How A Symbol Directly Links ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ To Rick Grimes

We will have full coverage of the return of Fear the Walking Dead in the morning, as Morgan, Alycia and Co. take on a new challenge and a new villain. In the meantime, however, there was one crucial bit of intel from the season premiere that helps to connect the entire The Walking Dead universe.

“There will be one walker in particular,” showrunner Ian Goldberg said a couple of months ago. “I have to be careful saying this around Scott [Gimple, the architect of The Walking Dead universe]. Let’s just say this walker will open a universe of possibilities for our storytelling.”

That particular zombie availed itself in the Fear the Walking Dead fifth season premiere, though perhaps not the way we might have expected. A zombie wearing what appears to be a hazmat helmet attacked Althea after their plane crashed. Althea was able to fight it off and put it into a metal stake, where the zombie became pinned. The zombie itself, however, stuck in Althea’s memory and after the events of the episode, she returned to investigate, convinced that there was a story behind that particular zombie.

Althea was not wrong. After going through the walker’s belongings, she discovered that the zombie belonged to an outfit called “CRM.” Moreover, a three-ringed symbol attached to CRM materials looks to resemble the zombie biohazard symbol. It’s possible that this outfit is responsible for the original outbreak of the zombies, or potentially responsible for the clean-up and eradication of the zombies. Either way, it definitely knows more about the zombie outbreak than others likely do. Here’s the blurry symbol:

If that symbol looks familiar, it’s because it should. That symbol was also seen on a can of food being eaten by Jadis on The Walking Dead, suggesting that this organization may have been initially responsible for handing out goods after the outbreak.

But here’s the most crucial link: That symbol can also be seen on the helicopter that picked up Jadis and Rick Grimes in the fifth episode of the ninth season of The Walking Dead.

AMC

In other words, that symbol directly links the zombie on Fear the Walking Dead to the helicopter that picked up Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead.

Althea was subsequently tased and abducted by what appears to be another member of that CRM outfit, which means that in subsequent episodes, we will likely learn more about the organization responsible for rescuing Rick Grimes, an organization that will undoubtedly reappear in the Rick Grimes The Walking Dead movies. It’s possible we even see some of the Fear characters crossover into the Rick Grimes movies.

In short, the fifth season of Fear the Walking Dead just got very exciting and meaningful for the overall The Walking Dead universe.