Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead marked the exit of Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes as well as a surprising and serious time jump at the end of the episode. While most fans were expecting to see Grimes meet his end, it turns out that we have been left with a cliffhanger as he was whisked off to an unknown location on a helicopter. We know that the survivors think he’s dead and we’ve seen that they make it several years without him… so, what becomes of old Rick Grimes?

AMC has now announced that Lincoln is set to return in a series of straight to AMC movies that could begin filming in early 2019. The films will explore where he was taken on the helicopter and what will happen to him in this new corner of the world. The first film was written by Walking Dead ‘Chief Content Officer’ and former showrunner, Scott M. Gimple. Here’s what he had to say about this next chapter in the life of Rick:

“We have a lot on the horizon – starting with a new epic featuring one of the greatest leading actors in television history and one of the best people I’ve ever met. These films are going to be big evolutions of what we’ve been doing on the show, with the scope and scale of features. We’re starting with the first part of the continuing story of Rick Grimes, and there is much more on the way, featuring yet-unseen worlds of The Walking Dead and faces from the show’s past, as well as new characters we hope to become favorites, told by TWD veterans and emerging voices. We want to break new ground with different, distinct stories, all part of the same world that’s captured our imagination for nearly a decade of the Dead.”