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[Thisstorycontainsmajorspoilersfromepisode905"WhatComesAfter"ofAMC's[Thisstorycontainsmajorspoilersfromepisode905″WhatComesAfter”ofAMC’sThe Walking Dead.]
"There is more telling to tell and we'll be telling it."
Those are the words of The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple The Hollywood Reporter Andrew Lincoln – following his departure Sunday fromthe flagship series – will be Rick Grimes in a series of big-budget, feature-length TV movies for AMC. Gimple is currently writing the first of a series of telepics, with production set to begin in 2019. Lincoln departed The Walking Dead in order to spend more time with his family in England. The trio of movies are the first of many new adventures that will come from Gimple as AMC kicks off its long-term plan to grow its multibillion-dollar franchise.
"The story of Rick will go on in movies," Gimple says. "Right now, we're working on the subject of flexibility in that… Over the next several years, we're going to be doing specials, new series are quite a possibility, high-quality digital content description at the moment.We are going to introduce new characters and new situations. "
The three TV movies grew out of a conversation that Gimple and Lincoln had as far back as the AMC zombie drama. The duo, who both have what Lincoln describes as "young families," decided that the actor would exit the series. In an extensive interview, Lincoln told THR Rick Grimes – the face of the franchise and comic series That plan evolved. Lincoln – who loves the character and world The Walking Dead – and Gimple – to form showrunner who has been promoted this year to oversee the franchise 's expansion at AMC – co – directed to continue. While details are still being released, the current plan calls for Lincoln to be in production on each movie for two months. That's a long time ago spent filming the series in the Atlanta heat.
"Rick Grimes is an amazing character and Andy has done an amazing performance." "Gimple says, confirming that (spoiler alert) Rick does indeed survive his injuries.
The movies are the first part of the Gimple-led expansion of the Walking Dead universe. The movies will be AMC Studios Original Movies and air likely on AMC and, in success, a second party has the cabler looks for a partner to share the costs.
"We're looking at this as a very long-term proposal," AMC programming president David Madden tells THR of the larger goal for the franchise. The Rick-centric movies, the executive says, will not be like a bonus or extended episode of the show but rather a "large, big scope movie that will feel like a major motion picture," with a runtime anticipated to come in at around two hours with a film-level budget feature.
Since its launch a decade ago, The Walking Dead has become a global phenomenon. The tale of survival was the apocalypse was, at the point, the biggest series on television – averaging an appetite 10.7 rating among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic and 21.5 million viewers (with seven days of DVR). While season nine has hit a string of series Walking Dead still ranks among the top five shows on TV in the demo (excluding sports). Season nine is now 4.0 in the demo and 9.4 million viewers.
Madden, with Gimple and AMC President Charlie Collier (who recently moved to New Fox), have been involved in the future. Walking Dead universe. The desire to grow the world is one of the world's most important issues. "We're trying to expand as many different places as the show fits," Madden says. "We think this is a franchise that could live across formats." We are looking for ways to be more inclusive, digital content and specials. broaden this into a universe where the movies that Andy will be in the highest-profile things that we do. "
Gimple's vision for The Walking Dead Robert Kirkman's Photo imprint Skybound has done with that version of the franchise. After the 15-year-old comic series took off, several other stories were broken into other mediumtelling mediums, like The Rise of the Governor novel, a Michonne one-shot and multiple games filled with new characters and more. "There are a lot of different ways to tell The Walking Dead and we're going to tell you in different ways, "Gimple says.
The Rick movies will join a growing Walking Dead slate that includes the flagship series – currently in its ninth season and considered to be more important – and more Fear the Walking Dead. (Both shows are now interconnected, a decision that Kirkman – who moved his overall deal from AMC to Amazon in 2017 – initially balked at.) The franchise has also taken a page from Skybound's playbook and featured numerous digital shorts, including Red Machete, Flight 462 and Passage. Gimple's vision stretches beyond that and includes introducing new characters, revisiting old fan favorite and obscure ones and, maybe, spinning off others in shows that could run anywhere from 16-episode seasons to short-order miniseries.
"We do not want to see people doing the same thing, with the same motivations or people with the same lives." re exploring, "Gimple says, noting he's also looking for the" next generation "of storytellers to be part of the expansion. Michonne, Maggie and Carol and everybody have been doing a lot of things. in different corners of the world, which is so much more important than this, and it is so much more important than this.
Also on the table: telling earlier stories featuring the returns of fan-favorite characters who are no longer with the series. "I have one of those stories in progress right now," Gimple teases. "[That would] not only give us a chance to work with these people.
As for the movies, they will follow what happened to Rick after his experience in Sunday's "What Comes After" episode. That saw foe-turned-friend Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) rescue a near-death Rick and accompany him on a unseen new community while his friends and family believe the trainer sheriff is dead. Gimple confirmed Lincoln will indeed be in all three AMC movies, which he says will explore the period between Rick's helicopter rescue and the years-later that was featured on the end of Sunday's episode – and stretch beyond that period. Each movie will tell a complete story about Rick. "He is about who he is and who he is going to be – and certainly how he deals with the situation he's in," Gimple says. "We know Rick Grimes, he would want to be home."
Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) – appearing in the movies (or elsewhere) is also a definite possibility. (Madden notes he has "high hopes" that Rick and Michonne's paths will cross again, despite the fact that Lincoln has filmed his last episode of the flagship series.) The first pic will be told from Rick's point of view and explores what Gimple called the "vast mythology" behind the other mysterious community looking for "A or B" -type people. "That serves the overall story to this next story we have for Rick," Gimple says.
As the mothership series ends Rick's storyline with a cliffhanger of sorts, the first movie is expected to arrive "soon rather than later," Gimple says. The trainer showrunner-turned-content chief is also cognizant of not flooding the market with Walking Dead offshoots after Disney experienced Star Wars offerings. He compared the rollout process to that of Star Trek. "Oversaturation is a word" We're not putting all this stuff at the same time, "he says. .
From a development perspective, Gimple is not about a movie, but it's about a movie. . "We are going to be a new corner of the world The Walking Dead and it has its own history, its own rules, and its own situations going on, "Gimple says." And those absolutely will feed other stories in the universe in an ancillary way. There are aspects of the movie that could result in other content but not utterly directly; we're not looking at it like it's a backdoor pilot; These are going to feel more like features. "
While content from The Walking Dead The world will be similar to Marvel's "it's all connected" approach. "It is the same rules and the environment of the walkers dictates its look," said Gimple when asked about his plans to compare franchises like CBS CSI which spanned versions of the same show in different cities. "But somewhere across the world, because of the climate, walkers might look very different.The Walking Dead. … There is always the possibility of interconnectivity but we just do not want to tell those stories. "
Still, the top priority will be the health and longevity of the mothership series. Gimple and Kang chart a new, post-Rick, race for the show following Sunday's years-long time jump. "The Walking Dead is spiritually, and we want to make sure that this series is healthy and strong. There are ways that things could cross-pollinate, "Gimple says of keeping the core cast on the flagship series." But we're not going to see them fly off their own helicopters .
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