‘The Walking Dead’ Boss Scott M. Gimple on the CRM & Walker Evolution (VIDEO)

The Walking Dead‘s Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple is opening up about one of Dead‘s biggest secrets.

The mysterious Civic Republic Military (CRM), first introduced in the flagship series’ eighth season, has played a very important role in the Walking Dead Universe — especially since the murky military operation basically abducted Dead‘s hero Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) via one of their many black helicopters. The group is also heavily involved in the latest spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond and has dipped in and out of Fear the Walking Dead, most recently seen rescuing many of our favorite Fear characters from the nuclear blasts in Season 6’s ender.

Gimple, who transitioned from Dead‘s exec producer in 2018 to overseer of the franchise, calls the CRM, “one connective aspect of the universe.” And he notes, the writers have been very careful with just how much they divulge about the operation itself.

Ryan Green/AMC

“The way I’ve been really encouraging us to go about that is by making it significant to the characters on the show,” Gimple told us for TV Guide Magazine’s The Walking Dead Universe Special Collector’s Issue. “I mean, obviously, on Walking Dead, it was pretty significant…but it really is to serve their stories. We do get little morsels about the CRM, learning more about them, and that’s important, but we try to do it in a way that it [is] about that show.”

Our guess: We’re about to learn a heck of a lot more about the CRM and what their deal is, especially when both Fear and World Beyond return in October, with many of the two show’s characters in the CRM’s custody.

Check out the clip above to watch a snippet of our interview with Gimple. For more, check out TV Guide Magazine’s The Walking Dead Universe Special Collector’s Issue, which features everything you missed so far from this in-depth interview with Gimple, and so much more about the Dead universe’s past, present, and future.

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TV Guide Magazine’s The Walking Dead Universe Special Collector’s Issue is available for international pre-order online now at TheWalkingDeadMag.com and is available nationwide on newsstands.