The Walking Dead is back with its final stretch of season 11 episodes, which incidentally are the final stretch of episodes for the entire series. The main show is coming to an end after 11 seasons, though it will be supplanted by existing and new spin-offs that will run for the indefinite future, and allegedly, a few movies as well.
Currently, The Walking Dead is cramming the entire Commonwealth comic arc into about seven episodes, one that is missing its core character, Rick Grimes, who was written off the show years ago when Andrew Lincoln wanted to leave. But now? He may be coming back for one final appearance.
Andrew Lincoln is in the US and hanging out with the cast of The Walking Dead. A fan snapped a photo with him and Norman Reedus in town, where the final episodes are supposedly filming right now:
I mean granted, maybe he’s just there to say hi to some old friends, but it does seem exceedingly unlikely that we get through the grand finale of the series without Rick Grimes showing up in some capacity.
What does not seem likely is that he’s going to stroll into the Commonwealth and relive the last few pages of his comic arc (which resulted in his death in the comics). Rather, if there is a Rick Grimes cameo, my guess is that it would be a teaser meant to be in another location (where he’s being kept by the CRM) and a nod to his future movie. A sort of “Rick Grimes will return” moment, which will hopefully accompany some actual news about his upcoming movie that has been in the works for years, but we still don’t know anything concrete about it. The Walking Dead: World Beyond was our clearest look at the CRM and what Rick might be up to, but we don’t know when that movie is coming, nor where on the Walking Dead timeline it would fall, whether it would be before, during or after the current events of the show, which are now I think 6-7 years after he first disappeared.
I have said this before, but I think the best idea is for The Walking Dead to convince Andrew Lincoln to do another Walking Dead series after the main one ends. Maybe one that’s just him, Michonne, Judith and RJ or something, slimming down the cast. I have never understood this obsession about a Walking Dead movie meant to play in theaters, as that’s going to be what, a higher budget 2.5 episodes put together in terms of runtime? Again, just give him a new series. Everything I’ve seen from Lincoln makes it sound like he’s ready to return. And at least in this case, he is literally returning, albeit probably for a brief cameo.
We’ll see if and how Rick Grimes returns before The Walking Dead ends. I hope they do him justice after all this time.
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