We thought last Sunday was it for Andrew Lincoln’s time on The Walking Dead, but it turns out AMC were keeping a big secret from us. Rick Grimes didn’t die at the end of the hour and was instead taken away in a helicopter by Anne for pastures new. Though Lincoln has confirmed that he won’t return to the TV show, Rick’s story will still be continued in a trio of spinoff movies.
But what exactly can we expect from these films, the first of which is said to be going into production in 2019? Well, Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple, who’s also penning the script for the first movie, and AMC programming president David Madden, spoke to THR about what’s coming next for Rick in a recent interview.
First, they touched on where could the films could be set. We know Lincoln left the series to spend more time with his family in England, so might the TWD universe be expanded with a trip to London?
“London is unlikely,” Gimple said, “but you never know.”
Madden added:Â “My guess is we’ll probably shoot somewhere in North America; it’s just probably easy to match some version of the terrain we live in.”
Plot-wise, all Gimple would say is that the driving force of the film would be the ongoing “A” and “B” mystery that Anne/Jadis is tied up with. Other than that, Rick’s arc will naturally see him fighting to get back home to his friends, family and his community.
“That serves the overall story to this next story that we have for Rick… We know Rick Grimes. He would want to be home.”
We know, though, that Rick’s destined to never get back home, as the end of season 9, episode 5 jumped forward six years and revealed that everything had moved on without him – including his grown-up daughter Judith. We’ll just have to see where these movies take the character next and how they’ll manage the monumental task of wrapping up Rick’s journey once and for all, but in the meantime, you can catch The Walking Dead season 9 as it unfolds – without Andrew Lincoln – every Sunday on AMC.
Published: Nov 7, 2018 11:12 am