The Walking Dead's Rick & Michonne Spin-off Gets Start of Production Date

10/27/2022 06:55 pm EDT

The Walking Dead spin-off update: the Rick & Michonne spin-off starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira has a production start date. At San Diego Comic-Con in July, AMC announced the new series from showrunner Scott M. Gimple, described as an "epic love story" reuniting Rick Grimes (Lincoln) and Michonne (Gurira) after years apart. Gurira — who co-created and will write for the still-untitled spin-off alongside fellow executive producer Gimple — has shared pre-production is "in high gear." Interviewed by SELF for Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Gurira revealed Rick & Michonne begins filming in January for a 2023 premiere on AMC and AMC+.

Gurira describes the spin-off as a "prestige miniseries," announced with six episodes at Comic-Con. "We owe you the conclusion of this story of Rick and Michonne," Gurira told the convention crowd.

Richonne may be a love story, but Gimple has teased the series brings out the warrior sides of the "power couple" who must find each other — and themselves — in a new setting within the walker apocalypse.

"I've been working on it very, very deeply with Danai and with Andy, and we continue to work on it pretty much every day together with some Walking Dead vets and some great new voices," Gimple said during the Walking Dead Universe Preview special in August. "It's an epic love story, but it's an epic and insane love story."

After Rick disappeared aboard a CRM helicopter and Michonne embarked on a mission to find him, Gimple remarked, "These are two people that have been separated for a very long time. They've lived whole other existences and they have to find themselves again, let alone each other. And it's hopefully going to be mind-blowing."

What Is the Rick and Michonne Spinoff About?

AMC describes the Rick/Michonne spinoff: "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?"

Do Rick and Michonne Return in Season 11 of The Walking Dead?

While plot details for the remaining four episodes of Season 11 are under wraps, Lincoln was spotted in Atlanta as The Walking Dead filmed its final episodes earlier this year. Lincoln and Gurira may have filmed a post-credits coda setting up their reunion in the Rick & Michonne spin-off, but that won't be revealed until the November 20th series finale of The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne is slated to air in late 2023 on AMC and AMC+, following Norman Reedus' France-set Daryl Dixon spin-off and Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's The Walking Dead: Dead City.

Follow @CameronBonomolo and @NewsOfTheDead on Twitter for TWD Universe coverage all season long. New episodes of The Walking Dead's final season premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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