The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live: Andrew Lincoln Alludes to a Horrific Start for Rick Grimes

More than five years after he left The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln is finally returning to his iconic role of zombie apocalypse survivor Rick Grimes, alongside Danai Gurira's Michonne for sequel series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Lincoln said that getting back into character was easier than he expected, though his knees hurt a bit more than they used to. "It was great to be the sheriff again," he said. "I missed the people. I missed the culture of the show."

The series is created by The Walking Dead Universe chief Scott M. Gimple, Gurira, and Lincoln. That trio, plus actors Lesley-Ann Brandt, Terry O'Quinn, Matthew August Jeffers, and Craig Tate attended the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Tuesday to preview the six-episode spinoff, which is an "epic romance" unlike anything in the franchise before.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live follows spouses Rick and Michonne on their respective journeys to reunite with each other. They were separated years ago after Rick blew up a bridge to prevent a horde of walkers from reaching his community. He was badly injured in the explosion, but was rescued by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who turned him over to a mysterious organization that whisked him away in a helicopter. Michonne thought he was dead, but when she got evidence that he was still alive, she set out to find him. 

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live: Everything to Know

The Ones Who Live shows where they've been in the intervening years. Michonne linked up with some members of a nomadic caravan who became her friends and helped her on her journey. Meanwhile, Rick has been with the Civic Republic, a large community in what used to be Philadelphia that keeps its members behind walls. After several failed escape attempts, he's decided to embrace becoming a member of the Civic Republic Military – an organization that has made mysterious appearances in shows across the Walking Dead Universe – while he prepares for his next shot at freedom. 

During one of his escape attempts, Rick does something that's a remix of an important moment from the comics. It never happened to him on the show, but fans will be excited to see how it happens in The Ones Who Live (there's already rampant speculation online about something terrible happening to Rick after the release of the trailer).  

We won't spoil it here, but Lincoln did allude to it during the panel. "In the first three or four minutes of a whole series there is something truly horrific that happens," he said. He compared it to the shocking and horrifying opening minutes of The Walking Dead's pilot, where Rick shoots a zombified little girl, in how it establishes an intense tone for the whole show. 

It wasn't hard for Lincoln to get back into character as Rick Grimes after a few years away. "It was remarkably easy to put the cowboy boots back on," he said. But the type of story he wants to tell about Rick Grimes has changed.  

"I think in the writers room, there was a real intention to place Rick in an environment and a mindset that he had not been before," he said. "I think that was quite key, because he had been pushed and pulled and stretched and pummeled and abused in the main series for so long, traumatized, that we thought, where can we place him? So it was a new adventure, and that made it very, very exciting and appealing, obviously." 

That story is a love story. There have always been romantic storylines on The Walking Dead, but never the front-and-center, most important storyline like Rick and Michonne's is on The Ones Who Live. Lincoln said that The Walking Dead started with Rick searching for his family, and that's in the DNA of The Ones Who Live, only told in a more "operatic" way than it ever has before. "It is an epic love story. That was the ambition. And I'm really glad that we got to really land the love aspect," he said.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premieres Sunday, Feb. 25 on AMC and AMC+.