'The Walking Dead' finale ending with Rick and Michonne explained - Entertainment Weekly News

SPOILER ALERT: This nonfiction contains spoilers for The Walking Dead series finale.

The Walking Dead easy could person ended its epic 11-season, record-breaking tally with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) riding disconnected into the region connected his motorcycle. And for a infinitesimal there, arsenic the surface faded to black, it appeared it would. And past a lucifer was lit.

The bid finale took a melodramatic crook successful its last fewer minutes, looking some up and backmost arsenic viewers saw the instrumentality of Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira's Michonne — who volition beryllium returning for a 2023 spin-off bid connected AMC. While the duo were successful abstracted places — and, it would seem, abstracted times — they were connected done images of campfires and the sounds of their voices reciting words they were each penning successful a journal. The aforesaid journal, it turns out.

That's due to the fact that arsenic we saw Rick (shoeless and wearing jeans and a Civic Republic Military jacket) in 1 country enactment his boots, journal, and telephone successful a container and past flip it connected a vessel to debar it being confiscated by an approaching CRM helicopter, we besides saw Michonne with that precise aforesaid bag, journal, boots and telephone successful different — the clues that person led her connected her travel to find her mislaid husband.

"I deliberation of the dormant each the time," Rick wrote successful his missive arsenic the faces of friends some surviving and dead— outcry retired to T-Dog! — flashed crossed the screen. "And astir the living. Who I lost. I deliberation astir them each all day. Their faces. What I learned from them. How they made maine who I am. So overmuch much than each of this made maine who I am."

Michonne past sprung into action, sporting a fancy caller samurai-like suit and slicing the caput disconnected 1 walker portion galloping by connected horseback, arsenic Rick was approached by a chopper informing him that "you've been located and are instructed to surrender. Remain successful spot with your hands up," and past adding, "C'mon Rick. It's similar she told you. There's nary flight for the living."

Then, earlier Michonne rode her equine consecutive towards what conscionable whitethorn beryllium the biggest herd of zombies we person ever seen, her missive to Judith finished: "Remember what I said. It's what he said. Hold it to your heart. It's true. Forever." And with that, we flashed backmost to much images of different Walking Dead characters over the people of the bid arsenic we heard their voices repetition the aforesaid words: "We're the ones who live."

The last country ended with Rick's arms raised, surrendering arsenic the chopper descended from the entity betwixt him and a devastated metropolis crossed the water. Rick looked up and… smiled? The country past chopped backmost to his children, Judith and RJ, astatine the Hilltop, wherever Judith told her small brother, "We get to commencement over. We're the ones who live."

How did this last montage travel to be? Where and erstwhile was it filmed? Which erstwhile formed members returned to lend their voices? And wherever precisely is Rick, anyway? We person answers!

When and wherever was the last Rick and Michonne series filmed?

While accumulation wrapped connected the finale successful April, a unit — including finale manager Greg Nicotero — returned to The Walking Dead's basal of operations successful Senoia, Georgia, 4 months aboriginal for a two-day sprout to movie the last conception with Lincoln and Gurira.

"At 1 constituent radical were like, 'Hey, we privation to sprout successful Savannah with the Fear the Walking Dead crew,'" Nicotero tells EW. "Or 'We privation to sprout successful New Jersey.' And I said, 'Guys, I truly privation to usage the unit from The Walking Dead. I privation to sprout it astatine our location base. I conscionable deliberation it's meaningful and important for america to instrumentality the amusement retired with the unit that did the show.'" The web and different producers yet agreed.

"From a filmmaking standpoint, we didn't person this endless magnitude of time," main contented serviceman Scott M. Gimple says. "We were ramping up this accumulation again aft the accumulation had stopped, truthful it was a smaller crew. Greg, [showrunner Angela Kang], Andy, Danai, and I — we knew beauteous overmuch each shot. This wasn't tons of footage to spell through. We didn't person that benignant of time. And yeah, we poured implicit what was said and what was changeable and surely the narration to stories successful the future, but luckily, we knew a batch of wherever this was going."

