The CRM Plays Major Role in The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s Final Episodes of the Season

The Walking Dead: World Beyond ramps up towards its first season finale as the Civic Republic Military, the black-clad force behind the helicopter abduction of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), comes back into play this season in "a big way." The CRM, under the charge of Lt. Col. Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond), massacred the 9,000-plus survivors living inside the walls of Nebraska's Campus Colony — the home community to the group of six now en route to a top-secret Civic Republic research facility somewhere in New York. Kublek sent sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) on their 1,100-mile mission to save their father, Dr. Leo Bennett (Joe Holt), with a coded map they deciphered with help from grifters Percy (Ted Sutherland) and Tony (Scott Adsit).

The group's road trip took a detour when "Truth or Dare" ended with Percy missing and a blood-stained Silas (Hal Cumpston) crumpled near Tony's bludgeoned-to-death body. Now group chaperones Huck (Annet Mahendru) and Felix (Nico Tortorella) must deliberate on what to do with their teen murder suspect as Hope harbors her own dark secret about the death of Elton's (Nicolas Cantu) mother ten years earlier.

"That [murder] cliffhanger will be resolved very soon going into the final stretch of episodes. I think it's everything coming to a head. The final three episodes really deal with this group, what's happened so far and the aftermath," series co-creator and showrunner Matthew Negrete told EW. "I'll say that the first chunk of episodes this season was really about this group finding their groove and coming together, and now we're seeing things really start to fall apart."

Negrete goes on to tease that "relationships will be tested," and "there are going to be a lot of things about each other that they assume that might not actually be true."

"We're going to see some riffs between characters that I think are going to be surprising for people. The CRM will also factor in in a big, big way as we get into this final stretch. Yeah, I'm really excited for people to see it," Negrete said. "Next week's episode is really fantastic. The stakes are just getting higher and higher as we ramp up to get into the season."

In episode 108, "The Sky Is a Graveyard," one member of the group revisits past trauma as they find themselves at a crossroads over Tony's shocking murder. The final two episodes of the first season will then air back-to-back on November 29.

The penultimate episode of the season, "The Deepest Cut," sees the group slowed by an accident while someone makes a discovery. In the first season finale, "In This Life," the divided survivors struggle to reunite while others set their sights on the greater good, according to episode synopses.

World Beyond is expected to return with its ten-episode second season sometime in 2021.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. New episodes of The Walking Dead: World Beyond premiere Sundays at 10/9c on AMC.