‘The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln Hints Rick Grimes Movies Could Explore the “Wider World”

The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln appears to have hinted at a direction for the Rick Grimes movie trilogy, which may expand its scope to reveal more of the "wider world" beyond Alexandria, Virginia.

Appearing on live aftershow Talking Dead for a sit down interview with Yvette Nicole Brown following his last episode of the series in November, Lincoln said he viewed reprising Rick in an offshoot of the main series as "not the beginning of the end," but "the end of the beginning."

"And I like the idea that we get to tell a bigger story, maybe with a sort of wider vista," Lincoln said.

"And I've always been interested in what's going on out there, you know, whether or not there is contact with the wider world. I want to know the meta of it all. And I suppose to be able to kind of touch upon that in a contained story for me is a very exciting proposition."

That, Lincoln added, is maybe "the start of a bigger story."

The star, who suggested the three movies will continue and then complete Rick's journey, also compared his new trajectory as being "almost akin" to Clint Eastwood's retired gunslinger William Munny in 1992 western Unforgiven.

"If you've seen the beginning: There's a pig farm, and he falls over in the stall. He's chasing pigs, and you go, 'Wait a minute. This is a gunslinger. The most bad-ass gunslinger ever, and he's covered in excrement.' But you know what he's capable of because he's Clint Eastwood. You've seen his other movies, and him being A Man With No Name," Lincoln told EW.

"I liked that as a starting point, and I thought, well, this is interesting if you've got an audience that knows this character, and you find him in a new place, in a new whatever that may look like, and he's not the same guy, but you know what's inside of him. I thought that that's quite an interesting starting point."

Rick was taken far away from Alexandria after exploding a bridge to halt an advancing walker horde in Lincoln's final episode, "What Comes After," which ultimately concluded with Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) urging a nearby helicopter to rescue the gravely wounded Rick.

The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple, set to pen the movie script, said previously the feature-length film will explore the "vast mythology" behind that mysterious helicopter group as well as bring answers surrounding their 'A' and 'B' classification system.

Gimple, who has confirmed McIntosh's Anne will join Rick in the movie, has also said Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman will be "heavily involved" in its production.

When announcing the Rick Grimes movie series on Talking Dead in November, Gimple noted there's "a lot of story to tell" with the TV movies, which he said will boast "the scope of feature films" and will offer an "epic story told over years."

A press release distributed by AMC offered a simple logline for the first movie, stating it will "explore the story of where Rick is taken and what he faces in a new corner of the zombie apocalypse."

Production on the film project is expected to begin this year. The Walking Dead Season Nine resumes with new episodes Sunday, February 10 on AMC.