Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira will reprise their respective Walking Dead roles as Rick Grimes and Michonne Hawthorne for a new series in The Walking Dead universe in 2023.
AMC Networks announced the new series during the final panel for The Walking Dead at 2022's San Diego Comic-Con with Lincoln and Gurira, who have been actively involved in conceiving the creative and the continuation of their characters’ story, arriving onstage for the surprise announcement. Scott M. Gimple, Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, will serve as showrunner on the series, which will begin with six episodes in 2023. Lincoln and Gurira will also serve as executive producers on the untitled project.
"This is a moment fans of The Walking Dead have been waiting for since Rick disappeared in the helicopter early in season nine, and Michonne journeyed away on a quest to find him the following season," said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. "What a great surprise for the fans at this final Comic-Con for the series that launched this universe and made television history. We couldn’t be more excited for a truly epic series finale later this year and to see Andy and Danai return in a new series they helped create, one of three new series coming in 2023 that continue the stories of so many iconic and fan-favorite TWD characters."
Rick & Michonne Series Replaces Planned Film Trilogy
The upcoming series was originally planned as a trilogy of films that would have explored Rick Grimes' future following his departure from the main series in Season 9. The redeveloped project will now present an "epic love story [between] two characters changed by a changed world," reads the series' official synopsis. "Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead... And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they've ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive -- or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?"
Lincoln seems excited to return to The Walking Dead universe for the first time since 2018. "This has been the most extraordinary journey playing Rick Grimes for the best part of a decade. The friendships I’ve made along the way are deep and lasting, so it’s fitting that I finally get to complete the story with Danai and Scott and the rest of the TWD family," the actor said. "I’m so excited to be returning to the screen as Rick, reuniting with Danai as Michonne, and bringing the fans an epic love story to add to the Walking Dead Universe."
The untitled Rick and Michonne Walking Dead series will air on AMC and AMC+ in 2023.
Source: AMC