Three ‘The Walking Dead’ Movies On The Way, Andrew Lincoln Set To Star
This Sunday’s episode ofThe Walking Deadbid goodbye to its grizzled lead of nine seasons — or did it?Andrew Lincolnmade a highly publicized exit from the AMC zombie show Sunday night, but it seems like that won’t be the last we’ll see of former Sheriff Rick Grimes.
AMC is expanding theWalking Deadfranchise into multipleThe Walking Deadmovies, set to be headlined by Lincoln. Which answers the question to Sunday night’s episode, titled “What Comes After”, pretty clearly.
Spoilers for Sunday’s episode ofThe Walking Deadbelow.
Did anyone ask for aWalking Deadcinematic universe? Because you’re getting one, lead by none other than Rick Grimes himself.The Walking Deadchief content officerScott M. Gimpleconfirmed toThe Hollywood Reporterthat Lincoln will reprise his role as Rick Grimes in three big-budget, feature-lengthThe Walking Deadmade-for-TV movies that will start AMC’s planned expansion of its multibillion-dollar zombie franchise. Yes, this is just the beginning of moreThe Walking Dead:
“The story of Rick will go on in films. Right now, we’re working on three but there’s flexibility in that. … Over the next several years, we’re going to be doing specials, new series are quite a possibility, high-quality digital content and then some content that defies description at the moment. We’re going to dig into the past and see old characters. We’re going to introduce new characters and new situations.”
This plan for three Rick Grimes-ledThe Walking Deadmovies seems to fly in the face of Lincoln’s final episode this past Sunday, which saw him nobly sacrificing himself for the camp by leading a group of walkers onto a bridge decked with dynamite. It would have been a fitting death for Rick, coupled with some badass last words, “I got ‘em.” ButThe Walking Deadis no stranger to the fake-out death, and a fake-out death this one is, Gimple confirms:
“Rick Grimes is an amazing character and Andy has done an amazing performance. There were story ideas brewing that, as the years went on, seemed very compatible with continuing to tell the Rick story in another format that would allow him time with his family.
The multipleThe Walking Deadmovies are just the first part of AMC’s long-term plan to expand the zombie franchise, which will include “multiple new scripted ventures,” according to THR. Gimple is currently writing the first of the three untitled movies, with production set to begin in 2019.
