Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus Reunite as The Walking Dead Films Final Episodes

What’s fishy about a reunion between buddies Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus? The Walking Dead stars have been spotted together in Atlanta, Georgia, as filming continues on the last episodes of the AMC zombie drama’s final season. (See the reunion below.) The photo, shared by Instagram user @kingsuh1018 on February 19, shows Reedus and a white-bearded Lincoln posing outside the Nagomiya sushi restaurant in Midtown Atlanta, about an hour’s drive from The Walking Dead‘s longtime home in Senoia. The show has filmed in and around Atlanta across its eleven seasons, including the 2010 pilot, where Rick Grimes (Lincoln) travels into the post-apocalyptic city overrun by zombies.

Lincoln left The Walking Dead in 2018 after 119 credited episodes and nine seasons, stepping away to spend more time at home with his wife and young children in England. What came after Lincoln’s final episode of The Walking Dead was an announcement confirming Rick would live on and return in a trilogy of films set in the expansive Walking Dead Universe. 

TWD chief content officer Scott Gimple, who is producing and writing the films with franchise creator Robert Kirkman, expected production on the untitled movie spinoff to begin in 2019. That same year, a cryptic teaser trailer aired at San Diego Comic-Con revealed Rick returns only in theaters. 

In the summer of 2020, producers confirmed production was delayed amid industry-wide shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last April, the Rick Grimes actor told SFX Magazine he was in lockdown overseas but would begin filming the Walking Dead Movie “at the first available opportunity.” A potential spring shooting start came and went, and cameras have yet to roll on the feature film revealing what happens to Rick after his fateful flight aboard a Civic Republic Military helicopter with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh). 

Asked about returning to The Walking Dead for its final season, now airing on AMC, Lincoln told SFX in April: “I would never say never to that because everybody that’s still doing the TV show are dear friends, and it’s an extraordinary feat that they’re still going and making this beautiful and ground-breaking show that still resonates with the world.” 

Showrunner Angela Kang has extended an open invitation for Lincoln to return to The Walking Dead. Kang told Deadline in 2019 “the door is always open” for Rick’s return, adding Lincoln “can come back any time.” 

Will The Walking Dead end without Rick Grimes? Stay tuned. A release date for the films is unannounced and the television series concludes later in 2022. 

New episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season air Sundays on AMC and AMC+. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter and @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.