Ever since Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was rescued by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) in Season 9 of The Walking Dead, mystery has surrounded this character.
Then, when AMC released Season 1 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Rick’s fate has been further scrutinized. This is because TWD: World Beyond is based around the Civic Repulic Military, the very organization that Jadis was involved in and where Rick was flown to rescue him.
So, it comes as no surprise that there are theories abound surrounding these characters and the CRM.
However, the latest episode of World Beyond has pretty much blown one such theory out of the water thanks to a reveal by one of the characters.
Rick Grimes is Major General Beales theory
Major General Beales has been mentioned a few times in Season 2 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
He appears to be a pretty major player when it comes to the CRM both outranking Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) and Warrant Officer Jadis Stokes (Pollyanna McIntosh).
However, but his face has not yet been revealed in the TV show.
This has led to some speculation among fans of the series as to why this character has not yet appeared.
In particular, one fan on Reddit believes that the reason Beales has not shown his face yet is that he is actually Rick Grimes.
In the detailed theory, the Redditor states that Rick could have suffered from amnesia after his severe injuries in The Walking Dead. because of this, the CRM could have used it to their advantage and given him a new name.
Then, with Rick’s instinct to want to preserve humanity along with his leadership abilities — regardless of how questionable these may be at times — he could have been placed into the position where he is now a pretty important person among the members of the CRM.
If this were the case, it would certainly make for a pretty impressive reveal in Season 2 of TWD: World Beyond.
However, it appears this theory was totally debunked on Sunday night.
How Episode 7 debunks the theory
In Episode 7, Hope (Alexa Mansour) had a discussion with fellow classmate, Mason (Will Meyers). It is here that he reveals that his father is Major General Beales.
As Comic Book points out, if Mason is really Beales’ son — and there is no evidence thus far to suggest the character is lying — then the timeline of events doesn’t line up to place Rick as this character.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond takes place some 10 years after the initial zombie apocalypse. This would mean that Rick should have mentioned at some point that he had another son besides Carl (Chandler Riggs).
But Rick never once mentioned having another child which would be entirely out of character for him considering how important family is to him.
Of course, this can still lead to some speculation. Perhaps, Rick was not aware that he had another son out there. Or, alternatively, maybe Mason never knew his father and it has been (falsely) revealed after Rick became Beales that Mason was his son in order to further perpetuate the amnesia narrative and to give Rick a sense of someone to protect.
This seems somewhat far-fetched but viewers will have to continue watching World Beyond in order to get their first glimpse of Major General Beales and confirm or debunk this theory once and for all.
Season 2 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond is currently airing every Sunday night on AMC.