AMC has released an official trailer for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, showcasing the battles that are in store for Rick and Michonne Grimes.

In just a little bit over a month, Rick and Michonne Grimes will return to television in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Their reunion has been in the works for six long years, but fans won’t have to wait any longer. After a series of short teases released through AMC’s social media pages, an official The Ones Who Live trailer showcases the hurdles ahead for Rick and Michonne as they venture into new parts of the apocalyptic world.

Six years is a long time in any sector of the film industry, but it’s been especially tedious for The Walking Dead fans. To illustrate this, here’s every major event that has happened since Rick and Michonne have shared the screen together: The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead ended, four new spinoffs have aired, Maggie and Negan are now being shipped as a couple, and Daryl Dixon is in France. With all that’s transpired, Rick and Michonne have a lot of catching up to do. But that’s only to say they ever make it back home in the first place, and The Ones Who Live trailer doesn’t offer much hope as they stand against the highly intimidating Civic Republic Military (CRM).

The Civic Republic Military Has Unstoppable Firepower

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The two-season series he Walking Dead: World Beyond was the first spinoff to give an inside look to the CRM. The organization had only been referred to or hinted at in The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, but World Beyond was the first to see it in action. Unfortunately, nothing could’ve prepared fans for what they saw of the CRM in The Ones Who Live trailer.

The leader of the military, Major General Beale (played by Lost actor Terry O’Quinn) makes a mistake when referring to the CRM as the largest and most powerful army in the world. The trailer features multiple shots of the military’s potential, with hundreds to thousands of armed soldiers standing in formation as they await orders. An overriding theme of The Walking Dead universe is that people are stronger together, so imagine if those people were supplied with bombs and weaponized gases.

As evident in the trailer, the CRM are utilizing old tricks to keep enemies in line. Realizing that the Alliance of the Three (Omaha, the Campus Colony and Portland) would face a devastating famine that could potentially affect the Civic Republic, the CRM used a variant of chlorine gas to murder around 90,000 people in the city. The same gas has been weaponized in The Ones Who Live trailer, with Michonne in the middle attempting to get people out of it. Helicopters are also bombing buildings with no explanation given. But considering the CRM’s past of pure annihilation and carnage, they certainly have their own reasoning for it — one that will clash with Rick and Michonne’s concept of survival.

The Ones Who Live May Visit Other Cities

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The CRM’s connection to other cities is a major part of its operation. Depending on The Ones Who Live‘s placement in The Walking Dead timeline, the organization may still be in communication with the Alliance of the Three all across the country. Keeping in touch with people from other states gives the CRM a special legitimacy to restore law and order in the world, but the CRM is routinely cutting ties.

The trailer clearly shows other cities bearing the worst of the CRM’s strength, so the show is likely planning to expand beyond just the settlement Rick is imprisoned in. The last audiences saw the CRM, they had just been stopped from decimating the city of Portland. But with 250,000 citizens and a highly-advanced army, a small rebel group isn’t enough to stop them. The chances of the CRM carrying out their plan again — whether in Portland or their main base in Philadelphia — are greater than ever. The CRM has one goal to reinstate a new world order, and they’ll do anything to eliminate the possible number of enemies they’ll have.

Most of the trailer is new, cinematic footage, as it should be for a new television series. But there is one shot that is eerily familiar for fans of the earlier seasons of The Walking Dead. In Season 2, a flashback revealed the horrors survivors faced as they watched the military drop napalm on the city of Atlanta — a country-wide strategy that was further expanded on in the first couple of seasons in Fear the Walking Dead. The decision was a last ditch effort to contain the Wildfire Virus in the most contained and populated cities, which failed miserably. But the shot is seen once again in The Ones Who Live, insinuating that the CRM may have been the ones responsible for the attacks. Granted, The Walking Dead shows have had a history of using old footage in completely new contexts, so it could’ve been an overlooked mistake that only eagle-eyed fans can spot.

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Although not confirmed, everyone has accepted that Rick is being held captive by the CRM. Otherwise, he would’ve been home with his wife and children years ago. He was picked up by the CRM after a near-fatal accident where he was labeled as an “A” by Jadis/Anne. Rick nearly escaped one time, but was eventually caught by a helicopter at the edge of Philadelphia.

Escaping had never worked out for Rick, so it might be time that he tried an inconspicuous approach. In the trailer, he’s working at the Civic Republic’s Cull Facility, which lures in walkers for workers to kill in order to protect the city’s residents. But the trailer cryptically focuses on a masked soldier in the very last shot, not revealing who they are and why they’re important.

One theory is that the masked soldier is Rick after winning General Beale’s trust. Eugene had a similar strategy in The Walking Dead after being taken hostage by Negan — he sucked up to Negan’s ego and gave him what he wanted, only to secretly plan his downfall behind his back. Rick has the skills and qualifications of any soldier as a former police officer, relentless fighter and expert marksman. As a CRM soldier playing by the rules, he’d get insider information on the facility, perfectly executing his escape with a calculated plan.

Michonne Makes New Allies to Find Rick

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With little clues about Rick’s whereabouts, Michonne is going to be wandering around the country for some time. All she knows is that he’s north, and she’ll have to use her wits to get there. She’s a determined woman that will surely achieve her goal, but it’ll be a while before she reunites with her husband again.

Against the powerful forces of the CRM, Michonne makes new allies to help her along her journey. She’s joined by Nat, a new character who translates the phone that reveals Rick was alive in the first place. Two other people joining her aren’t new to the scene: Aiden and Bailey are members of a nomadic caravan who were traveling to an “unknown destination” up north in The Walking Dead. Aiden is frequently seen in the trailer with Michonne, and may play an instrumental role in reuniting the two lovers.

To keep spoilers under wraps, the trailer never shows Rick and Michonne actually together. But fans can count on the unstoppable forces to overcome their personal perils to reunite. Even if they won’t be able to recognize each other anymore, Rick and Michonne’s joint love for each other and resentment of the CRM are more than enough to take down the unjust and merciless military.