The Walking Dead – The Ones Who Live: This is what you need to know about the new villain Major General Beale

“The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” has started. In the new TWD spin-off we see Rick Grimes, who finds himself in the clutches of the Civic Republic Military, or CRM for short, after being kidnapped by Jadis. After he has been living as a “consignee” for five years, i.e. as a CRM recruit, and involuntarily kills zombies for the military, after his promotion to soldier he has to deal with the most important person in the CRM: Major General Beale.

In the first trailer for “The Ones Who Live” we see Beale and Rick talking. Beale asks Rick, “Why are you here? Do you want to kill? Or do you want to die?” To which Rick replies, “Look me in the eyes, sir. Tell me.” This conversation suggests that Rick only has two options: kill or die himself. A desperate situation for Rick.

And in the season premiere we learn that Beale is not to be trusted. Lieutenant Colonel Okafor tries to introduce two new leaders, Rick Grimes and Pearl Thorne, into the CRM in order to change the organization’s structures from within. Beale tries to coax the truth out of Rick in a conversation, but he remains calm. Otherwise it would certainly have cost Grimes, Thorne and Okafor their lives.

Major General Beale could become Rick’s greatest enemy

Terry O’Quinn, known to most as John Locke from the cult series “Lost”, plays the leader of the CRM in “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”. As Major General Beale, he has military responsibility for the Civic Republic, a settlement that has around 250,000 inhabitants and is therefore significantly larger than the Commonwealth.

Beale’s name was already mentioned in “The Walking Dead: World Beyond”, but we haven’t seen the CRM boss there yet. What is known, however, is that the CRM can operate independently of the government of the Civic Republic and is not averse to testing on people. Beale himself is highly respected because he has a long military past. He served in the Vietnam War and was in officer training school (via Entertainment Weekly).

Beale has had to make many questionable decisions in his military career in order to ensure the good of the Civic Republic. But we already saw in “World Beyond” how unscrupulous the CRM’s approach was: entire settlements were wiped out by the armed forces in order to secure supplies for the Civic Republic, for example. With his 2,000-strong army, Beale quickly becomes the strongest opponent Rick has ever had.

After all, Rick has been held captive by the CRM for many years and has not yet managed to escape on his own to travel back to his family. But with Michonne’s help, everything could be different.

“The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” started streaming on MagentaTV on February 26, 2024. The series premieres in the USA on February 25th on AMC and AMC+. We’ll tell you how you can subscribe to AMC+ in this country.