The Walking Dead Rick Grimes movies are “still alive”

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since The Walking Dead’s chief content officer, Scott M. Gimple, revealed a teaser trailer for series of movies starring former series frontman Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) movies. It all went down during 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con weekend, and speaking as someone who was there at the panel, the excitement from everyone in Hall H was palpable.

This wasn’t the first time we had heard about the Rick Grimes movies, however. Following Lincoln’s final appearance on the original show in season 9, it was revealed that Rick’s story would continue in a series of movies that would premiere only in theaters. But since that announcement and the 2019 SDCC panel, we haven’t had many updates. In fact, I think many of us have worried the movies may not even happen.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench into many productions. But since then, many shows have gone back to filming, including The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead. So, what’s the delay with the Rick Grimes movies? Are they even happening? Or has this franchise overextended itself?

The Walking Dead producer Greg Nicotero gave ComicBook.com some good news during this week’s virtual San Diego Comic-Con@Home. Nicotero reassured fans that Gimple and TWD comic book creator Robert Kirkman are “making sure they get it right” when it comes to the Rick Grimes movies.

The Walking Dead team will bring us the Rick Grimes movies…eventually

Given that this is a trilogy of movies rather than episodes of TV, the stakes are a bit higher and everyone wants to make sure they’re as perfect as they can be.

“I would always say The Walking Dead makes hour-long movies every week,” Nicotero said. “I don’t want to get comfortable and say, ‘Oh yeah, you make a movie, you got more money [in the budget].’ Because they’re going to expect more because they have more money. But the amount of time that it takes to do … it’s interesting. I’ve been on a lot of movies, and the pace is certainly different in terms of television, because of the fact that on television now we have 10 days to do an episode, or nine days to do an episode. Because of COVID… we only shoot 10-hour days. With a movie, you get to go home. So you don’t get fatigued as much, because you know that you have 24 episodes.”

So it looks like the Rick Grimes movie trilogy is very much alive, but the jury is still out on when they might come out. Luckily, the franchise is keeping us entertained in the meantime with the final season of The Walking Dead, which premieres on August 22 on AMC.

We’re likely to learn more about the final season (and maybe even these movies!) this weekend during The Walking Dead Comic-Con@Home panel, which will take place on Saturday, July 24.

Check back with us for updates on that front, and cross your fingers we get all the information we are hoping for! Honestly, I’ll be happy with a full trailer for the final season as well as one for the second season of the second spin-off show, The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

Here’s to hoping!

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