The CRM’s Plan In The Walking Dead Explained (In Full)

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 6

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season finale filled in the last missing pieces of the CRM’s masterplan. For years, the Civic Republic Military has maintained an air of mystery. But thanks to shows like Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: The World Beyond, and now Rick and Michonne’s spinoff, the franchise has been able to lift the veil, fully revealing their vision for the world. And unsurprisingly, it matches the villainous image they’ve built for themselves across their several appearances in The Walking Dead timeline.

Through the introduction of Donald Okafor in the first episode of The Ones Who Live, it was confirmed that the CRM had at least one high-ranking officer with their sights on altering the CRM’s place in the world. Setting Rick Grimes up to “change” the CRM laid the groundwork for Andrew Lincoln’s character to go through the Echelon briefing, a meeting where he learned the secrets of the CRM straight from its leader, Major General Beale.

The CRM Is Trying To Prevent The End Of Humanity

Major General Beale believes civilization has only a small chance of surviving

It’s been known since The World Beyond that the Civic Republic is heavily invested in scientific research into the zombie virus. The Ones Who Live delved into what they knew a bit more when Beale explained what he called “the first secret” of the CRM. Beale claimed that their research has indicated that humanity only has roughly 14 years left. He attributed this to a number of things, including starvation and a multitude of diseases that can be passed to the living.

Beale sees the world’s future as a place “cluttered with corpses.” Not only does Beale believe that this may happen, he sees it as the “most likely outcome.” This grim outlook drives everything they do, as demonstrated by Beale describing their modus operandi as an effort to “beat the odds.” It would seem that Beale thinks that if they develop enough power and resources, they have at least a small chance of surviving the hardships and disasters coming for the rest of humanity in the years ahead.

The CRM’s Plan Extends Across 500 Years

The CRM plans to be around for several centuries

Despite the opinion that what’s left of civilization will fall in 14 years, the CRM is looking centuries ahead into the future. Specifically, their plans extend across 500 years in The Walking Dead timeline. A flashback in The Ones Who Live episode 3 saw Jadis mention this to Rick. She told him that the CRM hopes to spend this time gradually rebuilding society into something even better than what it was before the outbreak happened.

Why The CRM Destroys Other Communities

They see other settlements as potential threats

The CRM has a history of genocide in The Walking Dead franchise that began in World Beyond. In the spinoff series, the CRM orchestrated the destruction of its own allies, the Campus Colony and Omaha. Hints at their reasoning were provided in the show, but the Echelon briefing in The Ones Who Live series finale addressed these events from the perspective of their leader, and provided a thorough explanation for what the CRM thinks they gain from wiping other communities off the board. As Beale said, destroying other communities is in service of the CRM’s ultimate goal.

The CRM eliminates settlements for “resources, strategic superiority, and to ensure the city’s secrecy and security above all.” This ties in to World Beyond, when Huck spoke of the need to protect a “statistical balance.” Population numbers were a concern, and it’s true that both Campus Colony and Omaha were rather large communities. The CRM recognized this as justification for committing genocide. Theoretically, communities that know the CRM’s location could band together against them, hence why their people consider it dangerous for anyone to know its headquarters’ whereabouts.

The CRM Uses Spies To Sabotage Other Communities

In keeping with this notion that communities outside the CRM could become problems later on, the CRM uses spies to prevent this from happening. Obviously, the earliest example of this was The Walking Dead’s Jadis, who used her position in the Scavengers to find people of value for the CRM. But Jadis’ role doesn’t fully showcase the scale of what the CRM is doing with its operatives. Beale says these spies they employ are scattered across “the continent and the world,” which says a lot about how far they’re looking. Even settlements nowhere near the Civic Republic’s borders are on their radar.

Related

Which “Confidante” Jadis Killed Before The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

One Walking Dead spinoff helps clarify which special confidante Jadis claimed to have killed during her speech in The Ones Who Live episode 5.

The CRM uses the spies it has at its disposal to monitor the people within these “selected” communities, pick out fitting candidates for the CRM’s scientific experiments, influencing their politics, and “potentially sabotage” them. Given what’s known about the CRM, it’s not surprising that they would take this route. Manipulating politics helps ensure these communities make choices that are advantageous to the CRM. And if their spies can sabotage the cities they’re stationed in, they can make destroying these settlements easier for the CRM when the time comes for that.

The CRM Used Survivors To Advance Their Research Into The Virus

The CRM thought they could cure the zombie virus

Many of the people designated as Bs by the CRM were used as subjects in their science team’s deadly experiments. The World Beyond shed light on the lengths the CRM went to in order to learn more about the virus and how it could be combated. The CRM was interested in a sort of cure that would lead to the quickened deterioration of the dead. But as Beale mentions in the Echelon briefing, the CRM has stopped conducting these experiments by this point in the timeline.

Portland Was The Key To The CRM Becoming The Supreme Power In The U.S.

Portland, Oregon is the CRM’s last surviving Alliance partner

Housing over 87,000 people, Portland is one of the strongest known communities in The Walking Dead universe, and also a vital part of the CRM’s masterplan. The World Beyond ended with its main characters seeking to ensure Portland didn’t experience the same fate as Omaha and Campus Colony, as they knew the CRM was targeting the city. Their intention to destroy Portland was stated by Beale directly in The Ones Who Live. According to Beale, taking out Portland was to be the “final action” in their current operation.

Beale told Rick that if they defeated Portland, the CRM would be the “supreme force” in the United States. They might even be the strongest organization in the entire world, in Beale’s mind. Why Beale and the CRM were deadset on taking Portland in particular is evidenced by both its location and population. Because of its size, its resources would have to be tremendous. And being in control of Portland would mean the CRM would have strongholds on both the eastern and western coasts of the country. But thanks to what Rick and Michonne in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live did, Portland is now safe from the CRM.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

Cast

Andrew Lincoln , Danai Gurira , Pollyanna McIntosh , Lesley-Ann Brandt , Terry O’Quinn

Release Date

February 25, 2024

Seasons

1

Franchise(s)

The Walking Dead

Showrunner

Scott M. Gimple