In The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 1, Rick Grimes has no lack of undead to dispatch. However, it’s not immediately apparent if the blazing zombies from the opening sequence are a new variety or something more commonplace.
Before leaking into Daryl Dixon’s character and the main series, the idea of “variant cohorts” initially surfaced in the climax of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
The variations of The Walking Dead season 11 were limited to zombies with the ability to climb ladders and wield tools, but Daryl Dixon went one step further and introduced Burners with acidic blood in addition to a version with superhuman strength and the ability to run.
One of the most significant mysteries regarding mutant zombies in The Walking Dead is why there has been a sudden inflow of them ten years after the outbreak.
After a decade in which apocalyptic veterans such as Negan and Daryl failed to detect variations, many super-zombies suddenly appeared in the final scene of The Walking Dead.
Therefore, it is possible that The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, an AMC spinoff starring Rick Grimes and Michonne, will also include some variation.
The wave of burning zombies Rick faces in episode 1 is the closest thing to what the show offers, though it’s still up for debate whether this is a truly new variety.
The Walking Dead’s Flaming Zombies Aren’t A New Variant
Rick and the other consignees seem to be being sent by the CRM to protect Civic Republic land from a small herd that is infringing on the community’s crops.
The herd of zombies in question is engulfed in flames, and in the direction they are approaching, a burning building is visible.
The most plausible explanation is that zombies from the surrounding area were drawn to the fire at the CRM food facility, where they were set ablaze yet still proceeded to advance.
Since the zombies don’t seem to be innately flaming, they are likely conventional zombies rather than fire-based variations who just happened to stumble too close to a fire. This is further supported by the CRM’s reference to the approaching wave as “ignited”.
However, it is impossible to completely rule out the possibility that the zombies in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live represent a new variety. Given the lack of information on the origin of the fire, it’s plausible that the undead ignited the structure before the zombies did, putting them on fire initially.
Once more, this seems improbable. The fire visible during The Ones Who Live’s aerial helicopter view is contained inside a single region, unlike fire versions that would have left a path of charred earth behind them.
The introduction of fire zombies by The Ones Who Live would also conflict with the timeline of The Walking Dead. It is established that the scene is set five years after Rick Grimes’s alleged death, which places it before the point in The Walking Dead’s last season when variations first started to cause issues.
It appears unlikely that a fire-based variation would appear in Pennsylvania before zombies in the vicinity of Alexandria had even begun to wield blades.
