Greg Nicotero, a producer for The Walking Dead, has explained why Rick left the show in the way he did. SPOILERS FOLLOW…
Rick Grimes, and the actor that played him, Andrew Lincoln, has finally left AMC’s The Walking Dead. His final episode played this week and didn’t end with the character’s death, as many had thought it might.
The decision to keep Rick alive is certainly an interesting one and producer Greg Nicotero explained why it was made to ComicBook.com: “How do you kill Rick Grimes? You know? I’m getting emails already going, ‘Wait! He didn’t die?!’ I’m like, ‘Guys, sorry!’
“It was one of those things where, Andy’s decision to leave the show was so much personal and not about the show or the content. And this season Angela [Kang] really has done an amazing job of sort of crafting these stories that really sort of grounded the show back the way the show played in season two, season three, and everybody really loved it. You know?
“We felt like we were all sort of getting our groove back and Andy was like, ‘Man this is the show I wanna be making…And now I gotta go.’ And I’m like, “Well do you?'” Which led to Lincoln to agree to reprise the role in the announced AMC Studios movies.
“Honestly, those conversations obviously started a long time ago and I think for us we really were just focusing on trying to tell the best story that we could, and Andy was in it. Every episode that I’ve ever directed, the script comes in and Andy comes over and we read the script together, and we go through it and he plays himself and I read all the other parts. So I’m a great Maggie by the way, if anyone was wondering.
“So in this particular episode, we really wanted to make sure that we fine-tuned the story so that it gave us an episode that really respected the fan and respected the show. So many callbacks.”
Considering the news regarding The Walking Dead movies, it’s not all that surprising that Rick survived but was it the right decision from the show’s point of view? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
SEE ALSO: Norman Reedus talks Andrew Lincoln’s final ever The Walking Dead scene
The Walking Dead season 9 airs on Sundays in the US and on Mondays in the UK.
