The Walking Dead Movies

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Plans for a Walking Dead movie trilogy may be more tentative than originally believed. Following Andrew Lincoln's final episode of the television show in November 2018, then in its ninth season, TWD chief content officer Scott Gimple announced plans for the franchise's first movies on live aftershow Talking Dead, where Gimple confirmed Lincoln would reprise his Rick Grimes role outside of the ongoing TV series. Gimple anticipated a 2019 shooting start but did not commit to a date, telling Entertainment Weekly the movies would go into production "sooner than later." Because the movies are "going to be big" and will be made on feature schedules, Gimple said, they're "going to take a minute to make."

More than one year later, there has been little progress. Noting the lack of news in a December update, Lincoln's co-star Pollyanna McIntosh said the movies are "still happening" despite their quiet development.

Asked in a more recent interview with EW if the plan is still for three movies, Gimple answered, "Yes, but we are still playing with things. That's the plan right now." On progress of the script he's developing with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who is said to be heavily involved in the movie side of the franchise, Gimple said, "We are currently refining it. I don't want to say much more than that."

"It’s coming together amazingly, but we’re trying to make this very special for everybody involved and we’re holding our feet to the flames," Gimple added. "It’s an incredibly deliberate process right now."

One factor is timing, but it's unclear if Gimple is referring to scheduling conflicts with Lincoln — who in recent months filmed Penguin Bloom in Australia — or perhaps another major star. There have been suspicions, in part stirred by Gimple's comments, that Lincoln could be joined by Michonne star Danai Gurira after the actress exits the show in the upcoming second half of Season 10; it's possible Gurira's packed schedule plays a part in the delay.

"We have a couple of different plans that we’re going with depending on a couple of different factors we have to deal with on everything from story to product aspects," Gimple said when asked if the untitled movie has locked shoot dates or locations. "There have been a lot of different aspects to it in terms of timing that are pretty much coming into rapid focus right now. I would say the past year in a lot of ways has been R&D on a lot of aspects of it."

The project currently does not have a director in place, Gimple confirmed. As promised by a teaser trailer released during San Diego Comic-Con in July, the movies are still planned for theatrical release under distributor Universal Pictures as part of a co-production with AMC Studios and Kirkman's Skybound Entertainment.

The movie won’t air on AMC because "this is a theatrical film," Gimple said. "Yes, there’s AMC, there’s Universal, there’s Skybound. There are a lot of parties working together to cook up something special."

A release date for The Walking Dead movie has not been set.

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[Judderman]

They threw in rather a big spoiler for season 10 there.

 

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They threw in rather a big spoiler for season 10 there.

You mean the departure? We have known it for a while.

 

[Judderman]

Yes it is strange that they let this info out so easily. But at least they could hide if she departs with a character death or not.

 

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The Walking Dead feature film starring Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes is "coming along in a big way" despite a prolonged pause in production amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to executive producer David Alpert. First announced by Walking Dead chief content officer and former showrunner Scott Gimple immediately following Lincoln's departure from the AMC television series in November 2018, the untitled feature film is the planned start of a trilogy and will reveal what happened to Rick and Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) — formerly Jadis of the Scavengers — after they were shuttled away aboard a Civic Republic Military helicopter and taken to a new corner of the zombie apocalypse.

"We're coming along in a big way. We're just in this particular space where we have [to wait]," the Skybound Entertainment co-founder said during virtual Skybound Xpo panel Skybound: Past, Present, and Future. "We can't shoot right now, so that's just the big thing holding us back."

"We are desperate to get back into production, and get everything going," Alpert added, "but we have something really exciting, really unique, really different, and can't wait to get it going. We just have to wait for it to be safe."

Also heavily involved with the franchise's first film is Skybound co-founder and Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who says Rick's return on the big screen will benefit from the industry-wide slowdown caused by COVID-19.

"There's tons of stuff going on behind the scenes. I don't want anyone to think that we're just kind of waiting around for this pandemic to end," Kirkman said. "I would say that, if anything, the pandemic is going to make a lot of movies better. I think the Rick Grimes movie chief among them, just because we're getting a lot more time to cook this thing and make sure it's perfect."

