AMC’s The Walking Dead had a huge drop-off in popularity after some controversial story choices around season 6. The Walking Dead ended in 2022 after 11 seasons and was left with a much smaller audience than the show started with. Now that the main story has come to a close, AMC has released 3 different spin-offs focusing on the show’s most iconic characters in an attempt to revive their dead franchise. The Ones Who Live is their latest release, bringing back Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira as Michonne.
The Ones Who Live is the third spin-off series that AMC has put out following the ending of The Walking Dead. First was The Walking Dead: Dead City bringing back sworn enemies Negan and Maggie. The second series titled The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon brought back beloved fan favorite Daryl as the show’s focus. The brand-new series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is bringing back Rick Grimes and Michonne who were famously absent from the final season of The Walking Dead, despite being, arguably, the show’s two most iconic characters. This new series will follow Michonne chasing down a rumor to find her husband Rick, who has been presumed dead for over 6 years, and hopefully see them reunited.
As someone who watched the entirety of The Walking Dead series and pushed through no matter how grueling it got at some points, and read the comics, I was actually pretty excited about these spin-offs. I think that the ending of The Walking Dead didn’t feel final and that there were still a lot more stories to explore. The main thing that I didn’t like about the show’s finale was the absence of Rick and Michonne. Their stories weren’t complete, and it made the finale feel hollow. How can you have The Walking Dead without Rick Grimes? It started with him, it should end with him. This is why I had high hopes for the series and was thrilled to see my favorite characters on screen again.
The six-part miniseries, The Ones Who Live, will be releasing every Sunday on AMC. At the time I wrote this article, just one episode was out, and let me be the first to say, it was a strong start! The premiere opens with an emotional recap of Rick and Michonne’s love story and the events that led up to where each character is now. When we last saw the character Rick Grimes in action, nearly 6 years ago, he was captured by the CRM, the largest group of survivors in the world. The CRM exists like the “old world”. There are no walkers inside, there’s a government, military, jobs, schools, and restaurants. Because of how successful their city is, the CRM doesn’t let people in or out, meaning that Rick has no way to get back to Michonne or his children Judith and RJ. The premier of The Ones Who Live follows Rick Grimes trying to earn a spot in the CRM military and obtain citizenship so that he can be free to escape.
So far, I think that the series is good. The premier was mostly set-up but I think that it has lots of potential. I think that The Ones Who Live works so well because it was co-created by actors Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, who play Rick and Michonne. I believe that these two know their characters much better than the writers of The Walking Dead did at times. In this series, the plot isn’t what’s going to keep me watching, it’s the character study that The Walking Dead has always done so well. What can someone be pushed to do in life-or-death scenarios, who will they become, and what will someone do to get back to the ones they love most? The idea of Rick and Michonne reuniting and continuing what I believe to be one of the best love stories on TV is what will keep me watching.
For those of you who may have stopped watching The Walking Dead because it got slow to you, your favorite character died, or you felt like the world was getting too big, I encourage you to watch the three new series that have come out since the conclusion of the main show. While there is no denying that The Walking Dead franchise dipped in quality towards the end, the three new spin-offs are fantastic, fun, and fresh looks at this undead world and the amazing characters that inhabit it.