Andrew Lincoln’s last episode of The Walking Dead aired three years ago this November, and Lincoln seems to have kept his promise to spend more time with his family since then. He hasn’t been on television since then, and his only feature film appearance was in Penguin Bloom. Granted, all of this is due to the pandemic, which has rendered many people unable to function and has caused Lincoln’s expected The Walking Dead film to be postponed.
Although the film has yet to begin production, Lincoln is eager to get started, as he recently told SFX Magazine (via Den of Geek): “I’m not filming at the moment. I’m still very much in lockdown. 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.”
We’re far into spring now, so hopefully he’ll be able to put those boots on any day now. It’s hoped that this isn’t the last time he falls into them. When AMC revealed The Walking Dead movie just minutes after Andrew Lincoln left the show, the plan was for him to appear in several installments. However, with declining ratings, the pandemic delaying the first film, and the parent series ending next year, no one seems to be talking about multiple films. They’re just attempting to create the first one.
However, Lincoln told SFX Magazine that additional films are still a possibility. “I have signed for more than one film … All of those answers will hopefully be resolved in the next couple of months but, yes, there’s more than one,” he said. “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.”
Though the creator of The Walking Dead universe, Scott Gimple, has ruled out Rick Grimes appearing in the second spin-off season, The World Beyond, Lincoln isn’t ruling out a return to the parent series. He hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll show up yet, as he told SFX: “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 ground-breaking show that still resonates with the world.”
In other words, if Andrew Lincoln is written into the final season, he will appear in the final season. Given that his character is still alive, and given how important he is to the series, and given that he’s willing to do it, Angela Kang will be squandering a huge opportunity to end the parent series with the show’s star. He should, at the very least, appear in a post-credits stinger teasing his upcoming film.