"But when things do quiet down, you guys are going to hear a ton more about this movie," Kirkman added.

The Walking Dead Producers Update Rick Grimes Movie Amid Coronavirus Delay

The Walking Dead feature film starring Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes is 'coming along in a big way' [...]

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[Judderman]

I wonder if they are tweaking the story and script? If you can't film or produce..

 

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I wonder if they are tweaking the story and script? If you can't film or produce..

I would but once it feels good, I'd give it away to be locked up. The other time might be spent on making props and such things. We have only once seen humongous horde and that was on the Road to Alexandria. I would personally love to see them making ten thousand dead group a reality.

A hundred thousand is a dream.

Thing is, however, since they are making the movies, they should also think what they can in the big screen that has been impossible to achieve on small one.

 

[Judderman]

3D?

 

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The Walking Dead star Pollyanna McIntosh, who reprises her role from the television series alongside Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes in the franchise's first feature film, says she would be "very surprised" if the theatrical releases don't move forward as planned despite a lengthy development process most recently slowed by coronavirus. Screenwriter and Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple first confirmed work on a film trilogy in the wake of Lincoln's ninth season exit from the television series, where Rick and Anne disappeared aboard a mysterious helicopter, but updates on their next adventure have been few and far between since the features were unveiled by Gimple live on Talking Dead in November 2018.

"I've had conversations with [Gimple and Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang] about work, but mostly it's been about when the show's gonna get back on and how those plans are going," McIntosh told the Talk Dead to Me podcast about the long-delayed Season 10 finale now airing in October and a postponed Season 11 shooting start. "Because I think that's probably what's most present in their mind at the moment, because they've got the responsibility of a huge cast and crew that they love, and trying to figure out how to make it safe for them shooting the show."

"The films I know will happen," McIntosh said, but "a series is probably a lot more at the forefront of their priorities right now."

In addition to an eleventh season expected to begin production early next year for a late 2021 TV premiere, the Walking Dead cast will return to work in coming months for six "extra" Season 10 episodes to follow the season finale.

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The Walking Dead star Pollyanna McIntosh, who reprises her role from the television series [...]

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[Judderman]

Extra season 10 episodes? I suppose it is unimportant if they called 10 or 11.

 

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Extra season 10 episodes? I suppose it is unimportant if they called 10 or 11.

I know. We never knew it was extra long season. I guess something is going to happen that extends the Whisperer wrath, or then they had only six episodes left on that saga before they move on to next lot.

 

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The Walking Dead feature film trilogy is "slowly but surely coming together," assures screenwriter and producer Scott Gimple, who says it's still the plan for Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes to return across "multiple theatrical releases." Gimple first announced those plans in November 2018 in the wake of Lincoln's departure from The Walking Dead television show after eight years, calling the films "big evolutions" of the series with the "scope and scale of features." Nearly two years later, production on the as-yet-untitled Walking Dead films is at a standstill: producers confirmed over the summer cameras could not begin rolling until it was safe to do so amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Gimple reaffirmed plans for multiple theatrical releases with The Los Angeles Times, saying the trilogy will "tell a story that continues." And were it not for the pandemic, Gimple noted, it would be clear when the features could get rolling.

"I would say this: Movies take a long time," Gimple said. "It's been a cool process. Andy has been deeply, deeply involved in it. [Creator] Robert [Kirkman] is deeply involved in it. It's slowly but surely coming together in a really, really cool way."

He continued, "But movies take longer than TV. ... I probably should have told everybody that."

In a November 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gimple did say the films are "going to be big, so they're going to take a minute to make." While Gimple did not commit to an exact production start, he said they would "most likely" start filming sometime in 2019.

"But it really is going to be sooner than later," he said at the time. "On the flip side, these are not going to be made on television schedules."

The creators have confirmed they're taking advantage of the pandemic to "hone things up," ensuring the script is as strong as it can be before cameras roll — whenever that may be.

"We're coming along in a big way. We're just in this particular space where we have [to wait]," Walking Dead executive producer and Skybound Entertainment co-founder David Alpert said in a July update. "We can't shoot right now, so that's just the big thing holding us back."

