The Walking Dead is evolving. Season 10C is coming soon and the run after that will be the finale of the core show. But don’t mistake this for an ending as there are many, many spinoffs in the works.
One will follow Norman Reedus’ Daryl and Melissa McBride’s Carol, another will be an anthology series called Tales of the Walking Dead, there’s some kind of straight comedy show planned and Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond have further seasons to come, too. But the most anticipated by far is the movie trilogy starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes.
Fan excitement for this has been tempered by the knowledge that we could have a long wait ahead of us. The COVID-19 pandemic’s resulted in delays to the project, with previous indications being that the films would shoot in mid-2021 for a 2022/2023 release. Now, however, a tweet from The Walking Dead director Rosemary Rodriguez might hint that the first entry will arrive within the next year, as you can see below.
https://twitter.com/rosemarydirects/status/1343676982899351552?s=20
Rodriguez has directed multiple episodes of the show since season 7 as well as working on The Good Wife and Home Before Dark. We don’t know who’s being lined up to helm the Rick Grimes movies, but as a seasoned director of TWD, it’s not inconceivable that she’s been picked for one of them. Still, a 2021 release would mean a very quick turnaround, so it’s entirely possible that this tweet isn’t accurate.
Plot-wise, we know that the films will take place in and around Philadelphia and that they’ll be about the Civic Republic Military that captured Rick. Rumor has it that a vaccine will be developed for the walker pathogen, too, which may tie into the ongoing mystery of what characters being designated ‘A’ or ‘B’ means.
2021 should theoretically find the entertainment industry returning to some level of normality after a hellish 2020 and for The Walking Dead fans, the release of the first outing in the movie trilogy would be the cherry on top.
