Much has been made of season eight being the swansong for Rick Grimes, the titular hero of AMC's long-running series The Walking Dead. But despite the series finale airing tonight, this isn't the end for everyone's favourite zombie slaying ex-cop. Rick Grimes will return in several more projects set in The Walking Dead universe, including a trilogy of films.

"There is more story to tell and we'll be telling it," said Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer for the show.

Gimble is writing multiple feature length movies expanding on the character of Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln. The current plan is for at least three movies, though there's flexibility. The first movie could go into production as early as 2019.

"These films are going to be big evolutions of what we've been doing on the show, with the scope and scale of features," Gimble told Variety. "We're starting with the first part of the continuing story of Rick Grimes, and there is much more on the way."

Reaction to the announcement has been mixed.

Andrew Lincoln believes this is the best way to finish the story of a character he's been playing since 2010.

"I wanted to finish telling his story in the way that we began it," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "With a filmic sensibility on a bigger scale and a more contained story -- with an end point."