This article is only for the TV version of Rick Grimes. To see the article for the original version, go to Rick Grimes (Comic Series).
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WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
| “ | Now you put down your weapons, and walk through those gates; you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change. | „ |
| ~ Rick explaining to The Governor that they don't need to fight. |
| “ | I think of the dead all the time, and about the living. Who I lost. I think about them all every day. Their faces, what I learned from them, how they made me who I am. So much more than all this made me who I am. All of our lives, becoming one life. We’re together, pieces of a whole that just keep going for what we gave each other. One unstoppable life. You showed me that. You gave me that. We’re the ones who live. | „ |
| ~ Rick in his letter to Michonne before being recaptured by the CRM. |
Richard D. "Rick" Grimes is the main protagonist of AMC's The Walking Dead universe, which is based on the comic book series of the same name. He appears in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which follows his journey to find Michonne and his family a few years after the main series' finale.
He is a former police officer of the King County sheriff's department who was shot in the line of duty and fell into a coma only to wake up and find himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He travels to Atlanta, Georgia searching for his family, Lori, his wife, and Carl, his son, who have traveled to Atlanta with his best friend, Shane Walsh, in search of a safe haven.
He is portrayed by Andrew Lincoln.
Biography[]
Season 1[]
In the series premiere, "Days Gone Bye," the story begins with Rick and his partner Shane engaging in a shootout with escaped convicts. During the gun battle, Rick gets injured and falls into a coma just as the zombie apocalypse starts. He wakes up alone in a hospital and explores the deserted neighborhood. Unfortunately, he's mistaken for a walker and gets knocked on the head by a young boy named Duane Jones. Duane's father, Morgan, takes Rick in and explains the dire situation with the sickness that has turned people into zombies.
Determined to find his wife, Lori, and young son, Carl, Rick embarks on a journey that exposes him to the devastating changes in the world. In downtown Atlanta, he faces a horde of walkers and seeks refuge inside a tank. In the episode "Guts," a resourceful young man named Glenn saves Rick from the tank and introduces him to a group of survivors scavenging for supplies. Their shelter comes under attack by walkers, forcing them to escape the city and reluctantly leave behind a restrained and chained member, Merle Dixon.
In "Tell It to the Frogs," Rick is joyfully reunited with Lori, Carl, and Shane at the survivors' campsite. However, Daryl, Merle's brother, insists on returning to the city to find him, and Rick also wants to retrieve a bag of firearms. They discover that Merle had to cut off his hand to free himself. In "Vatos," they rush back to the campsite just in time to rescue the remaining survivors from a walker onslaught.
After several deaths, the group decides to abandon their vulnerable campsite and heads to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in "Wildfire," hoping to find a cure. In the season finale, "TS-19," they anticipate a new sanctuary at the CDC but are met with disappointment as the last remaining employee, Dr. Edwin Jenner, reveals that the facility will self-destruct. Before they escape the doomed building, Jenner shares a secret with Rick in a whispered message.
Season 2[]
In the season premiere, "What Lies Ahead," Carl is accidentally shot while the group is searching for Sophia Peletier, Carol's daughter, who got chased away by walkers during their escape from Atlanta. Otis, the shooter, leads them to an isolated farm run by Hershel Greene, a veterinarian. Hershel attempts to save Carl's life through a blood transfusion from Rick. Carl slowly recovers with Shane's assistance in the episode "Cherokee Rose."
The episode "Secrets" sees Lori revealing to Rick that she's pregnant and admits to her past relationship with Shane, which she believed was after Rick's death. In the mid-season finale, "Pretty Much Dead Already," the group makes a shocking discovery when they learn that Hershel has been keeping walkers, including his own family members, locked in a barn, believing he can cure them. Despite Rick's reluctance, Shane opens the barn, leading to a brutal showdown that ends with the reveal of a reanimated Sophia, who had been in the barn the whole time. Rick is forced to shoot and kill her.
In the mid-season premiere, "Nebraska," Rick is forced to take lethal action in a bar to protect the group, killing two men. However, he takes one of their group members, Randall Culver, as a prisoner in the episode "Triggerfinger." In "Better Angels," Rick decides to spare Randall's life. Shane, in a fit of paranoia, kills Randall and then attempts to murder Rick for not being a strong enough leader. In self-defense, Rick stabs Shane in the heart. Shane reanimates as a walker, and Carl is forced to kill him.
