Andrew Lincoln made the decision to leave The Walking Dead in 2018 to spend time with his family. Nobody can blame him for wanting a break after dedicating his life to playing protagonist Rick Grimes for eight years, and doing an incredible job the entire time. But his hiatus will soon come to an end, and according to the show’s chief content officer, Scott Gimple, Lincoln is “itching” to revisit the zombie franchise.
The actor has been working with Gimple and the rest of the Walking Dead crew on a trilogy of feature films that will focus on Grimes in another part of the show’s universe and follow on from the events of season 9, in which his character was spirited away by helicopter at the behest of the mysterious Civic Republic Military. The first instalment was in development for a theatrical release through Universal until the coronavirus pandemic stalled its production.
With work on the project expected to resume soon, Gimple spoke to ComicBook.com about re-teaming with Lincoln for the movies. And not only is the star eager to revisit the role of Rick, but it sounds like he’s had plenty of creative input on how the trilogy will play out.
“He throws around the football with the rest of us. He’s very, very interested in this thing. And I got to tell you, he’s itching to get back, too. We all are.”
Regarding the current status of the Rick Grimes movie trilogy, Gimple said that he and his creative team are “honing and tweaking and experimenting” with the project, so it sounds like there’s work to do before it can see the light of day. Nevertheless, Walking Dead fans have plenty to look forward to before that, with the parent show set to return for the season 10 finale in October and the latest spinoff, World Beyond, beginning that same month. Then there’s the return of Fear the Walking Dead to relish later this year.
There’s groundwork for the TV shows to do before the movies are ready to hit theatres, too, as all three series are expected to reveal more about the Civic Republic Military in the run-up to first film and establish the shadowy organization as the common thread running through every iteration of The Walking Dead. It’s safe to say the show’s universe is in for some serious expansion between now and the end of next year, then, and we can’t wait to see what’s on the way.
