When writing the Walking Dead comic books, Robert Kirkman considered killing off lead character Rick Grimes in issue #6 – but then decided against it. Still, he let it be know that Rick wouldn’t made it to the end of the series, and he kept that promise. Rick was killed, shot to death, in issue #192. The comic book series wrapped up with issue #193. During a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, Kirkman revealed that he suggested that Rick get killed off early in the AMC TV series adaptation… simply because he thought it would be funny.
Kirkman said (as reported by Entertainment Weekly), “With Walking Dead, I was much younger and much more reckless,. I was an absolute lunatic. I would get in the writers’ room and be like, ‘Kill Rick Grimes today! I don’t care! It’ll be funny! People will freak out, and it’ll be fun!’ The writers were like, ‘Robert, you’re crazy. We can’t do that.’ But any time there were big changes in The Walking Dead, that’s what excited me.“
The Walking Dead wrapped up its eleven season run last year, and Rick actually did exit the TV show earlier than he exited the comic book. The actor who played Rick, Andrew Lincoln, decided to step away from the series, so Rick was written out in the midst of season 9… but he wasn’t killed off. He was flown off to a different location. Now we’re going to find out exactly what happened to Rick – and see him be reunited with his beloved Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) – in the upcoming limited series spin-off The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (formerly known as The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne). A teaser trailer for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is in the embed at the top of this article, but you might not be able to see it, depending on your location.
What do you think of Kirkman’s suggestion that Rick should have been killed off and written out of the show earlier than season 9? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Viewers had a tendency to tune out after their favorite characters got killed off, so I think The Walking Dead probably wouldn’t have been able to reach its highest ratings peaks if Rick had been taken out early.