The Walking Dead Star on What World Beyond's Jadis Reveal Means for Rick Grimes

By Cameron Bonomolo - November 8, 2021 05:55 pm EST

Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) reveals some very valuable intel about the missing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) on The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Spoiler warning for Sunday's Season 2 Episode 6, "Who Are You?" Six in-universe years after Jadis calls down the helicopter that medevacs a near-mortally wounded Rick out of The Walking Dead, Jadis touches down on World Beyond as a warrant officer for the Civic Republic Military. "I gave the CRM something very valuable, and I got a new life," she tells CRM Staff Sargeant Huck (Annet Mahendru), revealing the first intel on what happened to Rick Grimes after that fateful helicopter ride.

"I think one of the wonderful things about the way The Walking Dead Universe works is that you get little pieces, you get to chew on them, you get to think about them, you get to imagine yourself," McIntosh said in an exclusive interview with ComicBook when asked about that piece of intel on Rick. "Often when I'm talking to fans, and they say, 'What does this mean? What happened here?' I say, 'Well, what do you think?', and some of their theories are even more interesting than the truth."

"So I think you can take it in your own way and imagine what you would want Rick to have gone through or done, or reacted or however, in this world that Jadis is talking about," McIntosh said. "But I like that they put in that line about him being very valuable because Jadis did care about Rick, and respected the hell out of him, and appreciated what he'd done for her. So, yeah, when she says 'valuable,' she doesn't just mean to the CRM."

Jadis labeled Rick a "B" before climbing aboard that CRM helicopter that flew him to an unknown destination, indicating Rick is an asset for the Civic Republic Military. As the leader of the Scavengers, Jadis had previously labeled Rick an "A," a classification for the dead or dying zombie-bitten test subjects studied by CRM scientist Dr. Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold).

"I have a 'B.' Not an 'A.' I never had an 'A,'" Jadis radios the CRM pilot who ultimately whisks Rick away from The Walking Dead. "He's hurt, but he's strong. Can you help him?"

Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) were at one point "As," but both escaped without walker bites after being held prisoner by Jadis. She finally gets her "B" for helicopter extraction in Season 9 Episode 5, "What Comes After," when she happens upon an injured Rick after he nearly dies in a bridge explosion.

Jadis engaged in human trafficking, abducting and trading people like the still-missing Heath (Corey Hawkins) in exchange for supplies to the junkyard where she lived with the Scavengers. But as a leader — and as a friend of Jadis — Rick's "B" status makes him a valuable asset for the Civic Republic Military.

Jadis specifically says she gave Rick to the CRM, the military force of the CR, and not the Civic Republic. That's the "hidden city" in a classified location where Jadis, CRM Lt. Col. Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond), and 200,000 other survivors live in an advanced civilization that the CRM calls the "last light of the world."

But Rick might still be in danger.

Season 2 of World Beyond revealed hints of a power struggle between the Civilian Government of the Civic Republic and the CRM, the authoritarian army under the command of the shadowy Major General Beale.

The CRM, under a provision of the Founding Compact, agreed to transition power to the Civilian Government after ten years. A decade later, Beale has called for an emergency delay of civilian oversight in response to the 110,000 lives lost at Omaha and its satellite, the Campus Colony, both part of the Alliance of the Three with Portland and the Civic Republic.

But it was a covert operation ordered by Beale and carried out by Kublek that destroyed Omaha and the Campus Colony to retain their power — and Portland is their next target. Rick might be caught in the middle of a civil war between the CR and the CRM, but that's a story for Rick's return in the Walking Dead movies.

Read our full interview with McIntosh and follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. New episodes of The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2 air Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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