What The Yellow Gas In Rick’s Walking Dead Spinoff Actually Is: How It Connects To 2 Other Shows

Trailer footage for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live shows the CRM using a chemical gas, and this weapon may connect to two other TWD shows.

The strange yellow gas shown in trailer footage for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live potentially comes with a larger backstory, connecting directly to two other shows within AMC’s zombie franchise. The main trailer for The Walking Dead‘s Rick & Michonne spinoff is packed with curious details, but one standout scene shows Michonne helping other survivors flee from a cloud of gas being scattered by Civic Republic Military helicopters. The striking, lime-ish chemical represents another step into more fantastical sci-fi territory after The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon previously introduced a chemical that can grant a zombie superpowers.

While the yellow gas shown in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s trailer is certainly intriguing, it isn’t necessarily new. Not only have the gas’ effects and creation been explored in a separate The Walking Dead project, but the story of its development circles back to an unsolved mystery from the main show. As such, the CRM gas resurfacing in Rick and Michonne’s spinoff is a deceptively important clue for The Ones Who Live‘s story.

Why Andrew Lincoln Left The Walking Dead During Season 9

Andrew Lincoln played Rick Grimes for nearly a decade on The Walking Dead, and here’s why he decided to leave the show during season 9.

The Yellow Gas In The Ones Who Live Is (Probably) From Walking Dead: World Beyond

The CRM’s gas was the central plot point in the second half of The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2. That spinoff’s main protagonists, sisters Iris and Hope Bennett, belonged to a community that was allied with the Civic Republic, and their scientist father had left to help the CRM research how to end the zombie outbreak. Quite unknowingly, Mr. Bennett and his team had actually been aiding the CRM with the development of a chemical weapon. The gas is primarily chlorine, but chlorine in real life is colorless. The sickly hue is caused by a special addition made by the CRM – something its scientists created to slow down zombification.

The purpose of the gas is, presumably, to let the CRM wipe out large numbers of enemies without creating a herd. As of The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2, the process had not yet been perfected, as it only delayed reanimation rather than preventing it completely. Nevertheless, the CRM used this gas to wipe out 10,000 people at the Bennett sisters’ settlement, and almost 100,000 survivors in Omaha. An attempt was made at decimating a similarly-sized community in Portland, but the CRM’s plan was scuppered by the Bennetts and their allies in The Walking Dead: World Beyond‘s season 2 finale.

While it is possible that the gas seen in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is something different, like a mustard gas, its similarity to the weapon introduced in World Beyond is too strong to ignore, meaning the two chemicals are likely the same. The colors aren’t quite identical, meaning the version Michonne encounters may be an upgraded formula, but the way she sprints away from the cloud covering her mouth and nose confirms the gas is lethal, at least. It would certainly be strange if The Ones Who Live featured a totally different CRM chemical weapon after World Beyond established the villains possessed one already.

How The Ones Who Live’s Yellow Gas Can Connect To The Main Walking Dead Series

Back in The Walking Dead seasons 7 and 8, it became clear that Jadis and her Scavengers were capturing other survivors and shipping them off to the CRM as part of a trading arrangement. Although the reason the CRM needed live captives was never explained in the main show, The Walking Dead: World Beyond heavily implied these survivors were being used as test subjects for the creation of the CRM’s chlorine gas. Prisoners would be exposed to the yellowish-green cloud, the CRM’s scientists would measure how long the gas’ secret ingredient prevented reanimation, and that data would be used to refine the weapon further.

Consequently, the gas seen in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is potentially a direct byproduct of the various missing persons the main show never accounted for. For example, Corey Hawkins’ Heath disappeared in The Walking Dead season 7, and this was later blamed on the CRM by showrunner Angela Kang (via BusinessInsider). It seems entirely plausible that Heath was one of the many victims sacrificed by the CRM in the name of developing the very same gas Michonne is fleeing in The Ones Who Live.

The Yellow Gas Returning Teases World Beyond Cameos In The Ones Who Live

The Walking Dead: World Beyond left the door open for the Bennett sisters to return in future shows. By the spinoff’s final scene, the heroes were secretly working to simultaneously stop the zombie virus and thwart the CRM. As such, their interests directly align with those of Rick and Michonne. As suggested by The Ones Who Live trailer footage, the chlorine gas will become an obstacle for Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira’s characters, and the best-placed people to find a solution would be the scientists that helped to create it.

This naturally invites a team-up between the respective main heroes from The Ones Who Live and World Beyond, with the Bennetts passing on their knowledge of the CRM’s chemical weapon to Rick Grimes and Michonne. Whether the likes of Iris and Hope Bennett appear in The Ones Who Live or not, AMC’s latest zombie project is certainly making World Beyond look like a more significant chapter in The Walking Dead‘s overall timeline. Despite flying under the radar compared to other spinoffs, the Bennetts’ actions are directly influencing the story of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.