Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira preview their return to The Walking Dead universe

It’s a sight no one thought they’d see, yet here we are. Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira are stepping back into the never-ending world of The Walking Dead, a franchise they left behind years ago. They are reprising their roles of Rick Grimes and Michonne in a new spin-off, The Ones Who Live, to provide closure to their characters’ “epic love story.” It’s a phrase both actors repeatedly used at the 2024 Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour.

AMC’s TWD: The Ones Who Live is a six-episode limited series, although “anything is possible” in terms of a renewal, according to executive producer Scott Gimple. The show delves into the mystery of Rick’s disappearance after he vanished in the original show’s ninth season when Lincoln left TWD in 2018. Rick didn’t die, as we now know, but was saved and captured by a military unit of some sort. TOWL features Michonne going on the hunt for “her man,” as Gurira puts it, while Rick tries to find a way back home. TWD is embracing romance at its core, according to the show’s cast, at least.

During the show’s TCA panel, Lincoln told reporters it was surprisingly easy to slip back into Rick’s cowboy boots: “The intention was to place him in an environment and mindset he’d not been in before. That was the key. He’s been pushed, pulled, and pummeled in the main series. He’s traumatized.” That’s one way to put what Rick goes through in the original, including the death of his son, his wife, and several friends, but Lincoln said TWD’s history ended up being a luxury while carving out the story for the spin-off.

He added that the spin-off has the DNA of the original’s pilot in that “Days Gone By” was about a man in search of his family. “In this new story, we wanted to [use that] but make it operatic and add in a shade of what the grown-ups have been doing while we’ve been scrambling in the dirt for 10 years.” Both actors claim what distinguishes The Ones Who Live from any other TWD show is its focus on romance. “We watched a lot of Bridgerton [to prepare],” Lincoln joked at one point.

As for Gurira, she said she was excited about Michonne’s unexpected journey here. “The Ones Who Live hones in on what happens when love is the driving force and it’s making the plot move. What does that look like? Michonne has to pivot and adjust in unexpected ways to find her man.” EP Gimple further elaborated to the audience: “TOWL is about two people who are soulmates whose souls have been beaten up by the world while a lot of time has passed. They had to find each other but also themselves.”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live also stars Pollyanna McIntosh as her TWD character Jadis Stokes/Anne, Terry O’Quinn, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Craig Tate, and Matthew August Jeffers. It premieres February 25 on AMC and AMC+. Here’s a trailer if you want to glimpse at everything the cast was talking about: