‘The Walking Dead’ Director Greg Nicotero Is Providing Reassurances About Those Rick Grimes Movies

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, AMC dropped the news that fan-favorite The Walking Dead character Rick Grimes would be returning to the zombie universe, but not on TV. No, Rick would be making his comeback in theaters in an ambitiously announced movie trilogy. However, it’s now two years later, and the first Rick Grimes movie is nowhere in sight. (Although, the recent Fear the Walking Dead season finale may have laid some key groundwork for that outing.)

Naturally, the real world just went through a catastrophe of its own with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has scuttled projects all over Hollywood. A delay for the Rick Grimes movie was to be expected at this point. But just to calm the fears of fans, veteran The Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero recently told Comic Book that the film is “still alive,” and right now, the biggest hurdle is “making sure that they get it right.” If Rick is going to return on the big screen, the story has to demand that full theatrical experience:

Nicotero, who was behind the camera on the Season 9 episode of The Walking Dead that ended with a near-death Rick disappearing aboard a Civic Republic Military helicopter, expects Rick’s story to continue with a scope and scale deserving of the big screen.

“I would always say The Walking Dead makes hour-long movies every week,” Nicotero said. “I don’t want to get comfortable and say, ‘Oh yeah, you make a movie, you got more money [in the budget].’ Because they’re going to expect more because they have more money.

Nicotero’s words echo that of Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman who said back in March that the movie has to feel bigger than just a two hour long episode.

“This isn’t just some kind of expansion of what you’re expecting from the show,” Kirkman said. “This is something that’s gonna be very different but it’s gonna be the Rick Grimes that we all know and love. And I’m very excited for people to finally see it when it’s released in 2032.”