''The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live'' is an American

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

horror

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

created by Scott M. Gimple,

Danai Gurira Danai Jekesai Gurira (; born February 14, 1978) is a Zimbabwean-American actress, playwright, and activist. She is known for her starring roles as Michonne in the AMC horror drama franchise '' The Walking Dead'' and Okoye in Marvel Cinematic U ...

and

Andrew Lincoln Andrew James Clutterbuck (born 14 September 1973), known professionally as Andrew Lincoln, is an English actor. His first major role was as the character Egg in the BBC drama '' This Life'' (1996–1997). Lincoln later portrayed Simon Casey i ...

for

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

. It is set after the conclusion of the original '' The Walking Dead'' series, with Lincoln, Gurira and

Pollyanna McIntosh Pollyanna McIntosh (born 15 March 1979) is a Scottish actress and director known for her roles in films ''Exam (2009 film), Exam'' (2009), ''The Woman (2011 film), The Woman'' (2011), ''Let Us Prey (film), Let Us Prey'' (2014), the first season ...

reprising their roles, and is the overall seventh television series in ''The Walking Dead'' franchise. ''The Ones Who Live'' premiered on February 25, 2024, on AMC and

AMC+ AMC+ is an American subscription video on demand streaming service owned by AMC Networks that was launched on June 11, 2020. The service is a premium bundle that includes the live feeds and program libraries of the company's television networks ...

, and concluded on March 31, consisting of six episodes. It received generally positive reviews.

Premise

A love story of two people kept apart by an unstoppable power, trying to find each other.

Cast and characters

Main

Rick Grimes Richard D. "Rick" Grimes is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the post-apocalyptic comic book series '' The Walking Dead,'' the live-action television series of the same name and its franchise, in which he is portrayed by Andre ...

: A former sheriff's deputy from King County, Georgia, the former leader of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, and Michonne's husband who was presumed to be dead. He later becomes a

sergeant major Sergeant major is a senior Non-commissioned officer, non-commissioned Military rank, rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's ...

in the Civic Republic Military (CRM). *

as Michonne Grimes: A

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

-wielding warrior, former leader of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, and Rick's wife who left her group to search for him. *

as Jadis Stokes / Anne: A

warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

in the CRM who disappeared along with Rick Grimes on a CRM helicopter. McIntosh also appeared in the spin-off series '' The Walking Dead: World Beyond''s second season in a main role.

Recurring

Terry O'Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance as John Locke on the TV series '' Lost'' (2004–2010). In film, he also played the title role i ...

as Major General Johnathan Beale: The commander of the Civic Republic Military. Before the apocalypse, he was the Adjutant General of the

Pennsylvania National Guard The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 per ...

. *

Lesley-Ann Brandt Lesley-Ann Brandt (born 2 December 1981) is a South African-born American actress best known for the role of Mazikeen on the television series ''Lucifer'' (2016–2021). Early life Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Brandt is Cape Coloured of Afr ...

as Pearl Thorne: Rick's friend and a command sergeant major in the CRM. Before the apocalypse, she was a sailor in the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prote ...

, serving on submarines.

Guest

* Craig Tate as Lieutenant Colonel Donald Okafor: A senior officer in the Civic Republic Military and former major in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

who trains Rick and Thorne. * Frankie Quiñones as Esteban Garcia: Rick's humorous friend from the Civic Republic. * Matthew August Jeffers as Nat: An engineer from a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

of survivors who befriends Michonne. * Breeda Wool as Aiden: A pregnant survivor and Bailey's girlfriend. Wool reprises her role from ''The Walking Dead''. * Andrew Bachelor as Bailey: Aiden's boyfriend who Michonne previously saved from walkers. Bachelor reprises his role from ''The Walking Dead''. * Erin Anderson as Elle: Aiden's sister and the leader of a large caravan of nomadic survivors. * Julian Cihi as Benjiro: An artist from the Civic Republic who etches portraits of people onto old TVs and phones, including Michonne and Judith for Rick. * Tessa Slovis as Cleo Clifton: A new Civic Republic consignee who works with Michonne. *

