Rick Grimes has exited the zombie drama series, The Walking Dead - not unscathed, but alive - with the actor Andrew Lincoln whose character will live on in 3 spin-off made-for-TV movies.
In Monday night's 5th episode of the 9th season of The Walking Dead on FOX (Dstv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) entitled "What Comes After", viewers saw Rick Grimes, critically injured after his horse threw him off in the previous episode and getting impaled by a metal barb - pulling himself off of it, mounting a white horse and drawing to draw the herd of zombies away.
The former sheriff lured them over a bridge in an apparent attempt at self-sacrifice that he then blew up by shooting at dynamite to stop the walkers. Yet Rick is found alive and, injured, ends up flying away in a helicopter to a new community elsewhere.
In July Andrew Lincoln confirmed that he's done with the drama series and that the 9th season would be "my last season playing the role of Rick Grimes".
After the conclusion of the episode, AMC that produces The Walking Dead revealed that Andrew Lincoln will return as his character in at least three spin-off movies.
It's not clear whether these, produced by AMC Studios Original Films will air on AMC or Sundance TV (DStv 108), or also be shown on FOX.
Production on the first film will start in 2019 as the latest expansion plan for The Walking Dead franchise, written by executive producer and The Walking Dead chief content officer, Scott M. Gimple.
"It's not the beginning of the end, it's the end of the beginning," says Andrew Lincoln said in pre-taped insert that was broadcast during The Talking Dead on Sundance TV (DStv 108) after Monday night's episode.
"And I like the idea that we get to tell a bigger story, maybe with a sort of wider vista. 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. Maybe it's the start of a bigger story."
Scott M. Gimple in a statement says "We have a lot on the horizon - starting with a new epic featuring one of the greatest leading actors in television history and one of the best people I've ever met".
"We're starting with the first part of the continuing story of Rick Grimes, and there is much more on the way, featuring yet-unseen worlds of The Walking Dead and faces from the show's past, as well as new characters we hope to become favourites, told by The Walking Dead veterans and emerging voices."
"We want to break new ground with different, distinct stories, all part of the same world that's captured our imagination for nearly a decade of the Dead."
David Madden, president of original programming for AMC, Sundance TV and AMC Studios says "We believe this is a world and narrative with many possibilities and opportunities for character development and we're excited to expand the series into a franchise that can live across multiple formats".
"For many years, fans have talked about things in the apocalypse they want to see and now we have an opportunity to explore those stories, beginning with the character who started it all, Rick Grimes."
