Why The Walking Dead Can't Survive Without Rick Grimes

Don't dead open inside.

The Walking Dead Rick Grimes
AMC

It's finally happening: Andrew Lincoln is (reportedly) leaving The Walking Dead in Season 9.

According to Collider, Lincoln will be appearing in just six episodes of the forthcoming ninth season, and his departure will happen before the finale. The show has lost a lot of key players before - it's partially how it got its reputation, after all - but this is the single biggest change to ever happen to the series.

It comes at a period of uncertainty for the show: showrunner Scott Gimple, who has been overseeing the show since Season 4, is taking on a broader role across the TWD franchise, with Angela Kang stepping up to run the main show. Meanwhile, as well as Lincoln, Lauren Cohan (Maggie Rhee) is also only going to be in just six episodes of Season 9.

On top of all that, ratings have been sliding for the past couple of years, and are now back down to where they were around Season 2, which was before the show took off and become a behemoth. It's fair to say that the show does need a bit of freshening up if it's going to stay on the air (whether it should do that or not is another matter), but losing Lincoln is a blow too big to survive.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.