As we await The Walking Dead returning to our screens for six new episodes next month, don’t forget that Andrew Lincoln’s spinoff movies are still on the way. Things haven’t progressed as quickly on that front as was expected, due to various different factors, but AMC remains committed to expanding the post-apocalyptic franchise on the big screen, with Lincoln back in the saddle as Rick Grimes.
Details on the films are thin on the ground, though, as EP Scott M. Gimple – the chief content officer of TWD, who’s also penning the script for the first outing – is keen to keep spoilers to a minimum. But an interesting new tidbit may indicate what the trilogy will be like tonally.
Insider Daniel Richtman is reporting this week that the films will be pitched as “straight horror” movies. That’s all he had to share, but it’s enough to chew on for now. Of course, the TV series is obviously generally classified as a horror show, but there’s a lot of character drama in there, too. For the films, however, it makes sense to ramp up the horror quotient and aim it squarely at that demographic of genre fans. TV has the freedom to cross the demos a little bit more, but movie studios typically like to make sure they’re targeting a specific audience.
That said, this decision probably wasn’t made just for those reasons. With an increased budget, Lincoln’s flicks have the freedom to go bigger and bolder with their zombie set pieces in a way that TV shows can never attain. The production team will want to give long-term fans something they’ve never seen before, too, and more action, horror and undead carnage would surely satisfy that need.
Things are still vague when it comes to when we can expect the first Walking Dead movie to arrive, but with any luck, it’ll start shooting this year.
