This article is about the first season of The Ones Who Live. For other pages with the same name, see: Season 1 |
Season 1 of AMC's The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiered on February 25, 2024, and concluded on March 31, 2024, consisting of 6 episodes. The series is a companion series to The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. It was executive produced by Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, Brian Bockrath, Denise Huth, Greg Nicotero, Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira and Scott Gimple, with Gimple assuming the role of showrunner.
Plot[]
"Years"[]
Five years after being taken by the CRM, Rick Grimes has tried unsuccessfully four times to escape, including sending a message in a bottle to Michonne along with his belongings on one occasion and chopping his own hand off on another. Rick is assigned as a consignee, someone who spends six years doing work on the outskirts of Philadelphia – now the Civic Republic – before being allowed into the city. Rick dreams of a regular life with Michonne and eventually accepts an offer from Lieutenant Colonel Donald Okafor to join the CRM. Okafor reveals that he had helped the CRM, then the Pennsylvania National Guard, save the city from being napalmed at the cost of his own wife and he attempts to recruit Rick and Pearl Thorne into his plan to change the CRM from the inside.
After another failed escape attempt and the destruction of Omaha, Rick finally accepts his new life and a position building a CRM forward operating base in the Cascade Mountains. Recalling a story from his childhood, Rick agrees to join Okafor's plan, just before their helicopter is shot down with Okafor being hit with an explosive projectile and blown up. The attacker then kills the other soldiers one by one after they exit the helicopter until she gets to Rick. She takes his helmet off and realizes that it's Rick, then takes her own mask off revealing herself to be Michonne who is reunited with Rick for the first time in years.
"Gone"[]
Six years after Rick's supposed death, Michonne helps Aiden and Bailey reunite with their massive caravan, but refuses to join it out of disgust over the caravan's rules and her determination to find Rick and go back to their children. Aiden, Bailey, and their friend Nat outfit Michonne for her journey and later come to her aid against a massive horde, having been inspired by Michonne to break away along with dozens of others. The group agrees to help Michonne in her search, but the CRM attacks with chlorine gas, killing everyone except for Michonne and Nat who are forced to spend a year recovering from the damage done to their lungs and throats. Pressing on to the location mentioned in the boat's log book, Michonne and Nat find an abandoned and destroyed safe zone and dozens of burned bodies.
Nat convinces Michonne to return to Alexandria, but to keep faith that Rick is still alive. On the way back, the two spot a CRM helicopter and attack it using Nat's explosives in retaliation for the death of their friends, only for Michonne to be reunited with Rick. Nat is killed by a surviving CRM soldier, who Rick then kills. As soldiers close in, Rick helps Michonne create a successful cover story for the CRM, promising that they will escape together. However, Rick is confronted by Jadis who had recognized Michonne and threatens him if they try to escape while Michonne desires to take down the CRM despite Rick's warnings that they will never get home if they try to.
"Bye"[]
In a flashback, Jadis approaches Rick in Millenium Park, and explains her people's deal with the CRM and her intention to sign up. However, Rick is only interested in escaping. After returning to base, Rick enlists Thorne's help in successfully getting Michonne into the consignment program, but Jadis warns that if Rick and Michonne escape, she will have to kill everyone that he loves for security. Rick attempts to help Michonne escape on her own, but she refuses to go without him. While touring Millenium Park, Michonne meets the artist who created Rick's engraved iPhones and finds new hope.
After receiving the Echelon Briefing - the revelation of all of the CRM's secrets - and a promotion, Thorne becomes unsure of whether to follow in Okafor's footsteps, reluctantly enlisting Michonne's help for the mission. When Michonne goes rogue during a walker fight, Thorne nearly kills her, and Rick ends their relationship in an attempt to protect her. Having earned Major General Beale's trust, Rick is slated to receive a promotion in advance of a summit of the CRM's entire leadership. However, Michonne throws herself and Rick out of a helicopter in a daring mid-air escape on the return trip in the middle of a severe thunderstorm.
"What We"[]
After jumping from the helicopter, Rick and Michonne fall into a river outside of Greenwood, a community of innovators formed after the apocalypse began and which still has power and modern amenities. However, Greenwood fell at some point, likely to starvation, leaving it overrun with walkers. Michonne then proceeds to try and convince Rick to go back home with her, revealing they have a son together named Rick Jr. Rick still refuses to go back, telling her Jadis will kill everyone they know if they escape. They find out the helicopter they were in crashed in the storm, giving them the perfect opportunity to escape since the CRM will believe Rick and Michonne to be dead but Rick still says he won't go home with her intending to complete Okafor's mission to reform the CRM into something better.
