After months of hyping "the final episodes of Rick Grimes" and teasing his demise, viewers were surprised to learn after Sunday's episode of  The Walking Dead that AMC already has plans for the character going forward. Rick, in other words, is still very much alive.

According to Scott Gimple, the franchise's chief content officer, there will be more to Rick's story in the near future, including a trilogy of feature-length television movies. While light on details thus far, Gimple and David Madden, president of AMC programming, confirmed their intentions of bringing actor Andrew Lincoln back to the United States to film these three movies.

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Lincoln had originally voiced his desire to leave the hit drama in order to return to his native London, where his family lives, but it appears likely that the filming of these additional projects will remain stateside for simplicity's sake.

Season 9's fifth episode, "What Comes After," ended with a seemingly mortally wounded Rick being airlifted away by Jadis inside the mystery helicopter. Rick spent the previous hour drifting in and out of consciousness as a result of a series injury, all while trying to lead a herd of walkers away from the communities. Rick's hallucinatory state led to encounters with Shane (Jon Bernthal, The Punisher), Hershel (the late Scott Wilson) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Discovery), all of whom had died on the series. It was reasonable, then, for fans to assume this was Rick's ultimate swan song, even as Hershel assured him it wasn't his time to go just yet.

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Gimple turned that notion on its head with the announcement on Talking Dead of the movie plans. In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, he confirmed that viewers had not in fact witnessed the character's final moments. "There is more story to tell, and we'll be telling it," he said. "The story of Rick will go on in films. Right now we're working on three but there's flexibility in that." He goes on to explain that there are plans for specials, possible spin-off series beyond sister show Fear The Walking Dead, new digital content, and more. "We're going to dig into the past and see old characters. We're going to introduce new characters and new situations."

According to Gimple, he and Lincoln had tossed around the idea of expanding Rick's arc into television movies as far back as season four, around the same time they decided that season eight would likely be Lincoln's last as a full-time cast member. While the original plan reportedly was to have Rick killed off outright, the story changed as the show progressed, which leads viewers to the present shock of realizing that the sheriff has survived his injuries.

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For now the only detail Gimple has revealed for the films involves answering some of the questions that Jadis' "A" and "B" system have been hinting at over the past weeks. He remains open to the idea of having characters, both past and present, becoming involved in the movies, which could mean fleshing out the reactions of Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) to losing Rick. The plan, according to Madden, is to create something that feels "like a major motion picture," rather than just additional episodes of the show.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC, with its midseason finale "Evolution" debuting No. 25.