When AMC teased Rick Grimes’s (Andrew Lincoln) exit from the TV series The Walking Dead, most people assumed that meant he would be dying. After all, this is a zombie show that has seen the deaths of many a leading character. Rick wasn’t special, or so we thought. Then, at the end of his final episode, he was ferried away in a helicopter to parts unknown, and the news was revealed that he would be starring in his own movie trilogy penned by former TWD showrunner Scott Gimple.
Yes, AMC’s flagship show with falling ratings is now being opened up to a cinematic universe, which is exactly what the doctor did not order. And yet, AMC is proceeding with that, and Skybound’s The Walking Dead mailbag has revealed that the three movies will air on AMC, rather than enjoy a traditional theatrical run. Of course, there is always the potential of the movies being released as a special in theaters for one night, which the show has done before with its eighth season finale, but don’t expect Rick to be competing for an Oscar any time soon.
Lincoln has also spoken about this move with the New York Times, saying he won’t return to the original series. He also spoke of the tone of the film, saying,
“We talked about Unforgiven, the Clint Eastwood movie, which I admire greatly. here’s something about Eastwood, who he is as a gunslinger, as an iconic kind of American hero, rolling around in pig swill at the beginning of the movie. You know what he’s capable of, and I thought the idea of a character that the audience knows and has lived with—and who has oscillated between psycho and father for nine years—to start in a completely different place, was a really interesting, crazy place to begin. I want to know why we keep seeing helicopters flying around. What’s going on? What have the grown-ups been doing while we’ve been scrambling around in the dirt?”
I suppose there might be some who want to know what’s going on in the wider world of The Walking Dead, but before I dropped the show, I was happy to remain content in ignorance of what would happen beyond the Grimes family (before they were all picked off). The point of the series always seemed to be about Rick and his son Carl, and how they were moving forward in the post-apocalyptic world—Rick cycling through stages of leadership and grief, and Carl coming of age.
The show veered sharply left from that when Carl died in season eight, and now Rick is going to go explore the world. This isn’t much like what happened in the comics, but we should have expected that a long, long time ago. Still, it seems to be going against the initial thesis of the comics, and expanding in a way that feels highly unnecessary. Did anyone ask for a Rick spinoff, or a look at what’s happening outside Alexandria?
The Rick spinoffs being an AMC-only event will spare us months of promotion for a theatrical experience that seems highly unwanted. Maybe Lincoln, Gimple, and co. will pull off a surprise smash, but given that they’ve been treading the same ground for years now, it’s highly unlikely. Let’s hope the trilogy signals the end of a cinematic universe, rather than just continuing to expand the world of the Dead at the expense of quality.
(via ComicBook.com, image: AMC)
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