In the season finale, "Beside the Dying Fire," a massive horde of walkers overwhelms the farm. Rick reveals to the escaping group what Jenner told him: every human is already infected with the zombie virus and are destined to reanimate after they die unless their brain is destroyed. He confesses to Lori that he killed Shane to protect the group and himself, causing her to recoil in horror. In a chilling moment, Rick challenges anyone contemplating betrayal to leave the safety of the group.
Season 3[]
In the season premiere, "Seed," eight months have gave, and Rick and Lori's relationship has deteriorated significantly. The group stumbles upon an overrun prison facility and decides to make it their new home. While exploring the prison's interior, they encounter a group of prisoners who attempt to kill Rick and accidentally release walkers into the facility, resulting in Lori's tragic death. This traumatic event sends Rick into a deep downward spiral, marked by hallucinations, including imaginary phone calls and visions of Lori in the prison courtyard.
Rick's life becomes even more complicated as he crosses paths with The Governor, the leader of Woodbury, a nearby town. Michonne, a mysterious survivor skilled in wielding a katana, arrives at the prison and reveals that Glenn and Maggie Greene have been kidnapped by The Governor's people, including Daryl's brother Merle, who was rescued by The Governor from Atlanta. The people of Woodbury seen the prison as a more secure sanctuary and want to take it by force. It's In the episode "Made to Suffer," Rick cautiously follows Michonne, leading to a rescue mission where he confronts and eliminates several soldiers, igniting a chaotic firefight in the streets of Woodbury.
In retaliation, The Governor launches an assault on the prison in "Home." Andrea, a former member of Rick's group now living in Woodbury and romantically involved with The Governor, unsuccessfully attempts to negotiate peace between the two communities in "I Ain't a Judas" and "Arrow on the Doorpost."
In "Clear," Rick and Michonne grow closer as they embark on a mission to retrieve weapons following the assault. They encounter Morgan, the man who helped Rick after he awoke from his coma. Unfortunately, he's now mentally unstable due to his son dying. In "This Sorrowful Life," Rick refuses to hand over Michonne to The Governor, entrusting Merle with the task, who has since betrayed The Governor and joined Rick's group. Tragically, Merle sacrifices himself in an attempt to overwhelm and kill The Governor's forces.
In the season finale, "Welcome to the Tombs," Rick, Daryl, and Michonne confront The Governor after his failed attempt to seize the prison, which led to the massacre of his own troops. In a shocking discovery, they find a bitten Andrea in The Governor's torture chamber. Rick embraces her as a member of their group, and Andrea uses Rick's revolver to commit suicide, preventing herself from turning into a walker. Rick also welcomes the surviving residents of Woodbury, including Tyreese and his sister Sasha, to the prison. Concerned about his son's actions, Rick confiscates Carl's pistol, realizing that his own ruthlessness had contributed to Lori's haunting apparitions, which he has now stopped experiencing.
Season 4[]
In "30 Days Without an Accident," Rick tries to live a peaceful life as a farmer. However, one of the refugees from Woodbury contracts a respiratory disease, dies and reanimates, leading to an attack on block D. Rick and Carl help residents, but the walker attack results in multiple deaths and multiple walkers. Rick sacrifices pigs to lure walkers away from the prison, and burns the enclosure to avoid the respiratory virus spreading. In "Isolation," Carol admits she killed two infected people to spare others, and Rick exiles her. In "Too Far Gone," The Governor returns with a militia to take over the prison, after having taken Michonne and Hershel hostage. After Rick refuses to give up the prison, The Govenor uses Michonne's blade to decapitate and kill Hershel. A firefight ensues that results in multiple casualties on both sides, including The Governor, who almost kills Rick before being stabbed through the chest by Michonne. The gunfire and explosions lured walkers however, and the prison is overrun. Everyone is forced to go their separate ways.
Rick, Carl, and Michonne travel by themselves before running into the Claimers, a group of bandits that hold them at gun point. They threaten to kill Rick, Carl, and Michonne for killing some of their men in self-defense in an earlier episode. Daryl arrives and attempts to talk the Claimers down, but it fails. He too is held at gunpoint and one of the Claimers attempts to sexually assault Carl. This infuriates Rick, who retaliates by biting and ripping out their leader Joe's throat. Together, they all overpower and kill all the Claimers before continuing their journey to a compound called Terminus, a supposed sanctuary. In "A," they head to Terminus, but encounter suspicious inhabitants wearing clothes belonging to other survivors. They eventually figure out Terminus is a camp of cannibals that want to kill and eat them. The group is trapped in a boxcar, where they find Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Bob, Tara Chambler, Sergeant Abraham Ford, Eugene Porter, and Rosita Espinosa.
