The Walking Dead is Rick Grimes. However, the last time we saw the series regular was in the end of 2018. The movies were announced after his departure on the main show but that was 3 years ago and little news has been announced ever since. The hype around the movies have diminished and seem like it is thrown into the background of The Walking Dead universe. There still hasn’t been a confirmation that the filming process has been started. Also there hasn’t even been a confirmation that the script is even done yet. How long can we stretch out this project before it becomes a laughing stock. AMC is keeping the Rick Grimes fans happy though because they brought back the most important character to his whereabouts, Jadis, in World Beyond. It answered where the CRM is located, if Rick was really traded, and what really is an “A” or a “B”, but we got no cameo from Grimes in the show. I know that Covid-19 have affected the movie business and especially affected the travel of their actors, since Andrew Lincoln is from the UK and they have travel restrictions. If AMC wants to salvage the movies, they need to act fast before the Rick Grimes trilogy fails before it even has a chance to begin.
I have a few ideas to make sure that the Rick Grimes movies aren’t an epic failure to the box office and more importantly, to the diehard Walking Dead fans. First things first, make sure that AMC stays true to their claim that it will have a “blockbuster budget”. If you have seen the main show, you know AMC is stingy with their budget. Most of the fight scenes are in the woods or in a blank location. Don’t even get me started about the the final fight between Rick and Negan in a middle of a field. The zombie gore could be better so hopefully we get an amazing product for the movies. This is allegedly the reason why they are doing these movies in the first place.
Next, would be keep the filming times short between movie to movie. Since there are supposed to be three movies, I do not want to wait a long time between the three movies. I want them to film them right in a row. As a diehard Walking Dead fan and I will watch anything surrounding the main show, do not make me wait for the movies for several years in between…
Then, merge the universe all together for the movies, most importantly the last Rick Grimes movie. Who wouldn’t want to see Morgan, Carol, Negan, and most importantly Daryl to reunite with Rick. I am not saying that they should see him in the first movie but I want them to reunite by the end of the third movie. I know Michonne is expected to join Rick on the movies but I personally believe that this would not be enough for the fans. Just think of the reaction of the fans if we get a Rick and Daryl hug one last time. It is crazy to think about from the 9 year time skip of the main show between season 9 and 10 and the time that has passed from season 10 to 11, Rick has been gone longer at the CRM than he has known the original group from the show.
Finally, and most obviously, do not scrap the whole project all together. I know the movies have lost almost all their hype surrounding them but do not cancel the movies. This would be a slap in the face to the fans that have been waiting three plus years for any news. I know Andrew Lincoln’s reason that he had to leave the show was because he missed his family in the UK while filming in Georgia and did not want to move back and forth all the time, but if AMC scrap this movie, it will seem like Rick’s absence from the show is unwarranted. Fans would be unhappy because Rick could have returned much sooner in the universe, instead having to wait for him to return in the movies that will never come out.
Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) was recently spotted in New York, going to a Knicks game so hopefully the filming of the first movie is going to start soon… One of the CRM bases is located in New York so it lines up there. Hopefully we can get some confirmation of AMC starting filming soon or what the future of the movies are before it is too late. AMC needs to get on the horse on this project before fans jump ship and do not care about the Rick Grimes movies anymore. At the end of the day, we want to see Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead universe by any means necessary. Waiting three plus years for a confirmation that the movies are starting filming is a joke and a travesty that has the making of a big screen movie flop written all over it.