Andrew Lincoln isn’t done with The Walking Dead. He left the parent series behind back in 2018, but he’s due to return for his own movie trilogy in time. Plans have been held up by the pandemic, as has the whole franchise, but the first cinematic spinoff of the TWD brand is still on the way. In fact, during Comic-Con@Home, chief content officer Scott M. Gimple teased more about it, comparing it to a couple of acclaimed Marvel movies.
While speaking to ComicBook.com, Gimple – who also penned the script for the film – likened the pic to Logan, in that it’s a pretty standalone adventure for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. “You didn’t have to watch every X-Men movie to enjoy that,” he explained. He then elaborated on what the team’s approach is to balancing appealing to fans and new audiences, going on to compare it to Avengers: Endgame this time.
“[We have to] honor people who have invested the time in their lives and the show, but we can’t do that at the expense of inviting everybody,” Gimple said. “[Avengers: Endgame] was the culmination of years and years and years and years of stuff, but I’m sure people who just showed up had a good time.”
Gimple continued by stressing that Rick’s experiences on the first nine seasons of the show will obviously not be ignored, but at the same time he’ll be in a very different place. The aim, it seems, is to hook fresh viewers and encourage them to go seek out the show if they haven’t done so before.
“Rick has a history and the history will be present within him and it’ll be a big part of who he is, but it’s likely going to be a very different Rick that we see as well,” Gimple said. “New audiences will be like, ‘Oh, that’s the guy. I want to discover that past history.’ We who know it so well, it’s like, ‘Oh crap, that’s the thing that’s weighing on him from the past.’ You gotta invite both those people, which we try to do with the shows.”
Creator Robert Kirkman has previously promised that the movie is coming and will shoot as soon as it’s feasibly possible. In the meantime, the team is using this delay to strengthen the script and their overall plans for the trilogy.
The Walking Dead universe returns to our screens this October.