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Watch as Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira Crash ‘The Walking Dead’ Comic-Con Panel, Announcing Their Return

For The Walking Dead, returning to Comic-Con after two years away was bittersweet.

The last episode of the Walking Dead show will be airing this fall. The show has been on for a long time and now it is ending. There are going to be eight episodes this fall.

At Comic-Con, there were more cheers than tears when Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira walked on stage. They announced a new Rick and Michonne series for AMC Networks in 2023. This new series will replace the series of Rick Grimes movies that was first announced back in 2018.

After one fan from the crowd asked about a Walking Dead movie update and another asked about the future of Rick Grimes, Scott Gimple noted there would be news on that later in the panel. And he delivered on that promise. When the rest of the cast and producers left the stage at the end of the panel to a standing ovation, Gimple remained with moderator Chris Hardwick.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan were featured in a video talking about Isle of the Dead. Then Gimple was asked if there was anything else to announce. However, Lincoln and Gurira took to the stage to massive applause instead.

“This is kind of overwhelming,” Lincoln told the crowd. “Because you are the hardest of the hardcore fans, we have something we want to tell you first.”

Gurira continued: “We are, Mr. Rick Grimes himself and Mr. Scott Gimple in an amazing bolo tie today, got together and have been cooking something up for you all because we missed you and we owe you the conclusion of this story of Rick and Michonne.”

Added Lincoln: “So next year, there’s going to be six episodes on AMC+ airing in 2023, so next year there’s going to be a lot more to talk about.” And then for emphasis, “I personally can’t wait to get my cowboys boots back on and get the band back together.”

EW confirmed that those six episodes will not be a limited series, but rather the first season of a continuing series starring the duo.

Lincoln announced in November of 2018 that he would be appearing in three Rick Grimes films. “We’re going to tell the story of what happens after that helicopter flight, and these are going to be big, epic entertainments,” Gimple said at the time. “I am extremely hard at work on the first one right now, and most likely filming next year.”

Then, at the end of the show’s next Comic-Con appearance in July of 2019, a quick teaser video was shown with the words “Rick Grimes returns. Only in theaters.” After the clip played, panel moderator Hardwick announced that, “The Walking Dead movie is now official. It will be released in theaters by Universal and AMC. More information to come.”

But no new information came for three years. Until now.

The trailer opened with Lance Hornsby behind bars saying, “Thank you for coming. I hoped you would.” Does this mean Hornsby allowed himself to be captured? But the craziest moment at the trailer’s closing occurred when Aaron uttered, “I’ve heard stories of walkers that can climb walls and open doors.”

Is this a call back to the very first season?

The cast and crew talked about the show coming to a close. Greg Nicotero, who directed the finale, explained what that “directing the finale, I felt all the weight of expectation of everybody in this room…. We have an obligation to take the show out in the best way that we can.”

Feeling sad about the show coming to an end and their final Comic-Con panel., Reedus was emotional, saying, “I might cry actually,” said the star. “I made some of my best friends on this show. It started off as this pure little thing. We started off in the woods. It was such a pure thing… We held onto that core belief system of doing it for real and that sense of family.”

Then, after a pause, “I kinda just want to cry and make out with everybody in this room.”

His co-star McBride was visibly fighting through tears as she spoke. “Just this whole experience has been amazing, out of this world, never thought it would become what it became, for myself, for everybody else up here,” she explained. “There is so much I want to say, but I swear to God, it gets stuck. This always happens.”

Watch the entire Comic-Con panel below!

The Walking Dead will return October 2, 2022 for its final episodes of the series.

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