The Walking Dead showrunner’s thoughts on Andrew Lincoln’s exit

As season 9 of The Walking Dead draws ever nearer, so also does the exit of the show’s star Andrew Lincoln.  

The idea of The Walking Dead without Rick Grimes has been a tough pill to swallow for many including the new showrunner Angela Kang.  

In a recent interview Kang expressed how difficult writing Rick’s departure was for pretty much everyone involved saying “The writers, and everybody, the crew, the actors, everybody’s just putting their all into it because we love him so much and we respect him so much, and we want to do service to that journey.”

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There have been two big questions surrounding Lincoln’s farewell episode ever since the rumor mill started buzzing about his season 9 departure.  

The first being whether it will be handled in a way that’s satisfying to the fans.  Given how the fan response has typically been to the show’s bigger events in the past, the obvious answer would be no.  To be fair though, most of those events occurred during Scott Gimple’s tenure and Kang is still waiting for a chance to prove how she’ll be running things.     

The second being whether The Walking Dead will truly be able to sustain itself without Rick.  While everyone has had their favorite characters over the years that don’t necessarily include Rick, the fact is Rick has been the heart of the show from the beginning and no pay raise to Norman Reedus is going to change that.   

Season 9 of The Walking Dead will premiere on AMC October 7th.  

How do you think The Walking Dead will end up handling the loss of Rick Grimes?  Give us your thoughts in the comment section.