Rick Grimes survives the bridge explosion in The Walking Dead and is taken away by helicopter, leaving his friends to believe he is dead. The years that follow are mostly offscreen until The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live fills in his life with the Civic Republic Military (CRM) and brings his story with Michonne forward. This is the live-action television timeline; it follows story chronology rather than episode air dates and does not assign exact calendar dates where the shows do not establish them.
Rick’s story before the bridge
Rick begins as a former Georgia sheriff and becomes one of the central survivors and community leaders in the television series. Later, he leads Alexandria and is the parent of Judith and R.J. The key break in his on-screen story comes in Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After.”
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Season 9, Episode 5: Rick disappears
During an effort to divert a walker herd from the communities, Rick is impaled on steel rebar and badly wounded. He leads the herd toward a bridge, ignites dynamite there, and is thrown into the river. His friends believe the explosion has killed him, but he survives and washes up on a riverbank. Anne, also known as Jadis, finds him and bargains with the CRM for his life. A helicopter carries them away. AMC’s Season 9 recap recounts the bridge incident and Rick’s departure.
Rick’s years with the CRM
Rick is taken into the Civic Republic, where he is classified as a “consignee” and made to work toward citizenship. He repeatedly tries to escape and eventually becomes a CRM soldier. Most of this period is absent from the flagship series; The Ones Who Live supplies the account. The available official recaps describe years apart, not a complete calendar-dated sequence.
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Michonne begins searching
Michonne does not accept Rick’s presumed death. Six years after he disappears, in Season 10’s “What We Become,” she finds his boots and a drawing of herself and Judith aboard an abandoned boat. The boat’s logs suggest a route, and Michonne leaves to search for him. Netflix Tudum’s recap describes the clues that set her search in motion.
The series finale keeps them apart
In “Rest in Peace,” The Walking Dead jumps forward to show both characters still separated. Michonne is searching in the wilderness. Rick, wearing a CRM jacket, is on a beach trying to send her a message in a bottle when a CRM helicopter pilot orders him to surrender. This is a setup for the sequel, not their reunion.
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- Genre: TV Horror
- Number of Tracks: 0
- Playback Duration: 5130
- Rating: TVMA
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The Ones Who Live: reunion and continuation
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is the direct Rick-and-Michonne sequel. AMC describes it as their love story in a changed world and says it takes place during and after events in the flagship series. It follows the pair after years apart and advances the story of their reunion and return toward family. AMC lists the 2024 production as a one-season series starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira; Netflix Tudum describes it as six episodes. See AMC’s show information, AMC Networks’ programming page, and Netflix Tudum’s series recap.
Quick Recap
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- The Walking Dead (Complete Series 1-11) - 56-Disc Box Set
- The Walking Dead (Complete Series 1-11) - 56-Disc Box Set
Timeline at a glance
| Story point | What happens |
|---|---|
| Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After” | Rick survives the bridge explosion, is found by Anne/Jadis, and is taken by CRM helicopter. |
| Years after the disappearance | Rick lives under CRM control, tries to escape, and eventually becomes a CRM soldier. |
| Six years after Rick goes missing | Michonne finds his boots and a drawing in “What We Become” and sets out to look for him. |
| The Walking Dead finale, “Rest in Peace” | A flash-forward shows Michonne searching and Rick trying to contact her while under CRM pursuit. |
| The Ones Who Live | The sequel follows Rick and Michonne’s story during and after the flagship series, including their reunion and journey toward family. |
How to read Rick’s timeline
- Follow story order, not broadcast dates. Episode release dates are not dates within the fictional chronology.
- Keep the TV continuity separate from the comics. This timeline covers the live-action television story, whose adaptation diverges from its source material.
- Treat gaps as gaps. The series establishes major episode landmarks and relative spans, but not an exact in-universe date for every event or a verified total duration for Rick’s complete chronology.
