The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 2 gets a new update from franchise Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple. After serving as two of the main characters on the long-running The Walking Dead on AMC, Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira’s Michonne returned in The Ones Who Live spinoff show, which chronicled their attempts to reunite in a zombie-infested landscape. Premiering in February 2024, the spinoff was met with a positive reception, leading to interest in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 2, despite the show being billed as a limited series.

In a recent interview with The Direct, Gimple, who served as showrunner on The Ones Who Live, addresses Rick and Michonne’s future in the world of The Walking Dead. While he reiterates that the show was conceived as a limited series, which would traditionally mean no season 2, he does tease that it’s not entirely off the table. As for Rick and Michonne, Gimple says audiences could see these characters return to the franchise in some other form:

“I mean the plan was to keep it limited. Not necessarily never to see those characters again, but to keep it limited. But I always say, you never know.

“There’s so many… I’ve been very careful to not say, ‘Oh, that’ll never happen,’ because it does. So you know, there are possibilities. And there’s possibilities of all sorts of strange iterations of shows with those characters and with other characters. So you know I think it’s entirely possible.”

What Gimple’s Tease Means For The Ones Who Live Season 2

Season 1 Was An AMC Success

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s ending.

Reviews for The Ones Who Live were generally positive from critics, and the limited series enjoys an 88% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes on top of a respectable 74% Popcornmeter score. The show was also a viewership win, attracting 3 million viewers, the biggest premiere viewership for an AMC show since 2018. At the time, the premiere episode also became the most-watched episode of any show ever on the AMC+ streaming platform. Clearly, love for the Rick and Michonne characters remains strong among audiences.

Though conceived as a limited series, The Ones Who Live‘s ending does leave the door open for more. After killing Beale (Terry O’Quinn) and essentially taking down the CRM command structure, Rick and Michonne return home where they reunite with Judith (Cailey Fleming) and R.J. (Antony Azor). The two characters get a decidedly happy ending in the series, but the fact that they remain alive certainly means that they could return, either in a season 2 or in spinoffs like The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon or The Walking Dead: Dead City, both of which remain ongoing.

Rick & Michonne’s Possible Walking Dead Future Explained

Which Spinoffs They Could Return In

Gimple’s comment makes clear that there are no immediate plans for The Ones Who Live season 2, but the fact that the Walking Dead universe remains very active on AMC means it wouldn’t be hard to bring the two characters back in a different show. As seen in the chart below, Daryl Dixon season 1 was generally well-received by critics and season 2, subtitled The Book of Carol, similarly so. The biggest problem here, of course, is that Daryl Dixon has thus far taken place mostly in Europe, and Rick and Michonne’s story ends in the U.S.

Title
Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Score
Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
88%
74%

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1
70%
52%

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol
69%
42%

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1
79%
63%

It’s entirely possible that Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) will eventually make their way back stateside in Daryl Dixon season 3, but The Walking Dead: Dead City, which takes place in New York City, currently seems like the most likely show Rick and Michonne could return in. Dead City season 2 premieres on May 4, and though it seems unlikely Rick and Michonne will appear in these next episodes, the show could end up getting renewed for season 3, which would open the door for more from Lincoln and Gurira.

Unlike season 1, which featured only 6 episodes, Dead City season 2 will consist of 8 episodes in total.

Finally, Rick and Michonne could also show up in More Tales From The Walking Dead Universe. Tales From The Walking Dead aired in 2022, telling a series of one-off stories with both familiar and new characters. In April 2023, AMC confirmed that a follow-up to this anthology show is in development with Gimple overseeing the project, though no real updates have arrived since. It’s possible that Rick and Michonne could pop up in one of the show’s one-off episodes.

Our Take On More Rick & Michonne In The Walking Dead Franchise

Should The Characters Get To Keep Their Happy Ending?

Image via AMC

Rick was the anchor for the vast majority of the seasons of The Walking Dead before he departed in season 9, and it was exciting to see Lincoln reprise his iconic role for a limited series opposite Gurira. Rick’s prominence in the world of the Walking Dead means audiences would probably embrace another return from the character in some form, but there’s certainly an argument to be made that The Ones Who Live should serve as the end of the road for these characters.

In The Walking Dead, happy endings are incredibly rare, and the vast majority of the characters introduced in season 1 are long dead. Any return from Rick or Michonne down the line could shatter this happy ending, potentially opening the door for some serious tragedy. It remains to be seen whether The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will return, but it does sound like Rick and Michonne aren’t done in this franchise just yet.