The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: World Beyond episode 1.
Way back in the tenth episode of The Walking Dead’s sixth season, Paul Rovia a.k.a. Jesus (Tom Payne) made a promise to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).
“You’re world’s about to get a whole lot bigger,” the Messianic-appearing figure said. And it did not take long for Jesus’s promise to bear fruit. Rick Grimes’s world did get bigger with the introduction of the Hilltop Colony, The Kingdom, Oceanside, and even The Sanctuary.
Since that moment, the world of The Walking Dead has only continued to grow. That growth reaches its apex (thus far at least) in the premiere of the third TWD spinoff, The Walking Dead: World Beyond. This latest installment of the franchise introduces viewers to not just one new location but three…and maybe more than that. And unlike Hilltop, Alexandria, The Kingdom, The Sanctuary, or even Stephanie’s supposed community in West Virginia, these communities aren’t confined to merely the mid-Atlantic. These communities, the Civic Republic, Pacific Republic, and Campus Colony, span the entire country.
Here is what we know about The Walking Dead’s latest expansion based on World Beyond’s first episode, “Brave.”
While World Beyond introduces three new communities, viewers spend time in only one. The series begins on the outskirts of Omaha, Nebraska in the Campus Colony of Omaha. This is where all main characters Hope (Alexa Mansour), Iris (Aliyah Royale), Elton (Nicolas Cantu), and Silas (Hal Cumpston) reside. There appear to be at least two components of the Omaha settlement. Many children and their respective caretakers and educators reside in the Campus Colony portion. There is also clearly an urban portion of the community in Omaha proper. It’s mentioned that the Campus Colony is “100 miles” from the city. The Campus Colony contains 9,671 people according to Iris’s therapist.
This suggests that things have settled down enough in The Walking Dead universe that individuals are able to band together to create quasi-super cities or at least a series of small communities over a relatively large area that are united enough to consider themselves one city. It would kind of be like if Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, Sanctuary, and Oceanside all existed under one “Washington’ banner.
But the world gets even bigger than that on World Beyond. The first episode’s plot deals with some very special guests coming to town. The Campus Colony of Omaha is one of three political entities bound in what is known as “The Alliance of the Three.” The other two are the Pacific Republic based out of Portland, Oregon and the Civic Republic based out of…well nobody knows where, as they won’t tell anyone. The Alliance of the Three is represented by a logo featuring three interlocking rings, which viewers have seen previously on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.
Of the three, the Civic Republic (sometimes abbreviated as CRM for “Civic Republic Military”) are clearly the dominant faction. Despite not knowing where the Civic Republic is located, we still learn quite a bit about them in this first hour. The Civic Republic is a highly technologically sophisticated society. They have access to helicopters, proper body armor, and efficient zombie-killing automatic weapons. Though they’re careful not to reveal where they’re from, they do mention that it was a long trip out to Omaha. They also have at least one facility in New York state if Lt. Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) is to be believed. A lot of further information about the Civic Republic that can be gleaned from the previous two Walking Dead series.
On The Walking Dead, Anne a.k.a Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) was shown to have been collaborating with the Civic Republic by finding them new “candidates” that she refers to as either “As” or “Bs.” It’s unknown what “A” or “B” is referring to but we do know that none other than Rick Grimes himself is a B. The Civic Republic arrives to carry him off to parts unknown (and to his own movie franchise). On Fear the Walking Dead, Althea (Maggie Grace) comes across a CRM soldier named Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon). Althea and Isabelle strike up a romantic relationship before Althea discovers that the CRM has a penchant for “liquidating communities.” That’s something that the Campus Colony finds out to their peril at episode’s end.
What is the Civic Republic all about? According to Isabelle on Fear the Walking Dead and Elizabeth, the Civic Republic is here to rebuild the world the way it was before. But as “Brave” reveals, that may come along with devastating consequences for those who don’t fit that mission.
With the introduction of The Civic Republic, Campus Colony, and Pacific Republic, The Walking Dead universe continues to fill out its world. With 30 more episodes of the flagship series, a movie, and at least two spinoffs on the horizon, The Walking Dead can use all the fresh real estate it can find.