The Walking Dead film: Andrew Lincoln's return as Rick Grimes will be shown in cinemas – watch the teaser

The long-running TV series is showing no signs of stopping

Andrew Lincoln is returning to The Walking Dead in a spin-off film that will be released in cinemas.

Shooting is expected to begin later this year for the first of three planned films that will focus on his character Rick Grimes who left the show in season nine. It won’t be available to view on television.

The films were initially confirmed in May 2018, but the revelation that the first will be released on the big screen is pretty firm evidence that the show, unlike the comic book series it’s based on, has no plans of stopping.

The news was confirmed by former showrunner Scott Gimple, who was promoted to overseer of The Walking Dead franchise. He said: “There is more story to tell and we’ll be telling it.”

It heralds multiple new scripted projects that’ll focus on numerous other characters – old and new – within the universe. A second spin-off was recently announced.

“The story of Rick will go on in films,” Gimple said. “Right now, we’re working on three but there’s flexibility in that. Over the next several years, we’re going to be doing specials, new series are quite a possibility, high-quality digital content and then some content that defies description at the moment. We’re going to dig into the past and see old characters. We’re going to introduce new characters and new situations.”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Lincoln revealed that the original plan was for Rick to be killed off in the show’s eighth season, but plans changed after Gimple decided to kill off his on-screen son Carl, played by Chandler Riggs.

The British actor confirmed that he even filmed a death scene that was later scrapped after deciding to stay on for season nine

Production on the films is expected to last for just two months a year.

Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) saved Rick from death in The Walking Dead after seemingly sacrificing himself to save his friends and family from an oncoming herd of walkers. The episode ended with him being whisked away in a helicopter ahead of the final scene, which revealed a time jump of six years.

The brand new trailer for the tenth season – which will be shown in the UK on FOX from 7 October – teases what will be the last hurrah for Danai Gurira who has confirmed she’s officially hanging up Michonne’s sword.