For those who have been eagerly awaiting Rick Grimes’ final episode in The Walking Dead , this Sunday night was a harrowing experience. However, the news is not all bleak. He may have left the series, but there is more if his story to be told.
SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Episode 5 (titled “What Comes After”) of AMC’s The Walking Dead Season 9. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed this episode and wish to avoid spoilers.
It was a courageous episode for Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in Episode 5 of The Walking Dead Season 9. Having been impaled on rebar in Episode 4 (titled “The Obliged”), Rick has to face his own mortality as a herd of walkers approach.
Being a proactive guy, he uses his belt to pull himself free from the rebar and manages to get back on the very horse that put his life in such jeopardy. He then shambles around for most of the episode as he gets visits from long-dead characters and realizes he needs to lead the herds over the bridge in order to save his communities.
The episode concludes with the communities believing Rick has died but he is actually rescued by Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh) and flown to safety in one of those mysterious helicopters that have appeared in The Walking Dead from time to time.
So, for fans who were fearful Rick Grimes would die in this episode, this outcome is welcome. Viewers also know that this is Rick’s final episode on The Walking Dead as he plans to now spend more time with his family. So, the moment is bittersweet — Rick survives — but will not appear in the TV series again.
#TheWalkingDead will officially have three spin-off movies! Details (and spoilers) ahead: https://t.co/V4qbIXYBlN pic.twitter.com/7MpNne2U0o
— The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) November 5, 2018
However, Skybound , the company that produces the original Walking Dead comics the TV show is based on, has made the announcement that Rick Grimes will return — albeit in a trilogy of Walking Dead movies.
Scott Gimple, who was involved in the production of Rick’s final episode, also told viewers of Talking Dead that there is plenty more of Rick’s story to be told.
“This is not going to be the end of Rick Grimes’ story,” Gimple said.
“We’re going to continue telling Rick Grimes’ story in a series of AMC original films. There’s a lot of story to tell. It’s going to show a different corner of the world. It’s going to show a different situation that Rick is involved in. These are going to be shown on AMC, but they are going to have the scope of featured films. And we’re going to be seeing an epic story told over years.”
While this likely means that viewers will get to find out more about Anne and her mysterious group, it seems fans will have to wait for the trilogy of movies to come out, rather than the story being revealed in Season 9 of The Walking Dead .
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , AMC has been gearing towards more Walking Dead spinoffs in the future. Now, it has been revealed that, along with Rick Grimes’ trilogy, there will be more still to come in relation to this universe.
“You’re going to see characters that are dead and gone… we’re going to see different stories of future characters… we’re going to see all around the world,” Scott Gimple revealed. “We’re going to see the past, the future…”
Season 9 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 6 (titled “Who Are You Now”) on Sunday, November 11. As yet, no synopsis for this episode has been released.