Warning: spoilers for tonight's episode of THE WALKING DEAD abound.
Good news for THE WALKING DEAD fans! Although it's been known since San Diego Comic-Con that Andrew Lincoln, who has been portraying the post apoclayptic hero Rick Grimes on AMC's hit horror drama for nine years now, is confirmed to be leaving the show, the actor let slip a surprising reveal on tonight's TALKING DEAD. According to Lincoln, there's going to be a series of AMC original movies, which will expand THE WALKING DEAD universe and the story of Rick Grimes, with the first expected to begin production in 2019.
Tonight's WALKING DEAD was written by Matthew Negrate and Scott M. Gimple, and ended with Grimes being fatally wounded and flown off in a helicopter to an unknown location. This may have looked grim for our hero, but now we know that the exit from the show was only to set up the beloved sheriff's introduction into a bigger cinematic universe. As Lincoln said himself in his interview with Yvette Nicole Brown, “It’s not the beginning of the end, it’s the end of the beginning,” The first film is expected to show where Grimes is taken and what he'll be up against in a new section of the zombie apocalypse.
Unable to contain his excitement, Robert Kirkman hinted at something speical with tonight's episode of TALKING DEAD via his Twitter earlier today.
As reported by Deadline, the Rick Grimes movies are among the first films in development from Gimple as part of a multi-year plan for THE WALKING DEAD UNIVERSE, which also includes other projects currently in the works: additional films, specials, series, digital content and more. According to Gimple, some of the stories will relate to THE WALKING DEAD as fans know it while others will be standalone stories that break into new creative territory.
Gimple also added that he wants Grimes to interact with new characters, but come across some familiar faces as well.
“We have a lot on the horizon – starting with a new epic featuring one of the greatest leading actors in television history and one of the best people I’ve ever met. These films are going to be big evolutions of what we’ve been doing on the show, with the scope and scale of features. We’re starting with the first part of the continuing story of Rick Grimes, and there is much more on the way, featuring yet-unseen worlds of THE WALKING DEAD and faces from the show’s past, as well as new characters we hope to become favorites, told by TWD veterans and emerging voices. We want to break new ground with different, distinct stories, all part of the same world that’s captured our imagination for nearly a decade of the Dead.”
What do y'all think? Are you excited to see the walker infested apocalypse up on the big screen? Fire off in the comments section and let us know where you stand on the continuation of THE WALKING DEAD universe.