The Walking Dead Showrunner Hints That Rick Grimes Won’t Die

It’s been confirmed that we’ve only got two more episodes of Rick Grimes left on The Walking Dead. We’ve known for a while now that Andrew Lincoln would bow out of the show that he’s led for almost a decade sometime in the first half of season 9 and finally, it’s about to happen. So, in long-standing TWD tradition, it looks like we should get ready to mourn another beloved character, right?

Well, maybe not. Obviously, the past nine years of the series have prepared us to expect every exiting cast member to go out with a grisly demise, but Lincoln and the rest of the cast and crew have always been careful to leave the option open that Rick might not die. And in a new interview with BBC, showrunner Angela Kang has suggested that the former deputy sheriff could live beyond his time on TWD.

While Kang confirmed that Lincoln will not be back after episode 5 in season 9, she did leave the door open for him to return in future seasons. Which surely means he’s going to survive, right?

“He is definitely out of the show this season. The intention is, this is his exit from the show. But who knows what time may bring. We always love our Andrew, so since we’ve got some time jumps you never know what might happen.”

Lincoln himself has previously teased that his character could be written out much like Lennie James’ Morgan Jones was at the end of season 8 – though obviously he wouldn’t jump over to Fear the Walking Dead like his co-star. The actor even admitted that he’d prefer the open-ended method of saying goodbye to Rick and also told ComicBook.com: “My relationship with this part is far from over.”

We’ll just have to wait until The Walking Dead 9×05 “What Comes After” airs to see what the future holds for Rick Grimes, but feel free to start speculating down below.