Season 5[]
Rick's group escapes Terminus after a massive gunfight and an explosion that destroys their perimeters. Rick reunites with his daughter Judith, and thanks Carol for causing the explosion that allowed them to escape. They meet Father Gabriel Stokes and decide to head to Washington, DC for a cure. In "Four Walls and a Roof," Gareth and other cannibals from Terminus hunt the group, trapping them inside Father Gabriel's church and attempting to slaughter them. They manage to fight back, and Rick brutally executes Gareth in the middle of the church with his machete. In "Crossed," a rescue mission for Beth Greene is underway after she's kidnapped by some doctors that run an extortion ring at an abandoned hospital in Atlanta. They kidnap injured people, give them treatment, then force them to do manual labor to pay off their debts. In "Coda," leading officer Dawn Lerner of the hospital demands her servant Noah's return after he manages to escape with Beth and unites with Rick's group. After a heated exchange, she's shot in the head and killed, and so is Beth. Rick's group travels to Virginia, where Noah's community is located, but decide to continue toward Washington despite Eugene lying about a possible cure. They encounter Aaron, a recruiter for Alexandria, and encounter Jessie's abusive husband Pete. In "Conquer," Rick proves his commitment to the community's protection by brutally killing the abusive husband in front of everyone.
Season 6[]
After Rick kills Pete, Morgan shows up at Alexandria, and reveals he's been tracking Rick this whole time, hoping to reunite with him after overcoming his psychosis and properly grieving his son's death. A few weeks later, Rick discovers a quarry filled with hundreds of walkers and takes de facto command of Alexandria with Deanna's approval. He recruits native Alexandrians to lure the herd away. In "Thank You," Rick manages to kill several members of The Wolves, a group of sadistic murderers, but takes one of them hostage. Rick returns to Alexandria, pursued by half of the herd, and Deanna realizes she is no longer fit to lead the community. Rick shares fears with Jessie, who encourages him with the possibility of a better future. Rick guards Alexandria's premises and meets with Morgan to reproach him for letting The Wolves member escape. In the mid-season finale, the herd breaches Alexandria's walls, and Rick takes shelter with Carl, Michonne, Gabriel, Deanna, Jessie, and her sons Ron and Sam. Rick leads nearly all of Alexandria in battling and defeating the herd, and plans to rebuild the town. Rick later begins a relationship with Michonne.
In "Knots Untie," Jesus takes Rick to Hilltop Colony, where he offers to assassinate Negan and his Saviors in exchange for supplies. The deal is official and Rick, with several of his group members, head to a nearby Saviors outpost and kill hundreds of them in their sleep. Rick believes the Saviors' threat has been vanquished, but Denise, Alexandria's only doctor, is killed in "Twice as Far" by another group of Saviors. In "Last Day on Earth," Maggie's pregnancy complications lead a team to seek Dr. Carson's help at Hilltop, but Negan and The Saviors block their path and line them up. Negan explains that he's going to beat one of them to death with his barbed wire bat as punishment for killing their people, but he can't decide who, so he does "eeny meeny miny moe" and picks Abraham. He proceeds to beat Abraham to death and mocks his corpse Afterward, he scares Rosita, Abraham's ex-girlfriend, by forcing her to stare at his bloodied bat. Daryl gets up in a fit of rage and punches Negan. The Saviors apprehend Daryl and Negan says they will have to pay for that too. He proceeds to bash Glenn's skull in, causing his eyeball to pop out, and beats him to death.
Season 7[]
Negan torments Rick, accusing him being the one responsible for Abraham and Glenn's deaths. Rick is forced to follow Negan's rules and faces opposition from Spencer, the son of the former Alexandria leaders. Rick decides to fight The Saviors and goes to the Hilltop to recruit soldiers. In "Rock in the Road," Rick gathers an army to fight Negan, but fails to rally enough people to do adequate damage. Jesus brings them to a community called The Kingdom, where they meet King Ezekiel, who decides not to fight. Rick negotiates with Jadis, the leader of a community of people that live in an abandoned landfill, who agrees to lend their help in the fight against the Saviors only if they're guaranteed one-third of Rick's supplies and a large quantity of guns. Rick and Michonne agree, to the terms and continue on their own to try and recruit another community named Oceanside, but they fail to convince them. In "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life," Negan's former lieutenant Dwight offers to help Rick, but it backfires when it's revealed Jadis is already working with Negan and betrayed Rick. Sasha, who committed suicide after being kidnapped by the Saviors, reanimates and attacks Negan, and Rick is shot by Jadis. Soldiers from the Kingdom and Hilltop save the day, prompting Negan to retreat.
