This past Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond featured a post-credits scene that revealed a new piece of the CRM puzzle. Fans have been waiting for answers about the mysterious organization behind the disappearance of Rick Grimes for ages, and the spinoff has already offered up some fresh info on the Civic Republic Military.
In the latest episode, “The Wrong End of A Telescope,” we at last learned the meaning of the CRM’s “A” and “B” labels. The end credits scene in question saw a CRM scientist study zombie-bitten test subjects labelled as “A”s in the organization’s research facility in New York where they’re working towards finding a cure for the walker virus. This is important to the wider story of the TWD universe as Jadis/Anne was always talking about “A”s and “B”s in her secret dealing with the CRM across the parent series’ eighth and ninth seasons.
Eventually, she was able to convince the CRM to arrive and save Rick’s life by saying that, though they were really after more “A” test subjects, Rick could be useful to them as a “B.” It’s not entirely clear what a “B” is right now – it’s worth remembering that Jadis also said Gabriel could’ve been a “B” if he agreed to go with her and join the CRM – but now we know why they were so keen to get more “A” subjects, as more infected victims are useful in their quest to concoct a cure.
The CRM have also had a shadowy presence on Fear the Walking Dead and we’ll get further answers about them in the Rick Grimes movies that are eventually coming. Bit by bit, though, we’re starting to put together the bigger picture.