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Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes will return to the Walking Dead franchise — but it will no longer be on AMC.
In a surprise announcement that capped two hours of back-to-back San Diego Comic-Con panels for Fear the Walking Dead and the flagship series, the latter event ended with a cryptic teaser promoting Lincoln’s return: “Only in theaters.”
The 24-second teaser featured the helicopter — the one last seen carrying a near-death Rick Grimes — flying off to an unknown destination (complete with high-rise buildings) with the text: “Rick Grimes Returns: Only in theaters.” (Watch the promo, below.)
A tweet from the show’s official AMC show account confirmed as much, noting that the untitled Walking Dead movie would be distributed by Universal Pictures. A release date has not been determined.
Lincoln departed the flagship AMC drama during season nine with plans to reprise his role as the beleaguered former sheriff in three TV movies for the basic cable network. AMC at the time was searching for a financial partner to co-release the project. That partner has now been revealed to be Universal, the film studio where Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has a first-look deal to create movies. A feature film adaptation of Kirkman’s comic book series Invincible, directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is also set up at Universal.
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News that the Lincoln-led movies would air exclusively in theaters arrives as Kirkman had long been asked about if there would ever be a Walking Dead feature film. It also provides NBC-backed Universal Pictures a massive franchise to add to its larger theatrical haul of IP like the Fast and the Furious franchise, among countless others. What’s more, the films provide AMC Studios yet another revenue stream from which to draw from as the franchise continues to grow with the addition of a third scripted drama series to debut on the cable network in spring 2020.
All told, there currently are three scripted series (Fear the Walking Dead, the flagship and the young adult-focused new project set for 2020), a post-show talk show (Talking Dead) and multiple lines of toys, video games, board games apparel and collectibles. For Kirkman, there are two lines of all of the above merchandise — for the show and his comic book that served as the source material for the entire franchise. Kirkman wrapped the comic series earlier this month following 193 issues.
Untitled #TheWalkingDead Movie. Only in theaters… @Skybound @UniversalPics pic.twitter.com/dAqlZYpw80
— The Walking Dead AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) July 19, 2019
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