"The Walking Dead": Rick Grimes' films are part of future projects

[Editor’s note: If you haven’t watched “The Walking Dead” Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After,” read on at your own risk.]

Now that "The Walking Dead" has revealed the fate of Rick Grimes – he's basically been kidnapped and not killed – fans will not wait any longer to see the character's adventures. Andrew Lincoln has announced his intention to resume the role in a series of films whose filming is expected to begin next year.

In Sunday's episode, billed as Lincoln's last appearance after nine seasons, Rick manages to survive after being impaled and pursued by a herd of zombies, before disappearing into an explosion. He is presumed dead by his family and friends, but the character is saved in the last moments of the episode and carried away by unknown forces in a helicopter.

This is where the first movie will begin, according to Scott Gimple, content director for the universe 'The Walking Dead'. "Rick will be in the middle of something very big, and he will be very small," said Gimple. "But he will be involved in this project. These series of Rick Grimes films introduce "The Walking Dead" in a new corner of the world. It's really in its kind of situation and has its own rules. "

Read more: "The Walking Dead": Andrew Lincoln confirms his release as a new chapter begins

The films will allow Rick Grimes to continue to live in the universe, but will also give Lincoln – whose family is in the UK – more personal flexibility over time spent on the set of "The Walking Dead's" in Georgia. (Gimple does not even exclude filming overseas to adapt Lincoln's program.) This announcement also allows AMC to stay true to its word, saying it's all for Rick Grimes in " The Walking Dead ": Per Gimple, Lincoln does not appear again on the flagship series.

"I think it's important to say that we're not planning to do that," Gimple said. "We plan to do these films and people should not expect to see it appear. We expect Rick Grimes to tell incredible stories for him, for the audience. And that's where they can expect to get their Grimes solution. "

Andrew Lincoln (left) with Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira and Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Broadimage / REX / Shutterstock

Gimple said the films should be broadcast on AMC. But it does not exclude anything, including perhaps an indoor release or a partnership with a streaming service. AMC Studios and producers of "The Walking Dead" met with different media (including Netflix and Amazon) to create a new multi-faceted universe of films, specials, series, digital content, and more.

"The current plan is to make AMC Studios Original Films," said Gimple about Rick Grimes' projects. "They are supposed to be a quality, chronologies, budgets, great epic evolutions. We have talked to other people, so it is possible that people see them elsewhere. But for now, the plan is for people to see them on AMC. One of the reasons we talked to people is that things change every day on television. [produced], or distributed, or consumed. We are just trying to keep up with that pace and make sure that with this long-term plan we look to the future. And different possibilities for different places. "

AMC already runs the derivative series "Fear the Walking Dead" on its own airwaves; his internal unit AMC Studios produces both shows. Plans for an even wider universe of "Walking Dead" were first announced in January, when the longtime series, Gimple, was named responsible for the content of the television universe of "The Walking Dead" ".

At the time, AMC had hinted that Gimple would develop "potential brand extensions on various platforms," ​​although this has not been clarified. Now it's clear: a hodgepodge of all sorts of stories inside the wider world of "The Walking Dead".

"There are these films, and we are also working on a number of different things," said Gimple. "Specials, series. Also series of different lengths. We could have much shorter series. Different aspects of digital content, some crazy content that defies description.

"One of the most important aspects is that everything is not related to each other. Everything is in the same world, all on the same planet, "he added. "But it's not like everyone is going to know each other and interact. They will walk on the same land. And there will be things that will inform and speak to each other. And then there are things that are wrong. We will do things in the past, we will see old characters and we will move to the future with new characters. Different stories, different formats. We will also want to bring new voices to The Walking Dead. "

Gimple stated that he was open to all ideas, even though he did not think that one of the brand's extensions would include a prequel to the pre-zombie apocalypse, and he He's not a fan of diving into science fiction elements to further explain the epidemic, Robert Kirkman's graphic novels do not spend a lot of time figuring out how that happened.