Michonne then decides to leave Rick behind, with Rick going after her shortly after. A CRM helicopter bombs the wreckage to destroy any evidence of the CRM's existence, trapping Rick and Michonne in a collapsing building full of walkers. Rick and Michonne slowly reconnect and have sex with each other. After this, Michonne gets through to Rick resulting in him admitting that he can't see Carl's face anymore due to his traumas and that he's terrified to be with Michonne again as Rick wouldn't survive losing her again. After Michonne gives Rick an iPhone engraved with Carl's portrait, she convinces Rick to go home with her. Rick and Michonne escape as Greenwood collapses and take one of the community's hybrid vehicles which has enough ethanol to get them home to Alexandria.
"Become"[]
In flashbacks, Jadis – going by her real name of Anne – visits Gabriel once a year, privately admitting that while she's dedicated to the CRM's mission, she is conflicted about the lengths that the CRM goes to. Gabriel insists that Anne is still a good person, proven by her inability to kill Gabriel. In the present, making a stop to rest on their way to Alexandria, Rick and Michonne encounters and fight off a family of bandits and spend the night in Yellowstone National Park where Jadis, having deduced their survival, finds them. Jadis unsuccessfully tries to kill them and is badly wounded. She runs away and the couple goes after her in a car chase. Jadis then pulls the bandits into it, with Rick and Michonne being unable to kill Jadis due to her dossier that threatens Alexandria's safety.
Jadis reveals that Rick was slated to receive the Echelon Briefing and move up in the CRM and reaches a deal where Rick will return to the CRM while Michonne can go home, but they double-cross each other and Jadis is fatally bitten by a walker in the melee. Jadis explains that after losing her people, she dedicated herself to a cause that seemed like it would last. Deciding to die as Anne rather than as Jadis, she tells them where to find the dossier at Cascadia Base and gives Rick a wedding ring that Gabriel had found for him. At her request, Rick shoots Anne. Rick gives Michonne the wedding ring and they formally exchange vows. He and Michonne then decide to take Jadis' helicopter and return to the CRM to find the dossier and stop them once and for all. Realizing that Anne is dead after she fails to show up for their yearly meeting, a heartbroken Gabriel crafts a makeshift grave marker for her.
"The Last Time"[]
Rick and Michonne return to Cascadia Base where Michonne sneaks in and finds and destroys Jadis' dossier before attending a briefing for the Frontliners where Michonne learns that the CRM intends to abduct select children from Portland before destroying the city with chlorine gas. Rick is given the Echelon Briefing in which Beale informs him of the truth about the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony and the upcoming attack on Portland. Beale reveals that, believing that humanity only has around fourteen years left, the CRM is going to declare martial law on the Civic Republic and destroy survivor communities all across the world, scavenging their resources to ensure their own survival.
Rick kills Beale with his own sword and Rick and Michonne rig up a makeshift bomb on the chlorine gas arsenal before being confronted by Thorne who had deduced the truth about Michonne's identity. Michonne is forced to kill Thorne and the bomb and the gas kills the CRM Force Command and all of the Frontliners. With the CRM's atrocities exposed and its command structure decimated, the civilian government takes over and reforms the CRM to aid other survivors while enabling free travel to and from the city. Rick and Michonne return home and are finally reunited with their children, Judith and R.J.
Episodes[]
Title | Writer(s) | Director(s) | Original Air Date | U.S. Viewers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Years" | Story: Scott Gimple Danai Gurira Andrew Lincoln Teleplay: Scott Gimple |
Bert Bertie |
February 25, 2024 | 0.90 million |
2. | "Gone" | Nana Nkweti Channing Powell |
Bert Bertie |
March 3, 2024 | 0.88 million |
3. | "Bye" | Gabriel Llanas Matt Negrete |
Michael Slovis | March 10, 2024 | 0.91 million |
4. | "What We" | Danai Gurira | Michael Slovis | March 17, 2024 | 0.88 million |
5. | "Become" | Gabriel Llanas Matt Negrete |
Michael Satrazemis | March 24, 2024 | 0.82 million |
6. | "The Last Time" | Scott Gimple Channing Powell |
Michael Satrazemis | March 31, 2024 | 0.85 million |
Title Screen[]
- Main article: Title Screens (The Ones Who Live)
Cast[]
- Starring
- Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes (6/6)
- Danai Gurira as Michonne Grimes (6/6)
- Pollyanna McIntosh as Anne (5/6)
- Supporting
