TheWalkingDead series finale director breaks down Rick & Michonne's returns and reveals how the coda came together (exclusive):
Warning: this story contains spoilers from The Walking Dead series finale. "We're the ones who live." With those words in Sunday's"Rest in Peace" series finale of The Walking Dead, Judith Grimes revealed the secret saying shared by her parents: Michonne and Rick Grimes . In"Try," the Season 5 episode of The Walking Dead written by now-showrunner Angela Kang, the line originates with Rick.
The Walking Dead Ending, ExplainedLast we saw Rick, he was gravely wounded after blowing up a bridge to save his family and friends from a walker horde. Answering what happened to Rick after he was flown away aboard a Civic Republic Military helicopter with Jadis , the scene reveals Rick is a"consignee" of the CRM.
"We wanted to serve the story arc that the writers had created over the last 30 episodes or so [of Season 11], but we couldn't end The Walking Dead with Rick Grimes being taken away in a helicopter and there's no mention of him ever again," Nicotero says."So it was very important for us to really sort wrap up the show the way it started, which is seeing who this person is and where he is on his journey.
Just two weeks later, Lincoln and Gurira reprised their roles, filming the last episode-ending epilogue in secret months after series wrap on the eleventh and final season. Rick and Michonne's voiceovers become intertwined as they narrate the scene, each writing letters to their loved ones back home: Rick's letter to Michonne, Michonne's letter to the Grimes children. The sequence pays tribute to the dead and the living loved and lost across 11 seasons, 12 years, and 177 episodes of The Walking Dead.
"Consignee Grimes. You have been located and are instructed to surrender. Remain in place with your hands up," the pilot tells a defiant Rick, the chopper hovering overhead."Come on, Rick. It's like she told you: there's no escape for the living."