Why The Walking Dead Just Got Cancelled

6. The Rick Problem

Across the various arcs, the story of Rick has looked like it was leading to a grisly end a few times. All Out War was potentially the first big event where it could have been a genuine possibility, as the writer teased that the following arc would be unlike anything fans had ever seen before, and mark a brand new chapter for the comic as whole.

Once covers for the next issues started showing up, highlighting a brand new band of survivors, many assumed they could be Rick's replacements. After all, what better way to start off the next chapter than to hand the baton of main protagonist over to somebody new?

That didn't happen, of course, but it did leave readers with a very different version of Rick. After having his leg broken and jumping forward in time, the hardened survivor adopted a more political, sagely leader role, rather than the active leader-warrior position he adopted for so long before then.

In part, that was because he was physically weaker and frail, more vulnerable than ever before - and more likely to have his head on the chopping block at some point in the future.