When Andrew Lincoln left The Walking Dead back in 2018, that wasn’t intended to be the end for his character, Rick Grimes. In what must be a unique twist in screen history, his exit from the TV series was actually a set-up for him leading his own spinoff movie franchise, with the first in a planned trilogy of theatrically-released films due out this year. At this stage, production has yet to get started on the project, but EP Scott Gimple is teasing something very big.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, TWD‘s Chief Creative Officer gave us our first proper update on the movie in a while. Gimple explained that the aim with the first film is to ramp up the scale and scope of the post-apocalyptic universe. So, fans should expect the story to go in some bold new directions.
“The scale is bigger and the budget is bigger, and it’s The Walking Dead, but heightened, both in the narrative themes, but also in just what we see onscreen. I say heightened, but I should also say it’s also very different. It’s not going to be the exact same thing we saw on television, just larger. We are going in some wild new directions.”
Gimple then went on to say that the production team want to make something that feels fresh and very much separate from what we’ve already seen on the small screen.
“We really want to deliver [the fans] something special, something worth their trip to the movies. We’re trying to be very deliberate and deliver something new… We’re going to be filling that screen with a brand new world.”
As for where exactly the Walking Dead film is at in the pre-production stages, Gimple revealed to EW that the script – which he’s writing – is currently being refined and they’re also yet to hire a director. Presumably, both of these issues will be ironed out soon, though, so that shooting can begin and it can be out in cinemas before the end of 2020.