The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus recently revealed that he tried to convince Andrew Lincoln to return for the popular zombie survival show’s eleventh and final season. The Walking Dead first aired on AMC in October 2010, and after an eleven-year run, it is finally coming to an end in 2021. Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon, had a recurring role in season 1 and has been a series regular since the second season, and is now one of the most popular characters on The Walking Dead. Similarly, though Andrew Lincoln left the series in season 9, fans have been eagerly hoping that he makes a surprise reappearance in the final season.
Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes was the central character in The Walking Dead until Lincoln left the show in 2018 and Reedus took on the main role with Daryl. When fans last saw Rick, he disappeared after being taken away in a helicopter by the CRM group in season 9, episode 5. It’s been confirmed that Rick isn’t dead - Michonne found a phone with Rick’s name and images of herself and Judith scratched onto it - so Rick’s story certainly isn’t over. Fans have been theorizing on how Rick might return in The Walking Dead season 11, and what connections season 11 will make with the movie trilogy centering around Rick that is in the works.
Recently, during an interview with RadioTimes, Reedus revealed that he has asked Lincoln about returning in the series' final season. After being on the show together for so long, Reedus and Lincoln have become good friends and even have an ongoing prank war with each other, so it’s no surprise that Reedus would like to see Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead again. Reedus tried to get Lincoln to commit to returning on the phone, but Lincoln wouldn’t give him a clear answer. Read a snippet of Reedus’ interview below:
“He’s like, ‘Uh…’ you know, he won’t say anything. He won’t commit. But it’s very Andrew Lincoln to try to pull a fast one on me. So I don’t know. I have no idea. I literally don’t know. I wish I knew. And I have a big mouth, so they probably wouldn’t tell me!”
Lincoln’s answer doesn’t offer a lot of clarity, but fans can’t rule out Rick Grimes’ return to the series. The Walking Dead began with Rick, and while later seasons put more of a spotlight onto Daryl, The Walking Dead wouldn’t be complete without offering closure to Rick’s fate. Nevertheless, producers may be keeping what happened to Rick a mystery for his movie trilogy, and with plenty to wrap up in the final season, it could be very difficult to fit in a plot surrounding Rick before the show ends.
While The Walking Dead’s run will soon be over, stories from its universe are still being told. Currently, there are already four spinoff shows scheduled on top of Rick’s movie trilogy, so it is evident that neither the actors nor audiences have had enough of the beloved zombie apocalypse survivors. Despite whether or not Lincoln returns in season 11, fans will see a lot more of Rick after the show ends, this time on the big screen. Likewise, Reedus will certainly return in the spin-off about Daryl and Carol, which may involve Rick as well. Hopefully, The Walking Dead season 11 will wrap up existing plotlines in a satisfying way and set up the characters’ arcs for future shows.
Source: RadioTimes