As the franchise looks to the future, with movies and more in the works, beware of minor spoilers (Nothing from the latest episode) ahead…
A lot of The Walking Dead news is coming in today, straight from Scott Gimple, current content chief and ex-showrunner for The Walking Dead.
“There is more story to tell and we’ll be telling it,” states Gimple, going on to explain that Rick’s story will continue in 3 feature-length movies, with Andrew Lincoln returning to reprise his role. Lincoln and Gimple reportedly discussed plans for movies way back during the shows 4th season.
Gimple went on to explain further plans for the franchise’s future, with possibly more series and specials coming our way. “Right now, we’re working on three but there’s flexibility in that. … Over the next several years, we’re going to be doing specials, new series are quite a possibility, high-quality digital content and then some content that defies description at the moment. We’re going to dig into the past and see old characters. We’re going to introduce new characters and new situations.” Other than the comics and multiple video game series’, the franchise is also accompanied by the Fear the Walking Dead TV show. The series, while getting off to a rocky start, has since come into its own, with Lennie James reprising his role as Morgan from the main series.
AMC has made it no surprise that Andrew Lincoln would be leaving the role of Rick Grimes, with his last episode airing last night (We’ll steer clear of spoilers here). Lincoln himself stated that he wanted to spend more time with his family and also look at becoming a director. The announcement of his departure possibly being due to leaks that were coming out before the season aired, and to avoid major fan backlash from removing the main character in the series.
The possibility of more movies down the line is also something Gimple has been thinking about. Over the past few years, The Walking Dead has struggled to stay fresh, with polarising reviews from fans and critics alike. However, these expansion plans seem to be a step in the right direction in keeping the franchise moving forward and trying something new and unique.
Check out a lot more from Gimple at the Hollywood Reporter, but be warned that there are spoilers ahead concerning Rick’s fate, which we have chosen to omit.
The plans for the movies involve Andrew Lincoln to be in production for just 2 months each time, which is a huge change from the 9 months of production on the series. This may have been a big reason Lincoln decided to opt for the movies rather than continuing on the show.
The main series itself has, clearly, drifted away from the storyline in the comics, with both Rick and Carl still around in the latter. Despite a drop in ratings, this new season has been met with positive reviews, with praise being aimed at new showrunner, Angela Kang, for trying to keep the series somewhat fresh.
The Walking Dead’s 9th season airs every Sunday night on AMC.
By Jimmy Ioannou
Images provided by Jackson Lee Davis/AMC
Reverbium 
3 thoughts