It's hard to remember a time when The Walking Dead wasn't a part of the pop culture landscape. The original series premiered on AMC almost 17 years ago. Yes, that means that children born back then are fully-grown 17 year olds by now, teenagers studying in high school or college are now in their early-mid 30s, and - oh yeah - two decades have almost gone by. Crazy, right? But that's just a sign of how enduring this franchise still is.
While Andrew Lincoln's adventures as Rick Grimes kicked the franchise off on a high, the TWD Universe has evolved over the years to incorporate sequels, prequels, offshoots, and spinoffs. And there are still two of them on the air today, with Dead City wrapping up its third season this fall and Daryl Dixon set to return for its fourth and final season next year.
Through the evolution of the franchise, fans have continued to wonder one thing: When is Rick Grimes returning to the world of The Walking Dead. 2027 may well give them that answer.
Rick Grimes expected to return to the TWD Universe soon (and the Daryl Dixon season 4 finale is the most likely option)
Rick Grimes' comeback to the TWD Universe is inevitable. While it wouldn't have made sense for the overall franchise to conclude one day without him, this goes beyond that: Andrew Lincoln himself confirmed that he is in talks to reprise his legendary role as the former sheriff in a Walking Dead project. Although Lincoln's comments (which were made in fall 2025 on BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg) did not specify what project that could be in, there are multiple possibilities. The most likely one, however, would place that return next year.
Let's be honest: Rick's primary storyline in the TWD Universe has concluded. He was finally reunited with Michonne, daughter Judith, and son RJ in spinoff The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live after his years off the grid working for the Civic Republic Military. That organization was also successfully defeated by him and Michonne (Danai Gurira) so it's fair to say that the long-awaited Rick Grimes return came and went. And yet that doesn't mean that he doesn't have a place in the franchise.
Although his family did reunite with him, fans have been longing to see Rick reunite with some of his oldest friends. That includes Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), who are both currently in Spain and attempting to get back home to the US. The fourth and final season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is expected to see them do just that - and it arrives in 2027.
I think that it's safe to say that fans have been eager to see Daryl in particular see Rick again. The two longtime best friends were separated in the ninth season of The Walking Dead when Rick seemingly sacrificed himself on the bridge full of walkers to protect his community. But, as we all know, Rick survived and was taken prisoner by the CRM. So many years have passed since that episode aired in 2018 (and even more years have passed in the TWD Universe), so it's long past time that Daryl find out that Rick was actually alive after all this time.
With that in mind, it would be hard to pull off a series finale of Daryl Dixon that sees Daryl and Carol return to Alexandria, the Commonwealth, or anywhere else without discovering that Rick is alive. We know that the man himself returned home either just before the pair ended up in Europe or shortly after it. After all, Carol made that comment in the first season that "someone" was back only for the show to randomly drop that plot thread in season 2. What if this was to intentionally throw us all off so that it could engineer the long-awaited reunion in the finale - a reunion that Carol surprise Daryl with as she could have been aware of Rick's return all along.
It's also worth bearing in mind that Daryl Dixon season 4 filmed at the end of last year, which is exactly when Lincoln revealed that there were discussions about returning as Rick Grimes. With that in mind, it wouldn't be too out there to assume that AMC could have filmed a reunion scene for the final episode, allowing Lincoln to return as Rick without having to commit to a longer, more full-time role again.
If 2027's Daryl Dixon season 4 doesn't turn out to be the stage on which Rick Grimes will return, the most likely option would then be that long-rumored Avengers-style reunion crossover that would effectively function as a series finale to the entire TWD Universe. Heck, regardless of whether Rick appears in the Daryl Dixon finale, that could still happen down the road as the creatives behind the franchise are eager to pull it off one day. Here's hoping that they do.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 premieres on AMC and AMC+ in 2027.
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