The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Trailer Teases Rick's Fate

"There's no escape for the living." Those are the words that the Civic Republic Military told the long-missing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) when he tried — and failed — to return to his wife Michonne (Danai Gurira) at the end of The Walking Dead series finale. That coda confirmed that the captive Rick has been working at a Civic Republic culling facility as "Consignee Grimes" ever since Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) called down the helicopter that flew Rick away to parts unknown. The Walking Dead: World Beyond revealed Rick was shuttled to post-apocalyptic Philadelphia: base of operations for the Civic Republic and its military leader, Major General Beale (Terry O'Quinn). 

But Consignee Grimes has not spent those years toiling away clearing walkers. The first trailer for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live reveals Rick's fate: as a soldier in Major General Beale's elite army. The helmeted, black-clad soldiers serve "the most powerful military on the planet"... and Rick Grimes is among their ranks.

The trailer ends with a shot of a mysteriously-masked CRM soldier, but the gait gives their identity away: it's Rick. And lest there be any doubt about who is beneath the mask, a wider shot of Beale's ranks shows an unmasked Rick in full CRM dress.

In The Walking Dead: World Beyond episode "Foothold," it was explained that the Civic Republic military personnel operates multiple decontamination centers — repurposed stadiums and arenas — as an "experiment in mass culling." This meant that the CR could clear out entire states of walkers and prevent more of the dead from coming in, allowing the living to gain a foothold once again. But like Jadis, who rose through the CRM ranks to become Warrant Officer Stokes, it seems Consignee Grimes' skills were better applied elsewhere.

When (or if?) the Grimes' meet again, there's only one thing in their way: the most powerful military might on the planet. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is "an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world," according to the official synopsis. "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?"

But it's like Michonne said: "We'll always be together, even when we're apart. We, together, are the strongest thing." They're the ones who live.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live — starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne, and Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Jeffries, and Terry O'Quinn — premieres Sunday, February 25, on AMC and AMC+. 

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow on Facebook for more TWD Universe coverage.