Fans of The Walking Dead have been looking forward to the long-rumored Rick Grimes movies. Unfortunately, all signs are currently pointing to the trilogy of movies being on hiatus — perhaps even a permanent one.
It Appears Nothing Has Happened with the Rick Grimes Movies
When Melissa McBride announced that she would not be playing Carol in the “Daryl and Carol” spinoff, Variety had a little note at the end of their late April 2022, mentioning the Rick Grimes movies. They simply wrote, “The films were originally meant to start production shortly after Lincoln’s departure from the show, but at this time they remain in development.”
Then The Hollywood Reporter, also on April 27, 2022, had even worse news about the Rick Grime movies. They wrote, “The star left the series a few seasons ago with plans to topline three feature film spinoffs set in the world of Robert Kirkman’s zombie drama. There’s been no movement on the Universal Pictures features in years.”
That’s right. The Hollywood Reporter said there has been no movement on the trilogy of movies for years.
Back in July 2021, about a year ago, Norman Reedus told Comicbook.com that the Rick Grimes movies were “up in the air.”
At the time, Reedus said: “I don’t think anybody knows what’s going on with the movies now. I hear different answers from different groups. So I think it’s kind of still up in the air what the movie thing is going to be. I think it’s…changed perspective a couple of times. I don’t know anything about it. I’m just going to leave it at that.”
Reedus saying the movies had “changed perspective” is interesting and leaves a lot of things open to speculation.
Reedus Hinted About a Possible Rick Appearance in His Spinoff
It’s possible that the producers have decided to take another route with Rick Grimes’ story, without officially updating fans. Either that or they decided to update his story in one of the spinoffs first and then continue the movies sometime after that.
I’m leaning toward that second sentence as the explanation, especially considering what Reedus recently shared about his own spinoff.
In an interview Iron & Air, Reedus talked about how Daryl would be going to Europe in his spinoff (the one that used to be a Daryl and Carol spinoff.) Reedus then said: “…They were like, ‘Hey, do you want to go on a mission while she’s [McBride’s] taking some time?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah. Let’s f***ing go on a mission.’ So I’ll be going to Europe doing a mission. Some of our characters are lost, and maybe I’ll run into one or two of them.”
While he didn’t name Rick, Reedus specifically said that Daryl might run into “one or two” of the characters who are lost. That likely refers to Rick and Michonne (or possibly even Heath.)
As a quick refresher, the last time we saw Rick on The Walking Dead, he was being carried away on a CRM helicopter with Jadis. Michonne later found hints that he was alive in Season 10. She found a ship that had washed ashore in Maryland, and on board was a logbook showing different locations over the past six years (with the most recent being a shipyard in New Jersey.) She found evidence that Rick was on that boat, so she left to go search for him.
Rick’s current status was clearly mentioned again during the final season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
Jadis was featured in the show’s last season, showing she’d been climbing the ladder at CRM since turning Rick over to them six years earlier. (She turned Rick over as a “B,” and we learned that the “A” designates were experimented on.) This gained her entry into the Civic Republic. She didn’t name Rick by name, but her mention of this happening six years ago and the details around it all point to Rick.
She said, “I had an opportunity, and I created a ticket to get into the Civic Republic. I gave the CRM something very valuable and I got a new life.”
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