And my wasted heart will love you until you’re literally a zombie
The films will likely air on AMC, and will be written by Scott M. Gimple, who ran the show from seasons 4 to 8 before leaving the show to become the totally-not-made-up chief content officer for AMC’sThe Walking Deadfranchise as a whole—because we need a giant franchise for some reason. AMC and Gimple seem to think that they can make their own cinematic universe within a single TV network, with Morgan spinning off and makingFear the Walking Deadhis own show, and now with these spin-off movies with Rick Grimes at the center.
I have to admit that I enjoyed Gimple’s slow, contemplative, and sometimes narratively decisive run in seasons 4 and 5, before he and his writing staff devolved into cheap parlor tricks (i.e. the dumpster) and dumb exploitation—remember that first Negan scene, and how itended in a cliffhangerwithGoldenEye 007first-person blood effects, hiding who Negan’s big kill was? Yeesh. Making the Negan storyline two 16-episode seasons long was just too much, but it was expected given how slow the show was at that point.
The easy joke here is thatThe Walking Dead“franchise” is now, well, walking dead. It’s nice to see Andrew Lincoln still around, and moving from a television production schedule to that of a movie production will allow the actor to spend more time with his family in the U.K. But eventually, I’d like to see him utilize his talents elsewhere—preferably not in anotherLove Actually. Maybe something less weepy as fuck than the episode from last night? And who knows, ifThe Walking Deadever gets a series finale, maybe Rick Grimes will return to deliverhis famous catchphrase, “That’s what she said.”
Andrew Lincoln on His ‘Walking Dead’ Departure and Surprising Next Chapter for AMC[THR]
