The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Finally Delivers On A Long-Awaited Rick Moment

The following article contains spoilers for "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live" Episode 1, "Years"

At long last, one of the most highly anticipated "Walking Dead" titles has arrived. The debut episode of "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live," "Years," gets viewers up to speed on the status of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) long after his mysterious disappearance in the original show's Season 9 episode "What Comes After." It's revealed that Rick has been held captive by the shady group known as the Civic Republic Military and has made several attempts to escape. His efforts have even led to a new take on a famous "Walking Dead" comic moment finally reaching the small screen.

During a nighttime CRM assignment, Rick seemingly goes about his task of eliminating walkers from a forested area. All the while, he's attached to a handler via a cable. He's armed with an ax, which, in a desperate bid to escape, he uses to cut off his left hand. This is a key moment in Rick's "Walking Dead" comic story, with the villainous Governor — portrayed masterfully by David Morrissey on the AMC adaptation — being the one responsible. In "The Walking Dead" #28, he takes a knife to Rick's right hand, leaving the former sheriff to acclimate to life without it. A prosthetic is also made for him, similar to the one he's given on "The Ones Who Live."

This is a huge part of Rick's comic story that surprisingly never made it into the original "Walking Dead" series, but why?

The original "Walking Dead" teases Rick Grimes' hand loss multiple times. Most notably, Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) indicates that he might chop off Rick's hand in Season 7's "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," only for him to turn his attention to Rick's son, Carl (Chandler Riggs). With tears in his eyes, Rick prepares to go through with it at Negan's command to save his group before Negan stops him. Of course, if the series was so willing to overtly tease Rick losing his hand, why did it take until "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live" for it to happen?

Andrew Lincoln shared that he tried to make the moment happen when the Governor was still at the forefront of the show. The actor recalled in an interview with ComicBook.com, "You know, I campaigned two seasons ago when the Governor was around...I was saying, 'You've gotta do the hand guys!'" Unfortunately, the special effects costs would've been too high to make it happen at that juncture. As for the Season 7 tease, "Walking Dead" producer Gale Anne Hurd told Entertainment Tonight that it was a mere Negan fear tactic. "The truth is it was the mind game that Negan is playing with them. It's much more brutal mentally for Negan to threaten Carl — to threaten Rick's son — than it was to threaten Rick himself," she said.

At long last, the TV version of Rick is now lacking a hand, just like his comic counterpart. Still, the belief that it should've happened sooner and under more comic-accurate circumstances is justified. One has to imagine that without budgetary limitations, fans would've seen the Governor go through with the act long ago.