The Walking Dead: Andrew Lincoln says 'the thrill of the fight' is back when the show returns

Get ready for another hard turn on The Walking Dead. The first half of season 7 saw the will of Rick Grimes and Co. completely broken by Negan. It was dark. It was depressing. But it is over. That’s because, by the end of the midseason finale, Rick had seen enough.

After watching Aaron get beat up and Spencer have his guts spilled out next to a pool table, Rick was back and ready to fight the big baddie. And that means we have a whole new Rick Grimes and a whole new show to look forward to when things pick back up on Feb. 12. “It’s probably the opposite of what you just witnessed,” says Andrew Lincoln of the tonal shift for the back half of the season. “Certainly from Rick’s point of view. You see a man in action again with some of the members of his closest family.”

Hearing that the battle is about to be joined is no doubt music to the ears of fans, as are these other comments Lincoln made to EW about what to expect from his character coming up. “There’s a lot more levity, if you can believe that, than you’ve ever seen before in Mr. Grimes,” says Lincoln. “There’s sort of a freedom in him, a feeling that comes from losing everything, and also the thrill of the fight. It’s the thrill of the fight again. He’s back in. All I’m saying is that the band is back together.”

Lincoln also says he personally had a blast filming the second half of season 7, now that he no longer has to cower in fear of Negan on a weekly basis. “There are several episodes that I loved being involved in and it certainly feels very much more like a show that I knew and recognized in the back eight,” he says. “I loved the episodes that I was in.”

More importantly, he predicts fans will be happy with what they see. “It’s The Magnificent Seven in the back half. Rather, the magnificent eight episodes. Wait till [episode] 16. I promise you, there is one beat in 16, I dropped my script and started punching the air and did a little jig.”

And we will leave with that image of Andrew Lincoln doing a jig to get you through the rest of the day. You’re welcome.

For more Walking Dead intel, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.