The Walking Dead: World Beyond Reveals What Happened After Jadis Disappeared With Rick Grimes

What comes after the fateful helicopter flight Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) took with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) on The Walking Dead? When Jadis touches down in Season 2 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, viewers will learn more about what happened during the six years skipped over after a Civic Republic Military helicopter airlifted a gravely wounded Rick to safety in the Season 9 episode “What Comes After.” The spin-off will bridge the gap with new intel when Jadis returns to the Walking Dead Universe for the first time since 2018 — this time as a decorated officer in the CRM. 

“In the trailer, when we reveal that Jadis is indeed going to be a part of this show, there’s some dialogue that accompanies that visual,” TWD: World Beyond showrunner and co-creator Matt Negrete told Entertainment Weekly. “She’s talking about how much she believes in the CRM. She sees it as the last light of the world. We don’t know if that’s a put-on or if that’s real, but that’s what she’s saying nonetheless.”

The black-clad Jadis, stepping out with a new look and a military uniform hinting at her status with the CRM, says to someone: “I know the Civic Republic is the last light of the world. My purpose is to create a new era on this planet.” 

“She’s wearing that CRM uniform,” Negrete said. “And it’s also got a very interesting, decorative rope to it that we haven’t seen on a CRM uniform before. So it’s possible she’s a different part of the CRM, and we might be revealing more about that.”

Negrete teased the second and final season will fill in the gaps about those missing six years skipped over when Jadis vanished with Rick aboard a CRM helicopter.

“Six years have gone by, and we’re not going to ignore those six years that passed in between her leaving that show and coming onto this show. She will be talking a bit about what happened to her after she climbed on that helicopter with Rick,” he said. “And I do think, from a Walking Dead fan perspective, that’s going to be very intriguing for a lot of people watching.”

As a writer-producer for past seasons of The Walking Dead showran by World Beyond co-creator Scott Gimple, Negrete co-wrote such Jadis-featuring episodes as Season 8 episode “Time For After” and Rick’s exit in “What Comes After.” 

“It’s been amazing having her on the show. Because Jadis, to me, has always been such an interesting character. She’s very ambitious. And she’s a survivor. And she’ll do, basically, whatever she has to and become whoever she has to become to survive,” said Negrete. “We saw that on Walking Dead when she became the leader of this group that lived in this trash heap. And now we’re seeing a very different iteration of Jadis, where she’s got some new objectives, some new goals. In a lot of ways, she’s the same old Jadis, but we’re going to be seeing some new sides of her that I’m excited for everyone to check out.”

Rick remains MIA and will not appear in World Beyond, according to Gimple. The Walking Dead Universe chief content officer is a co-writer and producer behind Rick’s return in the Untitled Walking Dead Movie, which will “explore the story of where Rick is taken and what he faces in a new corner of the zombie apocalypse,” reads a description from AMC. 

Gimple previously confirmed McIntosh would return opposite Lincoln in what is planned as the first in a big-screen movie trilogy.  

TWD: World Beyond returns with new episodes October 3 on AMC or stream early starting September 26 on AMC+. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things The Walking Dead.