{"id":25929,"date":"2022-11-16T15:22:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T14:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1739429"},"modified":"2022-11-16T15:53:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T14:53:10","slug":"walking-dead-boss-reveals-fears-fans-would-stop-watching-after-rick-exit","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/walking-dead-boss-reveals-fears-fans-would-stop-watching-after-rick-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Dead boss reveals fears fans would stop watching after Rick exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 16 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The march of The Walking Dead<\/a> is almost over \u2013 the series, which has been on the air since 2010, is set to conclude with its next episode, Rest in Peace.<\/p>\n

Angela Kang has served as showrunner on the last three seasons of the zombie drama \u2013 reflecting on her time in charge, Kang told RadioTimes.com<\/a> that perhaps her greatest challenge remains one she faced upon first accepting the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say that one of the most stressful things I had to deal with in my tenure was writing out Rick Grimes, [and] figuring out how the show goes forward,\u201d she revealed.<\/p>\n

Having led the cast since the show\u2019s pilot episode, Andrew Lincoln opted to depart The Walking Dead midway through its ninth season in order to return to the UK. Of course, the series ran for another four years following his exit, but at the time Rick\u2019s leaving felt like a seismic shift \u2013 both for fans and the show\u2019s creative team.<\/p>\n

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Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead season 9.<\/span><\/figcaption> Gene Page\/AMC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

His final appearance \u2013 to date, at least \u2013 was in the episode What Comes After, which saw Rick apparently sacrifice himself to stop a zombie herd, though in fact \u2013 unbeknownst to his friends and family \u2013 he was taken to parts unknown by Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in general the fans really got the emotion out of that episode that we hoped \u2013 and they kept watching the next episode, because I think our studio and our network were afraid that the entire audience would just stop watching right there,\u201d Kang admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo our job was to make sure that the entire audience doesn\u2019t stop watching. That was an interesting challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kang was tight-lipped as to whether Rick might appear in The Walking Dead\u2019s series finale, but we know for certain that fans will be reunited with the character in an upcoming spin-off<\/a>, also featuring Danai Gurira as Michonne.<\/p>

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n