- Terry O'Quinn as Johnathan Beale (3/6)
- Lesley-Ann Brandt as Pearl Thorne (3/6)
- Guests
- Craig Tate as Donald Okafor (2/6)
- Frankie Quiñones as Esteban Garcia (1/6)
- Matthew Jeffers as Nat (2/6)
- Breeda Wool as Aiden (1/6)
- Andrew Bachelor as Bailey (1/6)
- Erin Anderson as Elle (1/6)
- Julian Cihi as Benjiro (1/6)
- Tessa Slovis as Cleo Clifton (1/6)
- Seth Gilliam as Gabriel Stokes (1/6)
- Will Brill as Dalton (1/6)
- Ben Dickey as Red (1/6)
- Han Van Sciver as Tina (1/6)
- Cailey Fleming as Judith Grimes (3/6)
- Antony Azor as R.J. Grimes (2/6)
- Deleted Scenes
- Robert O'Hara as Unknown (0/6)
- Luba Mason as Willow (0/6)
- Co-Stars
- Alexis Rae Forlenza as Little Girl (1/6)
- Karma Jenkins as Hannah (1/6)
- Les Trent as Anchor (2/6)
- Uncredited
- Unknown as Trabruzzi
- Unknown as Lakshmi Patel
- Norman Reedus as Civic Republic Resident
- Alexandra Lopez Galan as Consignee
- Stephanie McIntyre as CRM Frontliner
- John Martineau as CRM Frontliner
- Olivier as CRM Frontliner
- Adam Jackson as CRM Soldier
- Unknown as Greenwood's Automated Voice (Voice Only)
- Califf Guzman as CRM Frontliner
- Olivier as CRM Frontliner
- Genoveva Rossi as Walker
- Moses J. Moseley as Mike (Archive Footage)
- Theshay West as Terry (Archive Footage)
- Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes (Archive Footage)
- Tom Payne as Paul Rovia (Archive Footage)
- Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon (Archive Footage)
- Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee (Archive Footage)
- Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier (Archive Footage)
- Cailey Fleming as Judith Grimes (Archive Footage)
- Maggie Grace as Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki (Archive Footage)
- Antony Azor as R.J. Grimes (Archive Footage)
- Thomas Francis Murphy as Brion (Archive Footage)
- Sabrina Gennarino as Tamiel (Archive Footage)
- Annet Mahendru as Jennifer Mallick (Archive Footage)
- Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh (Archive Footage)
- Nick Gomez as Tomas (Archive Footage)
- Markice Moore as Andrew (Archive Footage)
- Tate Ellington as Alex (Archive Footage)
- Jeff Kober as Joe (Archive Footage)
- Jessi Goei as Gina (Archive Footage)
- David Morrissey as Philip Blake (Archive Footage)
- Andrew J. West as Gareth (Archive Footage)
- Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon (Archive Footage)
- Lawrence Kao as Tim (Archive Footage)
- Arthur Bridgers as Crowley (Archive Footage)
- Dave Davis as Gargulio (Archive Footage)
- Corey Brill as Pete Anderson (Archive Footage)
- S.J. Ovaska as Samuel Abbott (Archive Footage)
- Khary Payton as Ezekiel Sutton (Archive Footage)
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan Smith (Archive Footage)
- Steven Ogg as Simon (Archive Footage)
- Lennie James as Morgan Jones (Archive Footage)
- Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter (Archive Footage)
- Michael Raymond-James as Dave (Archive Footage)
- Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee (Archive Footage)
- Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene (Archive Footage)
- Justin Kucsulain as Ethan (Archive Footage)
- Luke David Blumm as Linus (Archive Footage)
- Blade as Siggard Family Horse (Archive Footage)
- Justin Hall as CRM Soldier (Archive Footage)
- James Armstrong as CRM Soldier (Archive Footage)
- Amanda Beam as Scavenger (Archive Footage)
- Bobby Black as Scavenger (Archive Footage)
- Tia Davis as Alexandria Resident (Archive Footage)
- Sherita Vickers as Savior (Archive Footage)
- Laura Barg-Walkow as Scavenger (Archive Footage)
- Marcus Pullin as Scavenger (Archive Footage)
- Cory Jones as Scavenger (Archive Footage, Zombified)
- Adam Boyer as Bat Smock Man (Archive Footage)
- Justice Leak as Knife Smock Man (Archive Footage)
- Kevin Patrick Murphy as Male Survivor (Archive Footage)
- Greg Rementer as Savior (Archive Footage)
- Nick Epper as Savior (Archive Footage)
- Morgan Davis as Trooper 263 (Archive Footage)
- Jefry Capinegro as Jocelyn's Bandit (Archive Footage)
Deaths[]
- Little Girl's Father (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
- Little Girl's Mother (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
- Estelle Okafor (Confirmed Fate)
- Mr. Grimes (Confirmed Fate, Pre-Apocalypse)
- Donald Okafor
- Aiden (Alive and Zombified)
- Aiden and Bailey's Unborn Child
- Bailey (Alive and Zombified)
- Nat
- Lakshmi Patel (Confirmed Fate)
- Red (Alive and Zombified)
- Tina (Alive and Zombified)
- Dalton (Alive and Zombified)
- Anne
- CRM Frontliner 1
- Johnathan Beale (Alive and Zombified)
- CRM Frontliner 2 (Alive and Zombified)
- Pearl Thorne (Alive; Zombified, Off-Screen)
- 4,000 unnamed U.S. Marines (Confirmed Fate; 3 Zombified)
