(Image credit: AMC)

If Andrew Lincoln is known for anything (other than showing up to his best friend’s house on Christmas Eve to profess his undying love to the man’s new wife), it would pretty much have to be for playing steadfast zombie apocalypse survivor Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead. Though the bulk of his time as the star of that series ended during Season 9, he recently returned in the spinoff sequel The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, but has now landed his follow-up role, and it’s not what I expected.

What Role Has Andrew Lincoln Taken As His Walking Dead Follow Up?

Leading a major TV series, particularly one as action-packed and filled with heartbreaking deaths as The Walking Dead, can take a lot out of a person. This is probably even more true when said person (like Andrew Lincoln) has to film in Georgia while much of his family is in England, which is his country of origin. He’s hilariously explained his “terrible decision” to leave the zombie drama behind so that he could spend more time with his wife, kids and other assorted family members. I still didn’t expect him to head across the pond for his next project, but here we are.

According to Deadline, Lincoln has signed on to star in and executive produce the ITV thriller Cold Water, which is his first job based in the U.K. for over a decade. The series will see him portray a middle-aged, stay-at-home father named John who’s hiding the fact that he’s “raging” at the state of his life and surprised by how quickly time has passed.

After he and his wife, Fiona (played by Indira Varma, a.k.a. Ellaria Sand on Game of Thrones), move their family to a small town in Scotland, John begins a friendship with their mysterious neighbor, Tommy (Ewen Bremner, Trainspotting). However, that relationship becomes more and more “intense” which raises fears in Fiona that Tommy isn’t exactly who he’s said he is.The show is written by award-winning playwright David Ireland (who’s exec producing along with Lincoln and several others), and will also star Eve Myles (of the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, another show that featured Varma).

Ireland described the show as a “dark, funny, twisted thriller,” which doesn’t place it too far from the mark the erstwhile Rick Grimes made by starring on The Walking Dead franchise-starter for so long. But, as mentioned earlier, this will be his first gig on British television since 2010, when he played Hugh Collinson on Strike Back for five episodes.

Of course, that is the same year we were first treated to some Atlanta-based zombie scares on TWD. With his work on the iconic horror series being so all-encompassing, it makes a lot of sense that he didn’t exactly have lots of time to hop across the pond to do other TV shows at home during that time, despite having originally made a name for himself in England with shows like Teachers and This Life.

If anything, his job on Cold Water, which is set to begin filming later in 2024, will have all TWD fans eager to see the results of his next project, even though it probably means we’ll be waiting for a while to get news on whether or not The One Who Live could get a second season.