That was acknowledgment to immoderate prepping that Lincoln and Nicotero did crossed the state anterior to filming. "Andy came and stayed with maine for a week successful L.A.," the manager says. "And we truly peeled each the layers backmost connected it. We conscionable jumped close backmost into it similar [we] hadn't stopped. It was beauteous great."

When did producers onshore connected this arsenic their bid finale ending?

The program to bring Rick and Michonne backmost was successful Kang's caput from the precise beginning: "From the archetypal transportation I did for the ending of the series, I said to the web and the producers, 'Hey, I truly consciousness successful my bosom of hearts that the amusement is not going to consciousness wholly implicit unless we person Rick and Michonne back. I cognize that determination are each these beingness implications wherever I don't person full control. But I'm putting it retired determination that this is the perfect version."

Getting that perfect mentation took a batch of work. "From there, it was a very, very, precise agelong process to really fastener it each up," reveals Kang. "Because determination were each these moving pieces successful the universe, too. So it took a agelong clip and a batch of conversations and determination were concern aspects that needed to beryllium worked out. But from that constituent we were like, 'Well, what is this portion and what does it consciousness like?'"

"Honestly, I truly bash deliberation that immoderate of the worldly came from immoderate suggestions and ideas from Norman," Nicotero says. "Because determination was 1 constituent erstwhile Norman was talking astir however chill it would beryllium for Rick Grimes and Daryl to reunite successful immoderate capacity. And I thought, 'Oh, that's a truly large idea. I would've watched that show.' That was a year-and-a-half ago. And past the speech started."

What they yet ended up with was a collaborative process not conscionable betwixt Kang, Gimple, and Nicotero, but the returning stars arsenic well. "Andy and Danai truly wanted to person an thought of what it mightiness beryllium that they were signing onto," Kang says. "It was truly important to them that they didn't consciousness similar they overshadowed what the existent formed was doing. They didn't privation it to beryllium the precise last portion of the show. So we would beryllium integrating it somehow. There were definite things that were creatively disconnected the array for them."

"We didn't privation it to instrumentality distant from the communicative that had been told for the past season-and-a-half," Nicotero adds. "Because it wouldn't marque consciousness to conscionable person Rick amusement up and prevention the day. And that would instrumentality distant from immoderate of the different characters. So we went backmost and distant for a agelong clip astir whether it was going to happen, whether it wasn't going to happen, whether Danai was going to beryllium available. We went backmost and distant connected it a lot."

Because Gimple is acting showrunner connected the upcoming Rick and Michonne series, helium took the pb connected penning the scene. "To decorativeness the communicative of The Walking Dead, we needed Rick and Michonne," Gimple says. "And to amusement Rick and Michonne, we had to amusement them successful circumstances that they're in. And it truly was like, nary substance wherever these characters are, the situations they're in, whether they're surviving oregon dead, they're everlastingly connected by their clip with each other. That they are portion of a household that is unbreakable. And that is successful immoderate ways 1 agelong life, which is thing thematically we person invoked passim the bid and successful the adjacent earlier moments of this finale. And that's what we started with."

"It felt similar truly the lone mode to integrate it if they weren't showing up astatine the gates of the Commonwealth oregon Alexandria was to beryllium much astir however they are emotionally connected done this thought of, 'We're the ones who live,'" Kang says. "And that's benignant of however that each came to pass."

What is the value of the "We're the ones who live" line?

The enactment "We're the ones who live" was archetypal uttered by Rick successful the play 5 occurrence "Try" aft battling "Porch Dick" Pete successful the thoroughfare and challenging the much passive residents of Alexandria. "We cognize what needs to beryllium done and we bash it," helium told Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh) and the group. "We're the ones who live."

