Andrew Lincoln’s Surprising Return to UK Screens
If you still picture Andrew Lincoln fighting off walkers in ragged sheriff gear, get ready for a dramatic switch-up. The actor, still best known to many as Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead, is heading back to British television after more than ten years away, taking the lead in ITV’s stylish new thriller, Cold Water. For fans who watched Lincoln spend nine seasons surviving the undead, seeing him swap shotguns for complex domestic drama is a bit of a shock—and a welcome one.
Lincoln is not just starring in Cold Water; he’s stepping into the executive producer’s chair as well. That’s a sign he’s truly invested in this project, his first big UK TV role since he left the zombie hit in 2018. Created by playwright David Ireland, Cold Water promises something far different from flesh-eating monsters: a “dark, funny, twisted thriller” digging deep into the chaos that can bubble up when everyday life takes a wrong turn.
A Small Village With Big Secrets
The show goes straight for tense territory. Lincoln plays John, a stay-at-home dad blindsided by a midlife crisis. The breaking point? When John can't bring himself to intervene during a bullying incident at his child’s playground. Instead of dealing with his guilt in the city, he bundles up his family and heads north, landing in the fictional Scottish village of Coldwater.
If Coldwater sounds peaceful, don’t buy it for a second. John settles into the village, trying to mend things with his wife Fiona—played by Indira Varma, who viewers might remember from Game of Thrones or Luther. But there’s nothing simple about rural life in this series. John quickly finds himself caught up with Tommy (Ewen Bremner), a neighbor with a squeaky-clean reputation but murky secrets. The more John tries to keep his family safe, the further he's pulled into a mess that exposes him to dangers and temptations his London life never offered.
Fiona, meanwhile, has her own battles. As John's crisis spins into obsession, she tries to hold their marriage together, all while adapting to the strangeness—and lurking threat—of village life. The series also features Eve Myles, adding more star power to the cast.
Filming kicks off in late 2024, keeping Lincoln busy as he balances this fresh British project with his return to The Walking Dead world in The Ones Who Live. ITV is betting big on full-throttle drama, a smart script, and a cast with serious chemistry. Expect to see themes like masculinity, identity, and the deep divide between city and country life get twisted in unexpected ways.
So, if you’re tired of endless police procedurals and cookie-cutter rural dramas, Cold Water might be exactly the shock to the system you’ve been looking for. Lincoln’s new adventure promises to be as tense and unpredictable as anything he’s faced before—minus the zombies, but with just as many secrets.
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