Why The Walking Dead Can't Survive Without Rick Grimes
1. Time To End?
The two best performers on the show for some time have been Lennie James and Melissa McBride, but neither are well-placed to be the lead - James because Morgan is now on Fear, and McBride because Carol's arc has encompassed pretty much everything already. Michonne, the only other major character with serious development, might be the best fit, but Danai Gurira might be off after Season 9 anyway, and like Daryl they haven't done enough to build the character up into someone ready to lead it into a long-term future.
That leaves us with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who gives a charismatic performance as Negan, but the character himself is rather empty. He's still the main villain at this point, albeit a defeated one, and given what he's done it'd be impossible for Negan to become a heroic character - or even just one we could buy into as the focal point of the series, despite the prominence of him over the past couple of years. They could always introduce someone new, but not many memorable characters have entered the show in recent years, and it'd get to the point where it might as well be another spin-off.
Even with Rick still alive, the show was growing stale, repetetive, and boring. With Rick on the way out, and Carl already gone, there's no longer a real purpose to this story, and The Walking Dead would be better off ending than trying to limp on. The show has been bitten, and now it needs to be killed off before it reanimates.
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