Television Series[]
Rick Grimes is a King County sheriff's deputy who was shot and put in a coma only to wake up and find himself
Rick Grimes (TV Series)
Rick Grimes (Comic Series)
in the middle of an undead apocalypse. He traveled to Atlanta, Georgia looking for his family, Lori Grimes, his wife and Carl Grimes, his son who had traveled to Atlanta with his best friend, Shane Walsh, in search of a safe-haven.
Overview[]
Rick worked as a King County Sheriff's Department deputy in King County, Georgia, along with his partner and long-time best friend Shane Walsh. Wounded in the line of duty, he was in a coma when the apocalypse occured. When he awoke alone, he set off in search of his wife Lori and young son Carl, and along the way discovered what happened to the world.
Rick is an every-man—smart, calm, just, a good friend and father—but will often stubbornly cling to his personal strong moral code, which has numerous times resulted in bad calls and stress within the group. In contrast to Shane, he is also a natural leader—a fact that causes frequent tension between the two.
Pre-Apocalypse[]
King County, Georgia[]
Rick and Shane were childhood friends, with Rick being the more subdued individual. He had few girlfriends during his years of high school, in contrast to Shane who was always the center of attraction to girls. He and Shane both went to college together for police administration and became sheriff deputies at the King Count Sheriff's Department. He and Lori met at a young age and after dating for a short amount of time, married and had a son named Carl. They lived as a family in a typical suburban neighborhood.
As their son grew older, his and Lori's marriage became increasingly strained. He constantly distanced himself from her, hesitating to open up and absorbing himself in his work.
While on patrol one day, he and Shane are called to assist the Linden County Sheriff's Department, a neighboring county who are in pursuit of suspects. During a shootout with three men after a high speed pursuit, he's critically injured and submitted to a hospital in Atlanta. He goes in and out of a coma for days. Shane at one point delivers flowers, but he's not conscious enough to be aware of what's going on..
Comic Series[]
Rick Grimes is the main character of both the comic and television series. The comic series was meant to follow his life for the approximate 300 issue run.
Overview[]
Pre-Apocalypse[]
Rick Grimes lived in Cynthiana, Kentucky for most of his life. Academically, he entered college for police administration with the intention of becoming a police officer. Around this time, within his sophomore year, his parents made Rick chaperone at a New Year’s party set up by them, but his parents had to attend another party elsewhere. Thanks to his younger brother, Jeff Grimes, he was introduced to a high school senior named Lori. Although there was some chemistry between them, they couldn't explore a possible relationship, due to Lori moving away to also attend college. Despite this, Rick and Lori kept in touch with each other while he finished college. After Lori dropped out of her first year in college, she returned to Cynthiana, where they could finally develop their relationship. Soon after, Rick and Lori were wed, so Lori became Lori Grimes. During this time, Rick officially became a police officer, where he was assigned a partner, and soon best friend, Shane Walsh. Life for Rick was perfect, a burgeoning career in the police force and the happy news of Lori's pregnancy. Soon they had a son whom they named Carl.
After Apocalypse[]
At the beginning of the series, Rick was wounded in a shoot-out, and was put into a coma for about a month. Upon awakening, Rick finds the hospital and the rest of the town desolated and overrun by Zombies. Rick remains dazed by all of the confusion, until he takes a trip to the house he shared with his family before the outbreak. He leaves his house, and is soon hit in the back of the head with a shovel. He wakes up, having been knocked out by the blow to the head, and sees that he is in the house of his old next door neighbors. He is greeted by a man named Morgan Jones, who explains that he and his son Duane Jones have taken refuge in the house. He informs Rick of the outbreak that has happened during his time in a coma. Morgan also informs him that the government was telling everyone to go to Atlanta. Rick is overjoyed upon hearing this, as he sees that Lori might have taken Carl to Atlanta to stay with her parents. He also realizes that he will need both a car and guns. To accomplish this, Rick takes Morgan and Duane to his police department and supplies them with guns, ammo, and a car. He then leaves Morgan and Duane in Cynthiana, so he can go to Atlanta. Along the way, Rick's car runs out of gas, so he decides to continue the trek on foot. Along the way he finds a farm house and goes inside to try and borrow some gas. Upon his entry, he sees that the entire family killed themselves during the initial outbreak. He goes around to the stable, and finds a horse and a hatchet (this becomes his main weapon throughout the rest of the series). He rides the horse for the rest of the trip to Atlanta.