The Walking Dead film series: Is a Walking Dead movie in the works?

Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead for the most recent episode of The Walking Dead.

When The Walking Dead announced the inevitable exit of Rick Grimes, fans were not best pleased.

Speculations flew as to how he would be written out of the show.

What ended up happening was, likely, not what fans were expecting.

Will there be a Walking Dead movie?

Yes, and Rick Grimes is going to be back for it.

Within minutes of the end of the most recent episode, AMC announced the upcoming film series.

Rick Grimes did not die, as many predicted, but instead was whisked away in a helicopter to safety.

In a press release from AMC, Scott Gimple, the former Walking Dead showrunner and current Walking Dead universe content officer, detailed the upcoming movie.

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He said: “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.”

“These films are going to be big evolutions of what we’ve been doing on the show, with the scope and scale of features.

“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 TWD 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.”

Scott Gimple, the former Walking Dead showrunner and current Walking Dead universe content officer will write the first movie’s script.

Production on the first Walking Dead movie is set to begin in 2019.

Andrew Lincoln will continue to portray Grimes in the upcoming movie.

How many movies AMC will produce remains to be seen.

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Speaking to Digital Spy back in 2012, Lincoln revealed he hadn’t even heard of the comic before he went for the role.

“I didn’t even get a script the first time, I got sides, because it was so top-secret,” he said.

“I was really intrigued and put myself on tape.

“They got back very quickly from Hollywood and gave me the script.”

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Lincoln described Grimes as someone with good intentions, though “his decisions may be bad many times.”

“He’s complicated and flawed, which I find fascinating because it makes him human.

“He sort of erodes over time because of the world he lives in, and there’s nothing more satisfying than playing a character that changes irrevocably, so I embrace all of that.”

The Walking Dead movie will begin production in 2019.