How would we feel, if our lives were going all well, all glossy and glistening, all sunny and shining and we wake up one morning only to know that we shall die at the end of the day?
Something similar happened with Andrew Lincoln, but not in real life. The character Rick Grimes portrayed by Andrew Lincoln has been discontinued from the series THE WALKING DEAD.
As the fans suspected, ‘discontinuation’ from the series means the character would die.
But wait! This was not true. AMC cleared at the San-Diego comic con that Rick Grimes is not dead and will make a comeback at the silver screen, among others, on the WALKING DEAD movies.“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.” David Madden, president of the original programming, AMC Studios, announced.
WALKING DEAD, season 9, episode 5, “What comes after”, was the last episode that featured Rick Grimes. Rick is seen mortally wounded and flying off to an unknown destination in a helicopter. Andrew has a desire to spend more quality time with his family in London and be a good dad to his kids. The cruel and crisp shooting schedule of THE WALKING DEAD didn’t allow him this liberty.
There have been several reactions to this news, and the audience is divided. Some think this is a great plot twist, while others just want AMC studios to stop killing their beloved characters suddenly. Although looking at the profits that AMC could garner from a new movie franchise, this looks like a smart promotional strategy.