New Walking Dead Theory Reveals Why Rick Grimes Has Been Gone So Long

Andrew Lincoln left The Waling Dead TV series halfway through season 9, when Jadis/Anne took the injured Rick Grimes away from Alexandria in a helicopter to pastures unknown. This neatly set up his very own movie trilogy, coming to theaters at some point. Here’s the thing, though: the show has since jumped about six years into the future. So, what’s stopped Rick from making his way back home to his friends and family in all this time?

Well, a new theory suggests that a big part of it is to do with how badly injured Rick was when we last saw him. In his penultimate appearance, the Brave Man was thrown from his horse and landed on a piece of rebar, which went straight through his body. He was on the verge of death when Jadis found him and Redditer u/newmannewlife1 argues that it would take him a long while to heal from these wounds, especially in a post-apocalyptic world.

Here’s how the theory goes:

“What if one of the reasons Rick has been gone so long is because he got hurt really bad? After all, he was impaled by rebar, lost a lot of blood as a result, and then got blasted off a bridge into a raging river below. He could have been debilitated, maybe he temporarily couldn’t walk. I think it’s likely we’ll see a lot of that in the first movie, Dark Knight Rises style.”

This concept certainly makes a lot of sense, and would be a sensible way to kick off the first film in the trilogy. However, other Reddit users are unsure that this would prevent him from finding Michonne and his kids again for so long. u/MrEthan997 offers that perhaps Rick fell into a deep coma, which kept him out of action for years. That’s an intriguing idea, as having Rick wake from a coma in the first movie would be a neat mirror of the series’ pilot episode.

As u/SM211 points out, if Rick was conscious, there’s no way he wouldn’t do all he could to return home, arguing that even if he was imprisoned by the CRM – that’s the Civic Republic Military – he’d find a way to escape and, wherever he is in the country, he’d find a map to lead him to his friends. Another person, u/AwakenedSam, wonders if he’ll suffer some mental trauma from his injuries. Could Rick have amnesia?

Perhaps, but tell us, what are your theories about Rick’s absence in The Walking Dead? Sound off in the usual place below.