There’s no way to hide this huge spoiler for the upcoming Walking Dead season, so let’s get it out of the way: Rick Grimes dies. Finally! He’s been the star of AMC’s The Walking Dead for eight years, but Andrew Lincoln will not return for a tenth season. That means Rick will surely die this year. After all, that’s the only possible exit for any character of Walking Dead. It’s not like you can retire to Florida and pass the bad-decision-making baton to someone else.
I have no idea how Rick dies. Will zombies devour him alive? Will a human kill him? It doesn’t even matter, and I don’t even care, given that I turned a long time ago. I’m no longer a Walking Dead fan, and I haven’t even seen a single episode of season 8. That’s how bad season 7 was if you ask me.
But I do think Lincoln has been on the show for far too long, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him try his hand at other things.
It was Collider that first broke the news that Lincoln is leaving the show, revealing that he’s only in six episodes in season 9. That’s right, it looks like his death is coming sooner than you’d think. Entertainment Weekly confirmed from a source that Lincoln is indeed going to exit the show.
AMC, meanwhile, has not commented on the matter and it’s likely they’ll want to hang on to the news for as long as possible.
Norman Reedus is supposedly getting a substantial raise to take over the show’s lead role. Then again, in a harsh environment like the post-apocalyptic world of Walking Dead, nobody is safe. Lead characters can always be killed off and AMC shouldn’t be afraid to do it.
That said, I have no feelings about Rick’s death at this point. I’m firmly committed to the idea of watching as many episodes of season 9 as I did of season 8.
