Why The Walking Dead Just Got Cancelled

2. Where Else Could The Story Go?

Speaking of the story, the decision to end it now could be down to the amount of story left to tell in the world of The Walking Dead, which arguably wasn't all that much. Sure, there's absolutely a way that Kirkman could have kept the narrative going without Rick, focusing on Carl's further development or even letting the other characters stand on their own without one central figure to follow, but the current state of the story doesn't feel like there were many major developments left unexplored.

The narrative has come a long way from following a band of survivors across a classic post-apocalyptic landscape. At this point, years later, society is starting to rebuild, and some semblance of normality has been restored. The original, feral villains and morally gray ways our heroes survived gave way to a story more concerned with political intrigue, threats of civil war and the drama that comes with living in the new version of civilisation.

Which focus you prefer is personal preference, but it's a testament to The Walking Dead's quality that it pushed the kind of stories that zombie fiction usually tackles into uncharted territory. However, in doing so it's found itself telling tales that don't need the apocalyptic framing device to be told.