Are The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes Movies Cancelled?

The Walking Dead fans have literally been waiting for years on the promise of feature films starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes. Franchise boss Scott Gimple previously announced back in November of 2018 that a trilogy of movies focusing on the character where in the works, later confirming at Comic-Con 2019 that the movies would be released in theaters. Now the most concrete update about this story arrived yesterday with Gimple confirming that the Rick Grimes movies are now a Rick Grimes limited series, and that it will be a six-episode show airing exclusively on AMC+. All this has fans wondering, are the Rick Grimes Walking Dead movies cancelled?

In short, the answer is yes, the Rick Grimes trilogy of movies are no longer happening. The news was confirmed in AMC’s official press release on the mater but new details also showed up on Twitter. Deadline reporter Justin Kroll wrote that: “According to sources, the decision to go the limited series route happened following a regime change at AMC Networks with new leadership preferring to wrap up this story on their network rather than in theaters.” In short, the idea to put a highly-anticipated Rick Grimes storyline in their freshly launched streaming service seemed like a better idea than letting movie theaters take home half their profits.

The series is without an official title as of yet, but Lincoln’s Rick won’t be alone as Danai Gurira’s Michonne will co-star alongside him, finishing their story. AMC’s official synopsis for the series reads as follows: “This series presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?”

“Rick and Michonne are two of my favorite people and Danai and Andy are two of my favorite people. Working with all of them continues to be a dream come true,” Gimple, who previously wrote the planned Walking Dead movie trilogy with franchise creator Robert Kirkman, said in a statement about the series. “The three of us, along with a terrific team of TWD all stars and incredible new voices, are crafting an insane love epic worth the long, long wait.”  

Other Walking Dead spinoffs in development at AMC Studios include Isle of the Dead, starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, and the untitled Daryl Dixon solo spinoff series starring Reedus. Both are scheduled to premiere in 2023 on AMC and AMC+.