Rick and Thorne standing next to each other ready to fight

Wait …Have We Met the CRM in ‘The Walking Dead’ Before?

The CRM, or the Civic Republic Military, is going to play a major part in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Fans might not remember, though, that we have seen them before. Before we are reunited with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), let’s talk about the CRM.

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Featured in both Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, the organization calls themselves “the last light of the world.” So why exactly is Rick with a group like this? If you recall, they are the ones who airlifted Rick during season 9 and left us wondering what was going to happen to our former leader.

What we know about the organization is still pretty secret, though we can expect to learn more about them with Rick as our inside man. Like maybe we will come to understand how they have a helicopter that has worked from the very start of the series.

For now, here is what we know about the CRM and what could happen with Rick in their ranks.

The Three Rings symbol and the label system

We’ve been seeing this symbol since season 8 when it appeared on canned food. We saw it again that same season when Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) called for a helicopter and one showed up with the symbol on it. It does seem to be the moniker for the CRM.

A helicopter with a symbol of three overlapping rings on the side
(Jackson Lee Davis/AMC)

Beyond the three rings, there is a label system of whether something is an “A” or a “B.” At one point in The Walking Dead, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was labeled as an “A” and at another point, it was established that an “A” was needed in order for Jadis to make an exchange.

The Civic Republic

In World Beyond, we learned that there was a Philly-based organization so large that it even had more civilians than the Commonwealth. While fans thought that this was where Rick Grimes would be hidden, it is important to note that The Ones Who Live was filmed in New Jersey. Whether that matters location wise, we will have to wait and see when the show premieres.

What we currently know about this organization regarding The Ones Who Live is simply that Rick Grimes is in their custody. How he will react to them/what we learn about them in this series is unknown.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiered on February 25th and hopefully we’ll get some answers about the CRM as the season progresses!

(featured image: Gene Page/AMC)


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.