Rick Grimes found the Necronomicon before he left The Walking Dead

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I watch The Walking Dead every week as it airs, and I did the same for Ash vs. Evil Dead when it was on the air, while also sharing news about both shows here on Arrow in the Head. With two Dead shows on my mind every week, I once accidentally wrote a headline where I called the Ash show "Ash vs. Walking Dead". It was an amusing mix-up, and it's fun to imagine what Ash might do if he were to get dropped into the Walking Dead universe.

That's not a crossover we'll ever see (unless it gets turned into a comic book someday, since Ash is always crossing over with some other property in the pages of comic books), but we got the closest we'll ever get on the fifth episode of The Walking Dead's ninth season, What Comes After, the one which saw the exit of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)… and I didn't even realize it until it was pointed out to me a week later.

What Comes After was directed by special effects artist Greg Nicotero, who is also an executive producer on the show and has directed 26 other episodes to date. Nicotero often likes to work in subtle homages to horror movies and TV shows, often in the design of zombies. Over the seasons, there have been zombies designed as tributes to Romero's DEAD films, ROBOCOP, CREEPSHOW, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, the list goes on. While making What Comes After, Nicotero went even further with the homage, dropping in a location and a prop from the EVIL DEAD franchise.

The location was the cabin from THE EVIL DEAD and EVIL DEAD II (as well as episodes of Ash vs. Evil Dead), and while being pursued by a herd of zombies as he was nursing a wound and fading in and out of consciousness, Rick sought shelter in the cabin. Not only did Nicotero have the Walking Dead crew recreate the exterior of the cabin, but he even included a shot of a deer head mounted on the wall while Rick was inside the cabin, and put the Necronomicon, the Deadite-summoning Book of the Dead, in another shot.

I didn't recognize the cabin in this rundown, zombie-surrounded condition, and it was also much smaller on The Walking Dead than it is in the Evil Dead world, but a tribute it was.

I also didn't spot the Necronomicon, which blended in with the dirt on the floor and had a gun next to it, drawing attention away from it. Just imagine what might have happened if Rick had picked up that book and read a passage from it…

Nicotero has dealt with the Necronomicon before, having provided effects for EVIL DEAD II and ARMY OF DARKNESS. He paid tribute to EVIL DEAD II on The Walking Dead in an earlier episode by putting in a zombie that was meant to resemble Ash when he was possessed in that film.

Thanks to Halloween Love for pointing out the EVIL DEAD references in What Comes After, and for the screen caps.