"We are desperate to get back into production, and get everything going," he added, "but we have something really exciting, really unique, really different, and can't wait to get it going. We just have to wait for it to be safe."

Despite a lack of formal announcements or updates, Kirkman said there's "tons of stuff going on behind the scenes."

"I don't want anyone to think that we're just kind of waiting around for this pandemic to end," he said. "I would say that, if anything, the pandemic is going to make a lot of movies better. I think the Rick Grimes movie chief among them, just because we're getting a lot more time to cook this thing and make sure it's perfect. But when things do quiet down, you guys are going to hear a ton more about this movie."

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The Walking Dead director Rosemary Rodriguez appears to reveal a potential 2021 release date for the Walking Dead feature film bringing back the long-missing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Announced by Walking Dead chief content officer and screenwriter Scott Gimple in November 2018, the undated and untitled feature film eyed a tentative 2019 production start that failed to materialize. According to Gimple, the Walking Dead feature would begin filming "sooner than later" but would be produced "on feature schedules, and they're going to be big, so they're going to take a minute to make."

In December, after months of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Lincoln revealed a planned spring 2021 shooting start for the feature film marking his return to the Walking Dead Universe after more than two years away.

When the Walking Dead Twitter account asked users to reveal what they're "most looking forward to in 2021," Rodriguez replied: "Finding Rick Grimes on the big screen!"

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The Walking Dead director Rosemary Rodriguez appears to reveal a potential 2021 release date for [...]

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Shooting starts at next spring.

 

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Oh, and if you were hoping for more news on the future of The Walking Dead— maybe that Rick Grimes movie?—that was not revealed here. However, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman did his own panel earlier in the day and got asked about the movie, which was teased at Comic-Con back in 2019. “It’s definitely going to be before 2032,” Kirkman joked on his panel, which you can watch here. “I wish there were more updates. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes…and I’m as frustrated as you guys are that we’re not able to reveal everything to you and talk about it non-stop. But Andrew Lincoln is amazing. I miss seeing [him] run around as Rick Grimes. I can’t wait until we’re filming this thing and this thing is coming out. It’s gonna be awesome. Everyone is working very hard to make it as good as we can be.”

“We don’t want a bad Rick Grimes movie, right?” he continued. “We want an amazing Rick Grimes movie. And so everybody behind the scenes is making sure that when this comes out it’s worth the wait and it is actually the special, character-building, Rick Grimes journey that everyone wants it to be. So we’re not going to be rushing this thing out and we’re gonna make sure that it’s perfect…When it finally comes out, when we’re showing trailers and stuff you’ll see. You’ll be like ‘That’s exactly what we wanted. I’m so glad they waited.’”

So there’s your non-update.

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A cryptic teaser trailer for Jadis and Rick's return in The Walking Dead Movie appeared to show the CRM helicopter headed for the skyline of a new location in the Walking Dead Universe: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

That's about 150 miles away from Rick's last sighting in Alexandria, Virginia, and about 230 miles away from the Civic Republic Research Facility in Ithaca, New York. On World Beyond, the CRRF is where CRM scientist Dr. Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold) conducted walker experiments under Project Votus: the study of live test subject "As" to further the CRM's research on reanimation.

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The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang previously told ComicBook that Scott Gimple, chief content officer of AMC's TWD Universe and writer-producer of the Rick movies, requested the show altogether avoid Pennsylvania when Eugene's (Josh McDermitt) group travels to the Commonwealth in Charleston, West Virginia, in Seasons 10 and 11.

In Season 10 of The Walking Dead, Rick's partner Michonne (Danai Gurira) finds evidence he survived his apparent death in Season 9. It's inside a ship washed ashore on Maryland's Bloodsworth Island where Michonne discovers a logbook documenting visits to various locations sometime over the last six years: Tampa Bay, Florida; Hopewell, Virginia; and most recently, Bridgers Shipyard in New Jersey. Michonne is last seen headed north in search of Rick.

The official synopsis for the Walking Dead Movie says the film will reveal what comes after Rick's fateful helicopter flight taking him to a "new corner of the zombie apocalypse" — a setting now confirmed to be Philadelphia. The film remains in active development and a release date for Rick's return in theaters is TBD.