‘Fear The Walking Dead’ To Connect TWD To Rick Grimes Movie Trilogy

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” surprised fans after announcing that its main protagonist is leaving the show in the middle of its ninth season. Toward the end of episode 5 of Season 9, an unconscious Rick Grimes — portrayed by Andrew Lincoln — was seen on a chopper flying to an unknown location, and his whereabouts and conditions are still yet to be revealed. Now Lincoln’s absence from the series has prodded TWD fans to question: what happened to Rick Grimes?

The spin-off series “Fear The Walking Dead” may shed some light on the protagonist’s fate after its Season 5 premiere earlier this June. “Fear” protagonist Althea — portorayed by Maggie Grace — found a mysterious helicopter group, which may well be linked to the helicopter that flew Rick off in the flagship series.

“Fear The Walking Dead” co-showrunner Ian Goldberg has just confirmed that more Rick Grimes references will come to the “Fear” series. The series has already taken on board two TWD characters, Morgan and Dwight, and the spin-off’s plot currently runs toward the community that holds a similar helicopter to the one that took Rick. However, chief content officer Scott Gimple is adamant in saying that the two series will not merge.

“They're remaining separate entities,” Gimple said in an interview. “There's a little thing that turns into kind of a big thing that connects to something outside of both shows which people will be seeing. But, you know, they're two different shows,” he continued.

Gimple’s statement seems to be an allusion to the movie trilogy spin-off featuring Lincoln’s Rick at the center. The trilogy seems to be the highly teased connection that is “outside of both shows” but still interlocking with all the references currently being thrown in the “Fear” series. Rick Grimes, however, is not expected to be seen in “Fear The Walking Dead” despite fans’ hopes.

The Rick Grimes movie trilogy is already in the works and aims to answer all questions as to Rick’s departure from “The Walking Dead,” as well as the community that he was taken to. The highly awaited movie spin-off has yet to be announced for a release date as of writing.