The operation was past repeated backmost to Rick by Michonne successful the makeshift Alexandria jailhouse successful the season 7 midseason finale, "Hearts Still Beating." "We're inactive alive, Rick," Michonne said then. "So overmuch has happened. So overmuch that we shouldn't person lived through. In spite of it, oregon possibly due to the fact that of it, we did. We're inactive here. The 2 of us. We're inactive lasting and we're going to support standing. So what bash we bash with that? How bash we marque that mean something. We're the ones who get things done. You said that. We're the ones who live."

Michonne past repeated the words to Rick 1 occurrence later, successful "Rock successful the Road," aft surviving a adjacent telephone with a herd. "We're here! You tin smile. We made it… we tin marque it. We're the ones who live."

"It was ever this operation that was beauteous wild," Gimple tells EW. "As overmuch arsenic determination were truthful galore radical dying and being capable to say, 'We're the ones who live.' But I ne'er took it arsenic conscionable applying to the surviving people, due to the fact that that seemed a small overmuch to beryllium like, 'Hey, we're the ones that live, excessively atrocious astir each those radical we love.' No, to me, it felt similar there's a continuum of a narration and emotion that cannot beryllium extinguished. And that is what is forged successful this hellhole that we've lived done together. And the triumphant happening is that we everlastingly lived done each different and beyond. That, to me, seems the connection of the full thing."

Who are the voices repeating backmost the "We're the ones who live" line?

As we perceive Michonne's dependable speechmaking her letter, the enactment cuts to a montage of scenes featuring existent characters similar Maggie, Gabriel, Aaron, Eugene, Ezekiel, Negan, Carol, Daryl, portion we perceive them repeating the "We're the ones who live" line.

Also included is erstwhile TWD and existent Fear the Walking Dead quality Morgan (Lennie James), but helium is not the lone erstwhile formed subordinate who came backmost to participate. Here is simply a implicit database of the existent and erstwhile cast-member voices that tin beryllium heard saying "We're the ones who live" successful the montage:

Lauren Cohan (Maggie)
Seth Gilliam (Gabriel)
Ross Marquand (Aaron)
Lennie James (Morgan)
Josh McDermitt (Eugene)
Laurie Holden (Andrea)
Khary Payton (Ezekiel)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan)
Melissa McBride (Carol)
Norman Reedus (Daryl)
Chandler Riggs (Carl)
Michael Cudlitz (Abraham)
Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha)
Nadia Hilker (Magna)
Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko)
Angel Theory (Kelly)
Christian Serratos (Rosita)
Paola Lázaro (Princess)
Cassady McClincy (Lydia)
Cooper Andrews (Jerry)
Okea Eme-Akwari (Elijah)
Margot Bingham (Max)
Steven Yeun (Glenn)
Danai Gurira (Michonne)
Andrew Lincoln (Rick)

At 1 point, Gimple did not conscionable privation to halt astatine the voices. "There were visions I had successful my caput of adjacent trying to sprout radical successful a mode and integrate them into it," helium says. "The velocity we were moving at, it didn't look we could bash it visually successful a mode that seemed awesome."

In the end, logistical concerns arsenic good arsenic the trouble successful ocular matching led them to scrap the idea. "This was scheduled successful a precise choky way, and we would've had to docket aggregate shoots passim the state to bash it. Also, you cognize successful older seasons of Survivor, erstwhile they went straight from the past Tribal Council to the unrecorded event, and everybody looks wholly antithetic implicit the span of 30 seconds? I was a small disquieted astir that too. Josh McDermitt's hairsbreadth is blond close now."

Seeing images from the 11-season travel with the recently recorded audio did the trick. Says Gimple, "At the extremity of the day, looking astatine what we did editorially, I was beauteous psyched, due to the fact that it came through. And I accidental there's thing to seeing the past."

What is Michonne wearing?

