Showrunner Scott M. Gimple reveals new story details for the highly-anticipated Rick and Michonne The Walking Dead spinoff show. First premiering on AMC back in 2010, The Walking Dead is now in the midst of its 11th and final season. Although most of the original characters are no longer on the show, audiences were first introduced to the world of The Walking Dead through Andrew Lincoln's Sheriff Rick Grimes and the small band of survivors he encounters after waking up from a coma during the show's first season.
After Rick left the show during The Walking Dead season 9, it was announced that the fan-favorite character would get his own trilogy of spinoff movies. Years passed with no concrete news on the movies until, finally, it was announced at this year's SDCC that Rick would no longer be getting his own spinoff movies, but instead a new show. Notably, the currently-untitled spinoff show will also feature Michonne (Danai Gurira), who first introduced to The Walking Dead in season 3 before eventually leaving during season 10 to attempt to find Rick. A poster for the new Rick and Michonne The Walking Dead spinoff doesn't reveal much, but it does tease that the show will release at some point during 2023.
During AMC's The Walking Dead Universe Preview 2022 (as per EW), series creator and showrunner Gimple provided the first concrete story details for the upcoming spinoff. Gimple described the show as "an epic and insane love story" and teases that both Rick and Michonne haven't softened with age. The showrunner affirms that the more extreme versions of the characters that fans love will be making a comeback with the new show, including "Red Machete Rick." Check out Gimple's full comment below:
"It's an epic love story. But it's an epic and insane love story. These are two people that have been separated for a very long time. They've lived whole other existences and they have to find themselves again, let alone each other. And it's hopefully going to be mind-blowing.
"We see this incredible power couple, but we also see that Red Machete Rick. We see that Michonne who taught a thing or two to the Governor. It kind of goes coast to coast that way between the intimate and the epic and the insane."
The reference to Rick's red machete is a significant one, hinting that the more unhinged version of the character seen in his later seasons of The Walking Dead will be making a comeback. Rick famously used a machete with a red handle not only to dispatch walkers but also to kill human enemies who got in his way, most notably Gareth during season 5. As for Michonne, Gimple's reference to her interactions with the Governor harkens back to seasons 3 and 4 when she stabbed him in the eye and then later impaled him with her katana.
While much still remains unknown about the new Rick and Michonne spinoff show, Gimple's latest comments suggest that the series will be just as hardcore and bloody as fans of the show have come to expect, but with a romantic element as well. After all, as Gimple explains, Rick and Michonne have been separated for a long time in the world of The Walking Dead, making the two characters likely to fight with everything they have in order to stay together. With the Rick and Michonne The Walking Dead spinoff expected to release at some point during 2023, it's likely that more details and promotional material will be released before 2022 is over.
Source: EW