The Walking Dead‘s ninth season is about to wrap up, meaning we’ll have to say goodbye to the flagship series of the franchise for a few months. But the good thing is that 2019 will prove to be a great one for TWD fans. As well as a confirmed tenth season and Fear the Walking Dead‘s fifth run, there’s also Andrew Lincoln’s upcoming movie trilogy in the works.
Lincoln might have exited TWD for good back in November, but that won’t be the last we’ll see of Rick Grimes. Following the gravely-injured Rick’s abduction by Jade, being taken away via helicopter to pastures new, these movies will reveal what happened to him after leaving behind his friends and family and why he never returned (as we know from the show’s 6-year time jump).
The release details about the first movie in the series aren’t yet known, but creator Robert Kirkman has now teased that news could be on its way. In his Letter Hacks column in the latest issue of the comic, The Walking Dead #189, Kirkman gave a quick summation of what’s on the horizon in his post-apocalyptic universe, including how the first Rick film is getting “deeper into development.”
“Season 9 of the show is in full swing! And I hope you guys are as thrilled to see THE WHISPERERS come to life as we are here at Skybound Central. New showrunner Angela Kang has just been doing marvelous work over there. And Greg Nicotero’s work (both directing and overseeing the makeup effects) continues to be a high water mark. And there’s just SO MUCH cooking behind the scenes with TWD now that Scott Gimple has stepped into his overseer role on the TV side of things. Stay tuned for all kinds of news as we get closer to the launch of Season 5 of Fear The Walking Dead and we get deeper into development on this Rick Grimes TV movie. There’s some great stuff coming!”
As Kirkman says, former showrunner Scott M. Gimple is now the Chief Content Officer of the franchise and is in charge of writing the movie trilogy. As Rick’s still going strong in the source material, the storyline of these films will be going well off the beaten track, so it’s no surprise that Kirkman is said to be heavily involved with their development. We’ve also been told to expect a deep dive into the “vast mythology” surrounding Anne’s people and their A/B classification system.
The last update we had was that Danai Gurira could show up as Michonne in one or more of these films. That’s a surprise for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because we know Michonne doesn’t see Rick again after he goes missing and secondly, because Gurira is set to leave TWD in season 10. But then again, we thought Lincoln had left the franchise behind too and look where we are.
The Walking Dead season 9 continues this Sunday on AMC.