Season 8[]
Rick declares the world to be his and leads a convoy of survivors to confront the Saviors. He offers the Saviors the chance to surrender but insists on Negan's death. Rick and Daryl take control of a Savior compound to capture a stash of guns. They encounter a nursery with a baby inside, forcing Rick to question the morality of their plan. Rick and Daryl chase two Saviors, but one of them evades the walkers. Rick manages to kill Iago, a Savior, and find a cache of 50-calibre machine guns. In "The Big Scary U," Rick and Daryl discuss using the weapons against the Saviors, but Rick sees a more humane solution. Rick, Maggie, and Carol organize the next assault on the Saviors, and Rick offers to ally with the Scavengers against them. Jadis, who refuses to release Rick, takes him captive. Rick overpowers Jadis and agrees to share the Saviors' supplies with the scavengers, but Jadis demands to see the situation in the Sanctuary before committing to Rick's plan. Rick guides his team to the outer perimeter of the enclosure, where he finds one of his snipers dead. He climbs a tower and escapes. Rick and Carol and Jerry rescue him, and later, the Saviors set Alexandria on fire. Rick escapes with Michonne and Siddiq, but Carl is bitten by a walker. Rick and Michonne plan an escape, while Carl commits suicide. In the season finale, Rick cuts Negan's throat but allows him to live, imprisoning him.
Season 9[]
Rick, the de facto leader of the communities, aims for prosperity and cooperation. However, his decision to spare Negan has strained relationships with Maggie and Daryl, who both want Negan dead. Tensions rise, leading to a small insurrection led by a small group of Saviors. Rick and Daryl fight to save Negan, but Rick is injured and thrown from his horse. He leads the herd away and onto a bridge that was being constructed by Alexandria. In a move to ensure the hoard doesn't make it across and into The Kingdom, Rick shoots some explosive material, causing the bridge to go up on flames. He's presumed dead by his friends and family, but is actually rescued by Jadis, who radios in help from a mysterious helicopter that airlifts Rick away to receive medical treatment. Six years later, Michonne takes over Alexandria and visits the bridge where Rick was last seen alive. Judith, Rick's son, inherits his revolver and sheriff's hat, but starts to forget Rick and Carl's voices.
The Ones Who Live[]
Jadis facilitated Rick's rescue by arranging for him to be taken away by a helicopter belonging to the Civic Republic Military, a large paramilitary for a community based in Philadelphia. With a population of over 200,000 people, is the largest known community in the post-apocalyptic United States. Once in their city, Rick found himself enlisted as a consignee. Rick repeatedly attempts to flee and reunite with his family. Despite facing multiple recaptures, Rick succeeded in leaving behind subtle hints on a boat piloted by a man named Virgil, creating a trail that would eventually be discovered by Michonne.
Appearance[]
Rick is a fairly tall Caucasian man with a slim figure, and although his age is unspecified, he appears to be around his mid to late 30's. He has dark brown wavy hair, and through the first three seasons keeps facial stubble and eventually a small beard. His apparel and clothing changes throughout the seasons, but is most notably identified with his beige and brown police uniform, along with his brown US Cavalry/Sheriff's hat (which is later given to his son, Carl). He also keeps his brown police holster, which carries his favorite side-arm, his classic Colt Python .357 Magnum.
Personality[]
Rick is typically calm, smart, and a good friend and father, but he will often stubbornly cling to his strong personal moral code, which has resulted in numerous bad calls and extra stress within the group. Rick's greatest fault, perhaps, is his uncanny ability to place responsibility on himself and set for himself goals that are impossible to reach. This has, on various occasions, put Rick at odds with both Lori and Shane, and often weighs heavily on his mind. Despite his faults, his combat skill and general care for all members of the group have led him to be looked up to, and allowed him to take the leadership role within the group. Rick is strongly non-religious, admitting to never have been much of a believer and instead puts his faith in his family and the group members around him. He also appears to view religion and belief in God as an interference and waste of time.
