Andrew Lincoln’s Three Walking Dead Movies Will Get Theatrical Releases

During two back-to-back panels today at San Diego Comic Con, AMC announced a plethora of The Walking Dead universe news. Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for a sixth season, Danai Gurira is confirmed to be leaving the flagship Walking Dead series at the end of Season Ten, and Season Ten itself will premiere October 6th with an episode written by showrunner/EP Angela Kang and directed by EP Greg Nicotero.

There’s also a third season being spun-off from the main, which will be filming in Richmond, VA, and features Annet Mahendru (Huck), Aliyah Royale (Iris), Alexa Mansour (Hope), Nicolas Cantu (Elton) and Hal Cumpston (Silas). According to a press release, “The untitled third series will focus on the first generation to come-of-age in the apocalypse as we know it. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. In the end, all of them will be changed forever. Grown-up and cemented in their identities, both good and bad. Jordan Vogt-Roberts (You’re the Worst, Kong: Skull Island) will direct the series co-created by Gimple and The Walking Dead veteran writer and producer Matt Negrete who will serve as the series showrunner. Produced and distributed by AMC Studios, the series will premiere on AMC in spring 2020.”

But perhaps the biggest news was that Andrew Lincoln, a.k.a. Rick Grimes, will see his three Walking Dead movies get theatrical releases instead of airing on AMC. (Taking a page from Downton Abbey, clearly). According to THR, the panels concluded with a teaser that promoted the upcoming movies as “only in theaters.” (You can watch that promo here).

Though no release date has yet been confirmed, THR reports that, “While details are still being sorted out, the current plan calls for Lincoln to be in production on each movie for two months. That’s a far cry from the nine months he spent every year for the past decade filming the series in the Atlanta heat.” This is a massive expansion of the series, which is still a complete franchise juggernaut and multi-billion-dollar property. Though creator Robert Kirkman wrapped up the comic run of the series earlier this month (after 193 issues), the world of The Walking Dead appears like it will continue on for a long time to come.

Check out the Season Ten trailer below: