It started out as a few Tweets declaring fans’ anger about Andrew Lincoln’s reduced role in season 9 of The Walking Dead. But now, a full-scale petition is up and running with the intention of changing the showrunners’ minds about how protagonist Rick Grimes will exit the hit series.
The announcement that Lincoln’s fearless leader will only appear in six episodes of the next run follows hot on the heels of several high profile departures. There was the onscreen death of season 1 original Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), for example, while Lennie James’ Morgan jumped ship to spinoff Fear The Walking Dead and Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Rhee, was reduced to just six episodes for the upcoming season as well.
Obviously, this hasn’t allayed fans’ fears about the future of the show. Not to mention there’s also the fact that a horde of viewers abandoned it after the appearance of Negan and the Saviors.
“Sign this petition to encourage the creators behind the show and Lincoln himself to rethink the magnitude of the premature death of the character who has been set up to restore civilization, law and order and to raise his daughter safely,” reads the call to action for the petition, which now has well over 1000 signatures.
Of course, if you’ve been keeping up, you’ll also know that The Walking Dead season 9 is set to experience a jump in time in line with Robert Kirkman’s comic book series, which picks up two years after Negan’s defeat. Entitled “A New Beginning” on the page, let’s just hope it’s appropriately named and can signal a fresh(ish) start and an upturn in the fortunes for what used to be the best show on television.
