It’s no longer a secret that The Walking Dead‘s Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is slowly being phased out of the hit AMC show. It remains to be seen if this is an irreversible decision, with Grimes buying the proverbial farm, or if he’s just parting ways with the group he’s lead since Atlanta. Whichever way it goes, what we know for sure is that there’ll only be six episodes of Rick Grimes when season 9 airs in October.
It’s not gone down well, as you can imagine, with most fans already missing his partnership with Daryl, as well as the Rickshonne relationship and the constant shouting of Coral! But some people are taking the “If Lincoln Leaves, We Riot” approach and threatening to boycott the show at the point which Grimes makes his exit. Making their intentions clear via Twitter, whether or not this has any effect on the series itself remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely.
These fans’ reactions follow a rough few years for what was once arguably the best thing on TV. The Walking Dead‘s eighth season saw the show’s ratings drop to their lowest since season 1, managing a mere 2.9 rating in adults aged 18—49 bracket, and 6.8 million viewers in Nielsen Live Plus Same Day numbers with the episode, “The Lost and the Plunderers.”
Not content with losing its fans and its lead actor in Lincoln, the show will also be losing Morgan (Lennie James) in season 9 as he’s busy with Fear The Walking Dead. Lauren Cohan, meanwhile, who’s enjoyed an increased focus since the death of her on-screen husband Glenn (another OG cast member), is also only due to appear in half a dozen episodes herself and we’ve already seen the death of longtime survivor Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs).
In fact, do we even care about anyone who’s left anymore, bar Daryl? We’ll get back to you.