Andrew Lincoln says Rick Grimes spin-off could begin shooting in spring

The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln has revealed that his Rick Grimes spin-off movie is set to begin shooting very soon.

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The film, which was originally promised as part of a trilogy, is currently in the same stages of pre-production it has been for a while, but Lincoln has now said there has been talk that filming will start in spring.

“I’m not filming at the moment. I’m still very much in lockdown,” Lincoln told SFX Magazine. “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.”

He also also clarified that a trilogy of Grimes movies was still the plan – they just need to get this first one “absolutely right”.

“I have signed for more than one film,” he said. “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.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in ‘The Walking Dead’ CREDIT: AMC

“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.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lincoln, who left the zombie series during its ninth season in November 2018, said he would “never say never” to returning for The Walking Dead‘s 11th and final season before appearing in the first movie.

“That’s a very good question,” he said. “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 groundbreaking show that still resonates with the world.”

Last month, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman teased details of the Grimes spin-off, saying that it would be “very different”.

“I think that the show is very much an ensemble story and this is very much Rick story,” he told ComicBook. “So, I think being able to focus more on Rick as a character and do more with him is really cool.”

He added: “I think it’s gonna be a very different kind of Walking Dead story, which is really exciting. You know, when you’re doing something like this you have to make sure that it makes sense for it to be a movie.

“This isn’t just some kind of expansion of what you’re expecting from the show. This is something that’s gonna be very different but it’s gonna be the Rick Grimes that we all know and love. And I’m very excited for people to finally see it when it’s released in 2032.”

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