Sunday night we saw the last episode of The Walking Dead with Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes).  That is not a spoiler as they have been telling us on the show for about 6 months.

But here's some spoilers...

Rick Grimes did not die last night. He was in bad shape and washed up downstream from the rest of the cast. But Jada called in her mysterious chopper friends who medivac-ed Rick to presumed safety.  He did not die. Personally, I felt cheated. But then I learned this.

Scott Gimple (content chief) says there will be  a trilogy of big budget Walking Dead movies starring Rick Grimes.  So he left the show for the movies. But the movies will not go to theaters. They will appear on AMC.

The Hollywood Reporter talked to Gimple about Rick's transition to movies. "There is more story to tell and we'll be telling it,"  he said.  "The story of Rick will go on in films. Right now, we're working on three but there's flexibility in that. … Over the next several years, we're going to be doing specials, new series are quite a possibility, high-quality digital content and then some content that defies description at the moment. We're going to dig into the past and see old characters. We're going to introduce new characters and new situations."

Apparently, the plan to kill off Rick was decided by Lincoln and Gimple during season 4. But that plan changed, and evolved into an expansion of The Walking Dead franchise. They'll begin production in 2019. And it might be filmed in England because Lincoln has a family with young kids there. He wants to be with them more.

"Rick Grimes is an amazing character and Andy has done an amazing performance. There were story ideas brewing that, as the years went on, seemed very compatible with continuing to tell the Rick story in another format that would allow him time with his family," says Scott Gimple.

So this is your confirmation. Rick survives his rebar impaling and the subsequent bridge explosion.