).

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.