'The Walking Dead' Star Andrew Lincoln Says Show Can Continue Without Rick

By Rachel Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Monday, October 02, 2017

Is Andrew Lincoln leaving "The Walking Dead"? The actor believes that the show can continue without his character Rick Grimes.

Lincoln has been part of the series since the debut of the pilot episode on AMC several years ago. Now that "The Walking Dead" heads to season 8 in a few weeks, is the actor considering his exit? Will Rick be the next big death on the show?

"I think that there's an innate feeling and certainly in me that I love doing a play or doing the film because you get to put a period on the end of it and you get to do it nightly, which is really exciting," Lincoln told Entertainment Weekly when the subject of completing stories came up. "But there is a completion thing that I think I deserve for doing it for so long and also probably the audience would like some completion."

Rick's fate in the source material, "The Walking Dead" comics, is different from the TV show. He's broken mentally from Glenn's (Steven Yeun) death and physically from Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) abuses.

Rick, however, continues to have the love and support of his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), and girlfriend, Andrea (Laurie Holden). If he dies, the possibility of Carl assuming the role of the leader of the community might have fans in disagreement since the character isn't generally well-liked.

Creator Robert Kirkman acknowledged that plenty of actors on "The Walking Dead" look up to Lincoln as the leader, which might make it harder to kill off Rick. But Kirkman also said that the ensemble series have plenty of actors who can step up the plate eventually and lead the group.

For now, Kirkman doesn't see this happening anytime soon, which means Rick remains safe on the TV show. Showrunner Scott M. Gimple said projected that losing the character on "The Walking Dead" might happen 20 years from now. It looks like the production has every intention to let the show go on forever on AMC with Rick.

"The Walking Dead" season 8 premieres on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 9:00 p.m. on AMC.