He is shown to be incredibly protective of his group and their well-being, having engaged numerous threats, even other living people, to keep them safe. His moral compass is challenged in many ways and he, in an attempt to prevent more death and loss, begins to shut everybody else out when he is forced to kill Shane.
By Season 3, Rick had become battle hardened after months on the road and is still distant from members of the group, mostly Lori. Despite this, Rick is able to use his leadership skills and combat abilities to keep the group alive for many months and leads the group in taking the abandoned and overrun West Georgia Correctional Facility, using desperate survival tactics they had come to learn on the road all winter. Rick at this point also has no hesitation in killing human threats as seen when he mercilessly killed the prisoner's leader, Tomas, for attempting to kill him twice and also locking Andrew in a courtyard of Walkers to die. Rick has also shown that he no longer trusts outside members of his group and refuses to allow Oscar and Axel, two prisoners to join his group following an assassination attempt on him by Tomas, showing he's crueler. He eventually accepts them once they prove their loyalty to him by killing Andrew, who survived being left to die and launched an attack on the prison in order to exterminate Rick's group and nearly killed Rick himself, though Oscar saves him.
After Lori's death, Rick becomes very emotionally unstable, and it is not until just before the group learns of the Woodbury threat that Rick comes back to his senses. By this point, Rick has become a ruthless, uncompromising leader of survivors, in contrast to his high moral code and values in previous seasons. After the Governor causes Andrea's death, Rick seems to regain much of his old self and finally begins to trust other survivors and accept them into the prison. In the six-month jump between the third and fourth seasons, Rick relinquishes his leadership position in order to focus more on raising Carl and making the prison self-sustaining. During the fourth season, many of the other group members ask Rick to step back into a leadership role, most notably Daryl Dixon. After the Governor returns and attacks the prison, Rick becomes distraught and remorseful over the loss of the prison, the death of Hershel, and the assumed death of his daughter Judith. He becomes more protective of Carl and gets into a few arguments with him. After Rick reunites with Michonne, he loosens his grip on Carl a bit and allows himself some time to rest, albeit only temporarily.
After he, Carl, and Michonne are forced to evacuate a house they were residing in to evade the Claimers, he comes across a poster pointing to Terminus. He decides to take a chance and see the supposed sanctuary. On the way, they encounter the Claimers, who tracked them down in order to exact revenge on Rick for killing one of their group members, Lou. Rick comes to terms with his brutality, which he thought he had put away for good, after he rips out Joe's jugular vein with his teeth and stabs Dan, who attempted to rape Carl, to death. The next morning, he tells Daryl he knows of his two different personality traits and how he has settled his mind knowing that his brutality has kept his son and the rest of the group alive.
After arriving at Terminus, Rick accepts his leadership position, for which the group respects him. He holds no conflict in his mind anymore and does not doubt his decisions. The wisdom he took from Hershel, who he came to view as a mentor (as well a father figure towards him), Rick now understands that he can retain his humanity by protecting his friends and has stated that he views his group as his family. His darker side is shown through his brutality, and he does not hesitate to kill someone who he views as a threat, fearing he or she will come back and harm his family (based on what happened to Lori when Rick failed to kill Andrew, a prisoner who Rick locked in a courtyard of walkers and presumed was killed).
During Season 5, following the group's near-death experience at Terminus, Rick grows in confidence but develops massive trust issues towards any strangers that he and his group come across, even if they seem timid and harmless. He has a hard time trusting Gabriel Stokes and Aaron, even threatening to kill them once or twice if they did anything that would harm his family and friends. His trust issues are so strong that he even suspects the applesauce Aaron offers to Judith to be poisoned. Aaron points out that he is tied up and that killing Rick's daughter in front of him would only lead to Aaron getting killed by Rick. Aaron tries telling Rick that his trust issues are exaggerated, but Rick remains stubborn and makes it clear that he is a man who doesn't take chances anymore, and forces Aaron to eat the applesauce to prove that it's safe and still threatens to kill him. In the end, Aaron and Gabriel (for the most part) prove that they are not threats.
After arriving in the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Rick allows himself to relax in the comfort of the community, although it is evident that he still does not trust the inhabitants. He becomes actively involved in the community after Deanna Monroe, the safe-zone's leader appoints him and Michonne as constables. While he appreciates the job, Rick and his group view the Alexandrians as being weak and unfit to survive and he declares that they will take the community for themselves, showing how his mentality has become one of survival for himself and his group.