Seth Gilliam Seth Gilliam (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Ellis Carver on ''The Wire'', Clayton Hughes on '' Oz'', Dr. Alan Deaton on '' Teen Wolf'', and Father Gabriel Stokes on '' The Walking Dead''. E ...

as Father Gabriel Stokes: The respected priest of the Alexandria Safe-Zone and Jadis' former lover. Gilliam reprises his role from '' The Walking Dead''. * Ben Dickey as Red: The leader of a trio of desperate survivors whom Rick and Michonne encounter in

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

. *

Will Brill Will Brill (born July 11, 1986) is an American actor best known for his role as Scott Brown in '' The OA''. Brill grew up in Menlo Park, California, and graduated from Gunn High School and the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. In 2020, Brill sta ...

as Dalton: Red's younger brother. * Han Van Sciver as Tina: Red's younger sister. *

Cailey Fleming Cailey Presley Fleming (born March 28, 2007) is an American actress. She gained prominence for her portrayal of Judith Grimes on the AMC horror-drama television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2018–2022), as young Rey in Star Wars, and as the ma ...

as Judith Grimes: The adopted daughter of Rick and Michonne. Fleming reprises her role from ''The Walking Dead''. * Antony Azor as Rick "R.J." Grimes Jr: The son of Rick and Michonne. Azor reprises his role from ''The Walking Dead''.

Episodes

Production

Development

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. In 2019, a teaser trailer was unveiled, confirming the trilogy would be theatrical releases distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. ''The Walking Dead'' creator Robert Kirkman was said to be "heavily" involved with the trilogy. In July 2022, it was announced by Scott M. Gimple, Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

that the trilogy would be repurposed into a mini-series for television, with Lincoln and Gurira reprising their roles from the original television series. The limited series consisted of six episodes. It was initially titled ''The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne'', then retitled to ''The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live'' in July 2023.

Writing

The series was created by Gimple, Gurira and Lincoln, with an episode written by Gurira and Gimple serving as showrunner. The series was set up by ''The Walking Dead''s series finale "

Rest in Peace Rest in peace (R.I.P.), a phrase from the Latin (), is sometimes used in traditional Christianity, Christian Church service, services and Christian prayer, prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to w ...

", which featured the return of Rick and Michonne.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on February 15, 2023, and wrapped on May 29, 2023, in New Jersey under the working title ''Summit''. Additional filming and ADR would resume during the

2023 SAG-AFTRA strike From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Pro ...

due to an agreement between AMC and SAG-AFTRA.

Release

The series premiered on February 25, 2024, on

and

. The series was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD on September 10, 2024.

Reception

Critical response

Having a ''Certified Fresh'' status in the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it was 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."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live'' was included in lists of the best TV shows of 2024; it was listed #2 by ''

MovieWeb Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...

'' in their list of the best TV shows as of April, and included in ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...

''s end of the year list as of December. In year-end lists, it was ranked #23 by ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'', #22 by ''Hello!'' magazine, and included in

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...

's list of the best 13 TV shows of 2024. The series was also included in ''

Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...

''s list of the 55 best drama TV shows of all time at #48 and on ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

''s list of 60 best Netflix shows.

Awards and nominations

Viewership

The premiere episode received 3 million viewers after three days of viewing, making it the biggest premiere for a new AMC series since 2018. The episode was also the most-watched episode of any show ever on AMC+ and that Sunday was the biggest day for direct-to-consumer sign-ups in the history of AMC+. The series became available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on January 13, 2025, and became the #2 most-watched TV show in the U.S. on the service, as of January 16. The series is also ranked at #8 on the list of global top 10 shows for the week of January 13 to January 19, receiving 2.3 million views, and a total of 11.7 million viewing hours. The show also ranked at #5 on the list of top 10 shows in the U.S. in its first week on the charts.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walking Dead: Ones Who Live 2020s American drama television miniseries 2020s American horror television series 2024 American television series debuts 2024 American television series endings Ones Who Live Ones Who Live AMC (TV channel) original programming American television spinoffs American horror fiction television series American English-language television shows Horror drama television series American post-apocalyptic television series Serial drama television series