The Walking Dead Gives a Big Hint on Rick Grimes’ Final Episode
AMC has provided a big hint on which episode will signal Andrew Lincoln’s departure as Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead.
Episode 5 of this season has been titled What Comes After, according to Collider. That title suggests the episode will be dealing with a pretty big event, if not the aftermath of one. This lines up with the reports from a few months ago that Andrew Lincoln would leave the show halfway through Season 9.
They claim that Lincoln originally planned to leave the show during Season 8, but decided he wanted to see out one final full season on the series. It has since been widely reported that Lincoln will be signing off in the first half of this season, but most had assumed it would come in the midseason finale.
That Rick’s end is coming even earlier would seemingly suggest that the character won’t get to ride off into the sunset like many had hoped. Indeed, it spells a grisly end for the show’s central character. It also means that the show will be able to deal with the aftermath of Rick’s death immediately, rather than forcing fans to wait until 2019 to see how things will play out in his absence.
It makes sense from AMC’s point of view. A lot of people have seemingly been waiting until the midseason finale to tune in for Rick’s death, according to this season’s huge ratings drop. Leaking this news now encourages those who still care to tune in to next week’s fourth episode, as that might provide some kind of clue as to how Rick might be killed off. It would serve to boost the ratings for the next two weeks at least.
It also gives fans one less reason to drop out of the show during the midseason break. Getting rid of Rick in the midseason finale means that fans would have to wait at least 3 months to see what the show will look like without Rick Grimes.
The drop in ratings suggests that fans are already lacking interest in what comes next, so to wait all that time to give fans a glimpse of the future would only hurt the show more. If AMC wants to keep as many people interested in The Walking Dead as possible, then killing Rick off before the midseason finale actually makes sense, in a strange way.
Whether or not it actually makes any difference remains to be seen. There’s no guarantee that ratings will spike for Andrew Lincoln’s exit, though it has been revealed that Jon Bernthal will be returning as Shane in the final episode. That in itself should be enough to excite long time fans of the series.
Will you be tuning in to see the end of Rick Grimes? Let us know in the comments.
Josh is a huge a fan of Star Wars, superheroes and video games. He spends most of his time wondering who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Star Lord.
