The ninth season of The Walking Dead has been working well for me – though I can’t bring myself to invest in reviewing it any long – and AMC has been building this season up to last nights episode fairly well with it being the last episode for Rick Grimes to appear in. Andrew Lincoln has talked about how tough it’s been to “commute” from England to Atlanta to film this since it began in 2010 and he worked to get things wrapped up here that resulted in last nights episode.
Of course, with the way this series has orchestrated any number of stories over the years, there are plenty of people that feel betrayed by “the twist” of it all. While Lincoln may be done with the series it turns out that the character has not died and is instead going to be part of the next phase. AMC has talked about expanding the property worldwide and into the film territory – though whether these are theatrical or TV films remains to be seen. And last night we got the reveal that Lincoln will have his character’s story followed up in a new film that should begin production next year. This separates him from the core group and all that he’s been surrounded with since the series started and with a tighter focus for a film should allow for a different narrative to take shape.
“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,” said Gimple. “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 favorites, 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.”
That’s the usual narrative that one expects from a producer so there are no surprises there based on what was said last night. While Fear The Walking Dead hasn’t been strong in ratings like the mothership was for so long it has turned out to be a pretty decent series overall and this most recent season its strongest (for me) with what it did, especially in bringing Lennie James down and having Jenna Elfman put in some fantastic performances along with the rest of the cast.
