The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live got a new villain update, and it teases the most complex rival Rick Grimes has faced since the main show began.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s latest villain update teases the most complex rival Rick Grimes has faced in his 14 years in the TV franchise. Andrew Lincoln’s Rick has faced formidable antagonists for over eight seasons of The Walking Dead. His most notable enemy was arguably Negan as he changed the course of Rick’s leadership in Alexandria and led to brutal losses, such as Glenn and Abraham.

While Rick chose to spare Negan in an attempt at peace requested by Carl, his former enemies were met with more permanent ends. Most of Rick’s previous enemies were power-obsessed, like Negan, reckless, like Gareth, and often self-serving, like The Governor. With Rick and Michonne’s spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, his next villain, played by Terry O’Quinn (Lost), is set up to be an even more challenging rival for him.

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Major General Beale’s Leadership Style Tease Suggests He’ll Be Rick’s Most Complex Rival Yet

In an EW interview, O’Quinn shares that Major General Beale has a military background and is “trying to make sure that this city survives, so he makes some tough decisions.” This echoes some of Rick’s past actions as a leader where he’s made difficult choices that he believed were for the best, such as defying Deanna’s leadership and publicly bashing her way of running Alexandria. Notably, O’Quinn also shares that Beale “will do whatever is necessary, but won’t be threatening about it.” This suggests Beale isn’t one to cling to remorse, which makes him dangerous as it implies he has no limits.

The non-threatening approach paints him as level-headed, which O’Quinn supports when describing Beale as “reasonable.” Rick hasn’t encountered a main villain who advocates for a larger purpose for civilization like the CRM does, so blurred morality may challenge Rick’s mindset. The Ones Who Live‘s new CRM villain details also mention Beale’s a hero among his people, which implies a fierce loyalty that can ensure anything he deems fit will be done. This is clear from Jadis’ role in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Facing an enemy with a purpose beyond mere survival and conquest suggests Rick’s plan to thwart Beale will require him to employ new tactics.

What Beale’s Leadership Could Mean For Rick’s Story In The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

As The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live trailer reveals, Beale and Rick have one-on-one interactions. Beale utilizes moments like this to try and understand Rick by “play[ing] coy,” as O’Quinn confirms. With Beale taking a keen interest in Rick and his motives – even asking him if he wants to kill or die – Rick faces a unique obstacle of overcoming a rival with “about 2,000” troops under him. Additionally, since Beale’s elite corps handle most of the work with him keeping his agenda and what motivates him close to the chest, Rick will need to be strategic in learning about his new foe.

Rick’s CRM role may be bigger than expected based on the various CRM uniforms he wears in the trailer, which could aid a covert approach to gathering intel for an escape. This would amp up the stakes even more for the spinoff as O’Quinn also explains that when Beale first encounters Rick, he’s unsure of what to do with him, who he is, or what he is. Thus, Beale’s calm and calculated approach to leading a massive community focused on development sets up The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live to showcase Rick in a unique undercover role that can potentially instigate the downfall of the long-running group, the CRM.