It has been confirmed that Andrew Lincoln will be leaving the AMC series The Walking Dead during Season 9, appearing in only six episodes.
It would seem that The Walking Dead will have to go on without Rick Grimes.
Andrew Lincoln, who has played the role of Grimes since the day The Walking Dead premiered on AMC, is leaving the show with Season 9.
It has been revealed by Collider that Lincoln will be leaving the one time AMC ratings juggernaut during the upcoming season and will appear in only six episodes. In addition, Lauren Cohan’s Maggie Greene will also only be appearing in six episodes, with the thinking that she won’t be back either.
With the aftershocks still being felt after the departure last season of Chandler Riggs, you have to wonder what the future holds for The Walking Dead going forward. A large portion of The Walking Dead‘s audience seemed content to leave with Riggs, so you have to think that another steep ratings decline is on the horizon with Lincoln also leaving.
Of course, the ratings for the show have been on the decline for years now, which may be why Lincoln has decided to call it a day. Better to get out now than wait for the show to completely implode, right?
But the bigger question is how will the story continue without Rick Grimes? Will it have anything to do with the rumored time jump the show will experience? And what will be the final fate of the character?
With the departure of Lincoln, it is being widely reported that AMC is taking no chances. Word is that they are offering Norman Reedus a considerable pay bump to not only stay with the show but to take over the leading role.
Which should make all the Daryl Dixon fans out there quite happy.
But without Rick, Maggie and Carl, how much of a show will be left for Reedus to take charge of?
The Walking Dead has already veered sharply away from the overall storyline of the comic book it is based on, so much so that some fans say it’s not even recognizable anymore. That feeling is only going to get worse with the loss of Lincoln.
In fact, by the time Season 9 wraps, The Walking Dead could be an entirely different show that when it started.
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Will fans still tune in and in high enough numbers to keep the show on the air? Or is it time for AMC to pull the plug and maybe start thinking about another spinoff?
Fans will start to get some answers when the ninth season of The Walking Dead arrives in the Fall of 2018.
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