Charlie Collier, President and CEO of AMC Networks, oversaw the Hollywood speech, which, as Bloomberg reported in September, could collectively cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Collier, however, is now leaving AMC to manage the Fox network, and the impact this could have on AMC's aggressive willingness to find a "Walking Dead" partner is unclear. In addition, according to insiders, there remains a debate in the AMC as to whether the company should share its most valuable property with its competitors.

But if that were to happen, now is the time to exploit "The Walking Dead" as a multi-screen universe inspired by Marvel, "Star Wars" or "Star Trek". As the original series ages and its ratings erode, it may be time to capitalize on the success of the series and create a universe that could generate significant revenue for the company.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, "The Walking Dead"

Jackson Lee Davis / AMC

After years of domination by Nielsen ratings – "The Walking Dead" is arguably the largest series of basic cables in history – the series has faced a significant decline in popularity ratings through its linear visualization live on AMC. This could ultimately result in a decrease in advertising revenue of "The Walking Dead" on AMC.

Gimple defends the ratings of the series, noting that it is "remarkable" that "The Walking Dead" is still the # 2 drama on television (behind "This Is Us") in adults aged 18 to 49, even in his ninth season. "That said, the TV shows as a whole are incredibly depressed," he said. That does not mean that people do not watch these shows, they watch them differently. 'The Walking Dead' is a program that started at a time totally different from television. And that's still going well in a very different era. But I think people still compare these two times, from apples to apples. "

As linear ratings and prime time advertising revenues go down, this is a good reason to think of a future where AMC Studios will monetize its first-rate property well beyond its own screen. Another reason: to maintain the balance of programming on AMC, the cable network can not run too many "Walking Dead" series at the same time. The sister networks BBC America and SundanceTV may be able to host some, but if AMC Studios wants to give more visibility to the franchise, this is another case of partnership with a streamer.

"We believe it's a world and a story with many possibilities and possibilities for character development and we're excited to be able to develop the series into a franchise that can work." in several formats, "David Madden, president of the original programming for AMC, Sundance TV and AMC Studios, said in a statement. "For many years, fans have been talking about things in the apocalypse that they want to see and now we have the opportunity to explore these stories, starting with the character who has everything triggered, Rick Grimes. "

The decision to present "The Walking Dead" beyond CMA projects has allowed it to partner with other mainstream media companies in search of new ways to monetize library content. as the public migrates to digital platforms.

Viacom's MTV network, for example, recently announced that it would reactivate one of the largest TV channels in its history, "The Real World", while producing it for Facebook Watch instead of its own.

In a recent report, analyst Rich Greenfield also pointed out that traditional companies lacking the capital needed to create a major streaming service would benefit from monetizing their intellectual property by producing for third parties.

AMC is on the rise thanks to AMC Premiere, a complementary service that allows cable and satellite subscribers to access ad-free versions of its TV series and film library for $ 5 per month. But this is not a full-fledged game, and if AMC Studios is looking to monetize its content on digital platforms, it will have to turn to one of the biggest – Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, Facebook Watch or soon , Apple, Disney and WarnerMedia.

"Traditional media companies simply can not and do not want to be competitive in the new media world," said Greenfield, reversing his previous argument two years ago that companies should get into this business. "Instead of trying to compete, they should stick to what they know best – create incredible content – and seek to maximize their profits on that content and manage the secular decline." their traditional cable network infrastructure. "

The Walking Dead universe project also offers AMC a way to continue monetizing the brand even after the release of the original series. Gimple said there was no discussion on an end date for the tanker: "Are we going to have 30 seasons like" The Simpsons "? I would really love this. But television changes too much. We are discovering it. "

More immediately, Gimple confessed that he was preparing for the usual indignation of fans for an important point of the plot – this time it is the decision to keep Rick Grimes alive. consider this a loophole. (Of course, viewers should be reminded of what Lincoln said this summer at Comic-Con: "My relationship with Mr. Grimes is far from over – he is a big part of me.")

"There is not a lot of middle ground and the fans are very passionate. And I respect their passion, "he said. "No matter how pleased they are that Rick lives in the center of more stories for us or that they think he should have died, we are going to tell these new stories and I 'm not sure. hope people will dig them up. "

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