The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live begins with Rick Grimes facing a wave of flaming zombies, raising questions over whether this is another variant.

There is no shortage of undead for Rick Grimes to kill in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 1, but it isn’t immediately clear whether the flaming zombies from the opening sequence are another variant or something more mundane. The concept of “variant cohorts” first appeared in The Walking Dead: World Beyond‘s ending before bleeding into both the main show and Daryl Dixon. The Walking Dead season 11’s variants manifested exclusively as zombies that could climb ladders or use tools, but Daryl Dixon went further by introducing Burners with acidic blood, as well as a version that possessed super-strength and could run.

Many questions about variant zombies remain unanswered in The Walking Dead, with one of the biggest being why a sudden influx has appeared 10 years post-outbreak. Apocalypse veterans like Negan and Daryl lasted a decade without noticing variants, then multiple super-zombies began showing up all at once in The Walking Dead‘s ending. As such, it is entirely plausible that AMC’s Rick Grimes and Michonne spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, will also feature variants to some degree. The closest thing episode 1 delivers is the wave of flaming zombies Rick deals with, but whether this is an actual new variant remains contested.

The Walking Dead’s Flaming Zombies (Probably) Aren’t A New Variant

The CRM appears to be sending Rick and the other consignees to defend Civic Republic territory from a small herd moving towards the community’s crops. The zombies in said herd are on fire and a blazing building can be seen from the direction from which they are coming. The most logical explanation is that a fire occurred at a CRM food facility and attracted nearby zombies, which were then set alight but continued marching forward regardless. The zombies do not appear to be inherently aflame, meaning these are regular zombies that simply staggered too close to a fire, not fire-based variants. The CRM referring to the oncoming wave as “ignited” further supports this.

Nevertheless, the idea that The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s ignited zombies signal a new variant cannot be ruled out definitively. Without additional details about how the fire started, it is possible that the flaming building was set alight by the zombies rather than the other way around, meaning the undead were on fire first. Again, this seems unlikely. Fire variants would have left a trail of scorched ground behind them, whereas the blaze seen during The Ones Who Live‘s aerial helicopter shot is restricted to a single area.

The Ones Who Live introducing fire zombies also wouldn’t fit with The Walking Dead‘s timeline. The scene is confirmed to take place five years on from Rick Grimes’ presumed death, putting it several years before when variants first started becoming a problem in The Walking Dead‘s final season. A fire-based variant emerging in Pennsylvania before zombies near Alexandria had even started picking up knives seems implausible.

Fire Zombies Would Still Be A Great Walking Dead Variant

Rick may not be fighting fire zombies in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, but the sequence does highlight how great a flaming variant could be. Daryl Dixon pushed The Walking Dead‘s zombies into more fantastical territory with the Burners’ acidic blood twist and Genet’s super-corpses, meaning the notion of zombies that internally combust is not as outlandish as it might have been circa The Walking Dead season 3.

Walking Dead Finally Confirms The Origins Of Super-Strong Zombie Variants

Variants have been an ongoing mystery in The Walking Dead, but Daryl Dixon’s spinoff finally shows where these stronger, faster zombies come from.

As The Walking Dead explores new ways of keeping the undead as fresh as their rotting bodies will allow, a zombie that spontaneously ignites and sets anything it touches on fire would be an excellent way to add an extra layer of threat. These zombies would inevitably be harder to kill, since their fiery bodies would prevent survivors using melee weapons and even a single touch could prove fatal. Whether in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live or another upcoming project, fire zombies might just represent the next natural evolution for the franchise’s ever-changing dead.