Following a massive invasion of walkers into the safe-zone, which leads to the death of Deanna, Rick becomes the leader of the safe-zone, and his faith in the abilities of the safe-zone's residents improves dramatically as together they all boldly face the herd and kill every walker, effectively reclaiming the safe-zone. Rick reveals to his injured son Carl afterwards that he is ready to show him the new world. Following this he seems to have cooled down a bit in his desire to kill human threats as he spares the life of Paul Rovia after the latter attempts to steal a van of supplies claimed by Daryl and Rick which leads them to finding the Hilltop Colony. His relationship with Michonne has also caused him to show his lighter side more often, as he is seen relaxed and happier than he was before they started their relationship.
However, Rick has shown to become even more ruthless as shown by his desire to exact revenge on the Saviors for threatening Daryl, Abraham and Sasha and kill them all in order to obtain much-needed supplies from the Hilltop Colony and protect Alexandria even though the Saviors have technically caused no harm to Alexandria whatsoever. Rick has now been shown to show a desire to destroy any potential threats before they even happen, showing that he will do just about anything to protect his people from danger (very similar to The Governor in the first half of Season 3, but on a more heroic scale). Rick has demonstrated that he is now indeed a cold-blooded killer as shown during their attack on the Savior outpost and his killing of Primo and Jiro. He also nearly kills an innocent survivor from the Kingdom, believing him to be a Savior hunting Carol, though Morgan stops him to his visible anger and claims regardless of who he was, he no longer takes chances, showing that he is willing to kill completely innocent survivors.
However, his overconfidence and eagerness to destroy the Saviors brings about serious consequences; while on a frantic journey to get a sick Maggie to the Hilltop, he and his group are tricked and ambushed by the Saviors and for the first time in the series, Rick shows extreme fear as he is confronted with an impossible situation over which he has no control. At the sight of his new enemy, Negan, Rick visibly trembles and appears to be almost numb with terror and is helpless as Negan personally selects a member of the group at random and beats them to death with a baseball bat in revenge for Rick's actions.
It is revealed that Negan had selected Abraham and preceded to beat him viciously to death with his baseball bat; Rick watches on in horror. Glenn is later killed as punishment for Daryl assaulting Negan moments after Abraham's execution. Rick, with Abraham's blood on his face, quietly threatens to kill Negan. Negan inquires to as to what Rick said and Rick is petrified to look at him but gains the courage to repeat his threat while looking him in the eye. Negan then takes Rick on a "trip" where he continuously mocks Rick for thinking of a prosperous future with his group whilst physically assaulting him. Unsatisfied Rick hasn't submitted to him, Negan returns Rick to his group and threatens that if he doesn't severe Carl's left arm his remaining group members will be executed. This pushes Rick to his absolute breaking point as he wails, cries, has mucus run out of his nose and even suggest he suffer the amputation. Just as Rick is about to cut off his son's arm, Negan becomes satisfied claiming the terror on Rick's face was the "exact look" he desired. Having been the first man to devolve Rick into a complete loss of power and control, Negan has revealed the extremity of Rick's emotions/actions of absolute fear and subjugation as he becomes horrified for the safety of his remaining group should he provoke Negan again. This fear was later subsided after the deaths of Spencer and Olivia, and finally regains his courage to fight Negan and the Saviors. Rick's desire to kill other survivors, aside from the Saviors, has subsided as well: this is most likely due to the fallout that came from his attack at the Saviors outpost. Once again, Rick has also shown a reluctance to lead, only wishing to lead Alexandria, not wishing to lead the joint communities once they take out the Saviors. Rick has demonstrated that he is no longer afraid of Negan as while he is once again at his mercy, he tells him that no matter what he does to him, he will make it his mission to kill him and all the Saviors and that nothing will change that. This shows Rick will never be subservient to Negan again and will do whatever it takes to stop him, even at the cost of his own life to ensure a prosperous future for his family, group and allies.