While Rick is shoeless and rocking a raggedy CRM bomber jacket, Michonne is sporting overmuch nicer duds — she wears an ensemble that makes the katana-wielding warrior look similar a transverse betwixt a samurai and Marvel superhero (something Gurira knows a small thing about). It includes a badass hood and cage disguise combo.

The "classic Walking Dead wardrobe," arsenic Gimple describes it, was enactment unneurotic by archetypal TWD costume decorator Eulyn Hufkie, who is present moving connected the Rick and Michonne spin-off. Where did Michonne travel crossed this battle-ready armor? "There is simply a communicative down it that volition beryllium told," Gimple promises. "But Rick is successful precise antithetic circumstances, and it isn't conscionable geographic. Obviously, there's a batch going on, and that armor that she wears is portion of a large communicative with her."

Where precisely is Rick?

The montage ends with Rick lasting crossed the h2o from a decrepit looking city. But what metropolis is it? While Gimple volition not authorities definitively wherever Rick is, helium offers a fewer clues: "You saw that achromatic helicopter. We cognize the chopper is CRM, I mean, hell, we tin spot it connected this jacket. So radical could extrapolate beyond that, that the metropolis whitethorn beryllium associated with the CRM."

On The Walking Dead: World Beyond, the CRM destroyed the metropolis of Omaha utilizing chlorine state and covered up the battle by staging a ample walker attack, truthful if you're looking for a metropolis that has intelligibly seen amended days and has a CRM connection, that could beryllium it. (Notice the instrumentality Rick uses to smash the zombie skull resembles a akin instrumentality utilized by Silas and others to de-brain walkers connected World Beyond.)

But determination is different World Beyond anticipation arsenic well. That bid ended with the formed of plucky tykes redeeming the metropolis of Portland from a akin destiny arsenic Omaha (or truthful we thought). We cognize the CRM is heavy invested successful Portland, and the metropolis sits connected some the Columbia and Willamette rivers, which could explicate the h2o separating Rick from the ruins.

But earlier you laic each your wealth down connected a World Beyond connection, wait! Gimple has much clues! "I'll accidental this: People person detected what that metropolis is online, and you tin look astatine that skyline and observe wherever that is. People person seen that skyline referenced already successful promotion. It's been referenced before. I deliberation radical could link those dots."

So let's link them. Back successful the summertime of 2019, it was announced that the archetypal installment of what was past planned to beryllium a trilogy of Rick Grimes movies would look "only successful theaters." A abbreviated teaser video was produced, and that teaser showed a chopper and a skyline — a skyline that appears to lucifer the 1 that conscionable showed up again successful the last finale scene. That skyline has been antecedently identified by online sleuths as… Philadelphia (see video below).

It looks similar we whitethorn so spot however overmuch brotherly emotion Rick Grimes is feeling successful the zombie apocalypse.

Finally, wherefore is Rick smiling?

The dude is shoeless, conscionable had to ditch his container with each his possessions, is surrounded by rotted corpses, wholly needs a shower, and appears arsenic if helium is astir to beryllium apprehended yet again by the CRM, truthful wherefore is the past representation 1 of Rick Grimes smiling? "Rick inactive has immoderate combat near successful him," Gimple says. "Rick is not yet broken, Rick is defiant. And Michonne is defiant. These radical gully spot from this continuum of emotion that they person created retired of nothing, oregon adjacent retired of calamity and loss."

Gimple continues: "And truthful helium is wholly screwed determination — and I'm speaking similar Ezekiel present — and yet helium smiles, due to the fact that helium inactive has immoderate combat successful him, and helium is not yet laying his caput down. And what gives him that is the aforesaid happening that gives Michonne the spot to spell into that walker herd. And that gives Judith the spot to look astatine that aboriginal and say, 'We're the ones who live.' It's the spot that's going to get her through. So that grin is indicative of the spot that is drawn done 11 seasons of The Walking Dead."

And now, much spin-off seasons to come.

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