Andrew Lincoln teases The Walking Dead movies and potential return to the main TV series

(Image credit: AMC)

It's been over a decade since the Walking Dead series – an adaption of Robert Kirkman's popular comic series – premiered on AMC. Since then, several spin-offs and films have either made their debuts or have entered development.

Andrew Lincoln, who has been there from the start, departed the mainline Walking Dead series during its ninth season. Since then, there have been plans to create three Walking Dead movies to explore his character Rick's future. In a recent interview, our sister publication SFX Magazine caught up with Lincoln and asked him about production on the upcoming Walking Dead films.

"I’m not filming at the moment," he says. "I’m still very much in lockdown. We’re very excited about how, at the first available opportunity, we’re going to go into production – there’s talk of it being spring. I can’t wait to get those cowboy boots."

It sounds like filming should be ramping up soon, so Lincoln can put those boots to work, but there is a possibility his character could make an appearance in the upcoming final series before the movie.

"That’s a very good question," he replies when asked about Rick returning to the main show. "The easy answer is I have no idea. I don’t think it’s written yet, but 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."

And don't worry, you will get more Lincoln in the future regardless.

"I have signed for more than one film," he continues. "I am a producer on it. I will not be directing, because I don’t like watching myself, so that would be a self-defeating exercise. It would just be the most painful... yeah, it just wouldn’t happen! All of those answers will hopefully be resolved in the next couple of months but, yes, there’s more than one. We need to get the first one absolutely right and that’s why it’s taken longer than we anticipated – and obviously with the pandemic. I can’t wait. I’m really excited about broadening the scale and scope of the story and finding out where Rick is."

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As we wait to see how Rick Grimes's story plays out in those upcoming films, the flagship Walking Dead series is set to conclude in 2022, with AMC already ordering a spin-off series that will focus on characters Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier set to premiere in 2023.

You can check out the full interview with Lincoln in the current issue of SFX Magazine, which features Jupiter's Legacy on the cover. For more from SFX, make sure to sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.