Relying on his former police skills and survival tactics, Rick has evolved into a battle-hardened survivor who will protect his family and group without question. In many ways, Rick has become exactly like Shane; being ready to destroy a threat, living or dead, without a moment's hesitation, not trusting anyone except for his group, and knowing that with the world the way it is now, there are very few good people left and if you don't fight for your survival, then you will die. In addition to acting like Shane, Rick has displayed similarities to other primary antagonists that he has encountered and killed (or who other members of his group have killed) in the past, particularly the Governor, Joe, Gareth, and most recently Negan (who is currently alive). However, unlike Shane, the Governor, Joe, Gareth, and Negan, Rick retains some of his humanity and honor for the sake of his family and friends, and looks to his friends for guidance in making sure that he doesn't completely lose his sanity and devolve into an antagonist. This is in direct contrast to these other antagonists, who have almost completely sacrificed their humanity in favor of personal survival by any means necessary, and who exert unchallenged power and control over other survivors and give into their worst inclinations for their own benefit, rather than the benefit of others.
Appearances[]
TV Series
Season 1
- 1x01: "Days Gone Bye"
- 1x02: "Guts"
- 1x03: "Tell It to the Frogs"
- 1x04: "Vatos"
- 1x05: "Wildfire"
- 1x06: "TS-19"
Season 2
- 2x01: "What Lies Ahead"
- 2x02: "Bloodletting"
- 2x03: "Save the Last One"
- 2x04: "Cherokee Rose"
- 2x05: "Chupacabra"
- 2x06: "Secrets"
- 2x07: *Pretty Much Dead Already"
- 2x08: "Nebraska"
- 2x09: "Triggerfinger"
- 2x10: "18 Miles Out"
- 2x11: "Judge, Jury, "Executioner"
- 2x12: "Better Angels"
- 2x13: "Beside the Dying Fire"
Season 3
- 3x01: "Seed"
- 3x02: "Sick"
- 3x04: "Killer Within"
- 3x05: "Say the Word"
- 3x06: "Hounded"
- 3x07: "When the Dead Come Knocking"
- 3x08: "Made to Suffer"
- 3x09: "The Suicide King"
- 3x10: "Home"
- 3x11: "I Ain't a Judas"
- 3x12: "Clear"
- 3x13: "Arrow on the Doorpost"
- 3x14: "Prey" (No Lines)
- 3x15: "This Sorrowful Life"
- 3x16: "Welcome to the Tombs"
Season 4
- 4x01: "30 Days Without an Accident"
- 4x02: "Infected"
- 4x03: "Isolation"
- 4x04: "Indifference"
- 4x05: "Internment"
- 4x07: "Dead Weight" (No Lines)
- 4x08: "Too Far Gone"
- 4x09: "After"
- 4x11: "Claimed"
- 4x15: "Us"
- 4x16: "A"
Season 5
- 5x01: "No Sanctuary"
- 5x02: "Strangers"
- 5x03: "Four Walls and a Roof"
- 5x06: "Consumed" (Flashback, No Lines)
- 5x07: "Crossed"
- 5x08: "Coda"
- 5x09: "What Happened and What's Going On"
- 5x10: "Them"
- 5x11: "The Distance"
- 5x12: "Remember"
- 5x13: "Forget"
- 5x14: "Spend"
- 5x15: "Try"
- 5x16: "Conquer"
Season 6
- 6x01: "First Time Again"
- 6x03: "Thank You"
- 6x04: "Here's Not Here" (Voice Only)
- 6x05: "Now"
- 6x07: "Head's Up"
- 6x08: "Start to Finish"
- 6x09: "No Way Out"
- 6x10: "The Next World"
- 6x11: "Knots Untie"
- 6x12: "Not Tomorrow Yet"
- 6x13: "The Same Boat"
- 6x14: "Twice as Far"
- 6x15: "East"
- 6x16: "Last Day on Earth"
Season 7
- 7x01: "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be"
- 7x04: "Service"
- 7x05: "Go Getters"
- 7x07: "Sing Me a Song"
- 7x08: "Hearts Still Beating"
- 7x09: "Rock in the Road"
- 7x10: "New Best Friends"
- 7x12: "Say Yes"
- 7x15: "Something They Need"
- 7x16: "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life"
Season 8
- 8x01: "Mercy"
- 8x02: "The Damned"
- 8x03: "Monsters"
- 8x04: "Some Guy"
- 8x05: "The Big Scary U"
- 8x06: "The King, The Widow, and Rick"
- 8x07: "Time for After"
- 8x08: "How It's Gotta Be"
- 8x09: "Honor"
- 8x10: "The Lost and the Plunderers"
- 8x12: "The Key"
- 8x13: "Do Not Send Us Astray"
- 8x14: "Still Gotta Mean Something"
- 8x15: "Worth"
- 8x16: "Wrath"
Season 9
- 9x01: "A New Beginning"
- 9x02: "The Bridge"
- 9x03: "Warning Signs"
- 9x04: "The Obliged"
- 9x05: "What Comes After"
Season 10
- 10x13: "What We Become" (flashbacks, hallucinations)
- 10x22: "Here's Negan" (flashbacks)
Season 11
- 11x24: "Rest in Peace" (cameo)
The Ones Who Live[]
Season 1[]
• 1x1: Years
• 1x2: Gone
• 1x3: Bye
• 1x4: What We
• 1x5: Become
• 1x6: The Last Time
Quotes[]
| “ | All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anyone gets in the way of that is gonna lose. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Merle Dixon. |
| “ | I don't know, but I hear Nebraska's nice. | „ |
| ~ Rick Grimes. |
