The rumor mill hasn't exactly been kind to Walking Dead viewers over the years, and it's looking like fans' hopes and speculative beliefs are being thwarted yet again. Given one particular reveal on The Walking Dead: World Beyond concerning the scientist group running tests on walkers, suspicions formed over Andrew Lincoln potentially reprising his iconic Rick Grimes role on the spinoff drama. But unless there's a giant fibber employed by AMC, it looks like Rick's return isn't happening anytime soon.
At least in this case, The Walking Dead fans weren't totally off their rockers with the idea that Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes might rise again in some capacity on World Beyond. Episode 4 finally answered Jadis' "A/B" mystery that was left unanswered when she took Rick into the CRM helicopter to fly off to whatever undisclosed location. It's totally logical to think that Rick might be somewhere in that same lab where Iris and Hope's father works/worked.
On top of that plot-based reasoning, fans then noticed that Andrew Lincoln's name was listed on the IMDb page focused on The Walking Dead: World Beyond's finale, titled "In This Life." To be expected, that was a major detonator for speculation. Unfortunately, an AMC representative subsequently confirmed to Insider that the IMDb listing was "not accurate," and Lincoln's name was stricken from the World Beyond cast list.
At this point, it's impossible to know exactly who added Rick into the season finale cast list. Because IMDb basically allows anyone to add and edit things, with only a bare minimum of oversight, it's certainly possible that this was the work of a prankster hoping to troll the TWD fandom, or maybe someone just blindly hoping that IMDb is a magical website where imaginative casting additions are turned into reality. Whatever the case may be, more than enough people were fooled by it.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond star Nico Tortorella hasn't exactly helped the situation, either. Since even before the spinoff started airing on AMC, Tortorella has (seemingly) jokingly talked about sharing scenes with Andrew Lincoln, and that they're hoping for Rick and Felix to become a superhero duo. Again, Tortorella was likely kidding, but he did tell CinemaBlend and other outlets during last year's set visit that he absolutely knows what happened to Rick and where he's located.
If only the next episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond was a show-and-tell exhibit as opposed to a normal episode with a plot and character beats and stuff. I guess that's not how TV works, but still. Fans do deserve to get at least a few more clues about Rick's whereabouts, considering the standalone films might not be coming anytime soon.
To see if more clues are indeed on the way, tune into Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond every Sunday night on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET and 10:00 p.m. ET respectively. While waiting for new episodes, head to our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the horizon.