- All unnamed members of the little girl's group (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Possibly, Zombified)
- 2,003 unnamed Frontliners (1 Off-Screen, 1,998 Alive; 14 Zombified; Most Zombified, Off-Screen)
- All unnamed members of Nat's Group (Alive; 8 Zombified)
- At least 120 unnamed Bridgers Terminal survivors (Confirmed Fate)
- Numerous unnamed Greenwood residents (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Many Zombified)
- All unnamed members of CRM Force Command (Alive; Zombified, Off-Screen)
- Many horses
Production[]
In 2018, following his departure from the main Walking Dead series, it was announced that Andrew Lincoln would star in a trilogy of films focusing on Rick Grimes for AMC. Scott M. Gimple was set to write the screenplays, with production expected to begin in 2019.[1]
In 2019, a teaser trailer was unveiled, confirming the trilogy would be theatrical releases distributed by Universal Pictures. The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman was said to be "heavily" involved with the trilogy.[2]
In July 2022, it was announced by Scott M. Gimple, Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira at San Diego Comic-Con that the trilogy would be repurposed into a mini-series for television, with Lincoln and Gurira reprising their roles from the original television series.[3] The limited series consisted of six episodes.[4] It was initially titled The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne,[5] then retitled to The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live in July 2023.[6]
Filming[]
Principal photography began on February 15, 2023,[7] and wrapped on May 29, 2023,[8][9] in New Jersey[10] under the working title Summit.[11] Additional filming and ADR would resume during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike due to an agreement between AMC and SAG-AFTRA.[12]
Writing[]
The series was created by Gimple, Gurira and Lincoln, with an episode written by Gurira and Gimple serving as showrunner.[9] The series was set up by The Walking Dead series finale "Rest in Peace", which featured the return of Rick and Michonne.[13]
Release[]
The series premiered on February 25, 2024, on AMC and AMC+.[14]
Home Media Releases[]
The series was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 10, 2024.[15]
Reception[]
Critical Response[]
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of 54 critics gave The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live a positive review with an average rating of 8.15/10. The website's critics consensus is, "A Walking Dead spinoff that balances past and present without skimping on blockbuster scope, The Ones Who Live is a consistent treat for longtime fans."[16] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]
References[]
- ↑ https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/walking-dead-andrew-lincoln-movies-1203019537/
- ↑ https://variety.com/2019/film/news/andrew-lincoln-walking-dead-movie-1203273835/
- ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/the-walking-dead-spin-off-starring-andrew-lincolns-rick-grimes-and-danai-guriras-michonne-announced-for-2023
- ↑ https://ew.com/events/comic-con/walking-dead-andrew-lincoln-danai-gurira-comic-con-2022/
- ↑ https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/more-tales-from-the-walking-dead-universe-short-form-series-amc-scott-gimple/
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/walking-dead-spinoffs-dead-city-daryl-dixon-renewed-amc-1235540906/
- ↑ https://www.gamesradar.com/the-walking-dead-andrew-lincoln-rick-and-michonne-spin-off/
- ↑ https://collider.com/the-walking-dead-rick-michonne-spin-off-filming-wrapped/
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://collider.com/walking-dead-rick-michonne-spin-off-danai-gurira-writing/
- ↑ https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-walking-dead-rick-michonne-set-photos-andrew-lincoln-new-look/
- ↑ https://www.productionweekly.com/production-weekly-issue-1327-thursday-december-8-2022-94-listings-20-pages/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2023/08/the-walking-dead-spinoffs-interview-with-a-vampire-to-resume-production-sag-aftra-deal-1235533050/
- ↑ https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-finale-rick-michonne-ending-explained/
- ↑ https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-walking-dead-the-ones-who-live-premiere-date-teaser-1235799571/
- ↑ https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=34774
- ↑ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_walking_dead_the_ones_who_live/s01
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-walking-dead-the-ones-who-live/season-1/
Season 1 | |
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Episode Guide: TV Series • Fear • World Beyond • Tales • Dead City • Daryl Dixon • Webisodes |