| “ | I killed him. I killed Shane. He came at me. He killed Randall to get me in the woods. He planned it. I had - I had no choice. I gave him every chance... and he kept leading me further out. He pushed me, and I let him. After awhile, I knew - I knew what he was doing, what he was up to. And I kept going. I didn't stop. I could have, but... I just wanted it over. Dogging me every step of the way. Acting like I stole you and Carl, like... like I was in the way. I just wanted it over. I wanted him dead. I killed him. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Lori, admitting that he killed Shane. |
| “ | I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together. Alive! I've been doing that all along, no matter what; I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ sake! You saw how he was like. How he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice! He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe — maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe — Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't -- why don't you go out and find yourself. Send me a postcard! Go on, there's the door. You can do better. Let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight... you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore. | „ |
| ~ Rick to the group at the end of season two. |
| “ | Yeah, s--t happens. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Tomas, moments before killing him. |
| “ | I loved you, I loved you, I couldn't put it back together, I couldn't put it back together. I made a deal with myself. I will keep you alive, I will find you a place, I will fix that. I couldn't open that door; I couldn't risk it. I was going to keep you alive - Carl, the baby. And then I thought there'd be time. There's never time. I loved you. I love you. I couldn't put it back together. I should've said it, should've said it. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Lori on the "phone". |
| “ | Look, I've fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates... you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone's who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know... we all can change. | „ |
| ~ Rick's speeceh to the Governor. |
| “ | Rick Grimes: They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out... Abraham Ford: Find out what? Rick Grimes: They're f-cking with the wrong people. |
„ |
| ~ Rick and Ford. |
| “ | There's a compound bow and a machete with a red handle. That's what I'm gonna use to kill you. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Gareth. |
| “ | Besides... I already made you a promise. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Gareth, moments before killing him. |
| “ | You still don't get it. None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you - you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here. | „ |
| ~ Rick's speech to Deanna. |
| “ | I want to show you the new world, Carl. I want to make it a reality for you. Please Carl... let me show you. Please, please, son, don't die. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Carl. |
| “ | Not today, not tomorrow... but I’m gonna kill you. | „ |
| ~ Rick to Negan. |
| “ | My mercy prevails over my wrath. | „ |
| ~ Rick Grimes. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His signature weapon is the Colt Python, which has been seen in most of the TV Series episodes.
- Rick currently has the most episode appearances in the series, with the second being his right-hand man, Daryl, and the third being Carol.
- Rick has killed the most primary antagonists in the series with a total of four: Shane Walsh, Joe, Gareth, and Pete Anderson.
- Rick is either the same age, or fairly older than his Comic Series counterpart. Being somewhere in his mid to late 30's, while in the Comic Series, he is 31. As of TOWL, he is about 48-49.
- In the comics, Rick was the one who originally went to Woodbury, along with Michonne and Glenn. Rick lost his right hand in the process. In the TV Series, Michonne and Andrea were the first ones to reach Woodbury, and Rick still has both of his hands.
- In the Comics, Rick's signature weapons were a hatchet he took from a farm and a Heckler & Koch Mark 23, while in the TV series it's his Colt Python and his Gator Machete.
- Rick has appeared in every episode, except "Walk With Me", "Live Bait" (which wasn't a regular episode, but a flashback episode), "Inmates", "Still", "Alone", "The Grove", "Slabtown", "Self Help", "JSS", "Here's Not Here" (although his voice is heard at the very end of the episode), "Always Accountable", "The Well", "The Cell", "Swear", "Hostiles and Calamities", "Bury Me Here", "The Other Side" and every episode between "What Comes After" and "Rest in Piece".
