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I come to bury Rick Grimes.
In the kindest way.
Tonight, barring any last-minute swerve, switcheroo or outright lie, star Andrew Lincoln departs AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (at 9 p.m.).
That’s no spoiler. The actor and the show revealed months ago that Lincoln had decided to leave the horror hit to spend more time with his family in the United Kingdom.
This doesn’t look as if it will go down the way of the great Glenn-dumpster-fake-out that alienated so many viewers and started the show on its ratings spiral. New showrunner Angela Kang seems to be trying to regain our trust.
“Dead” has killed off so many significant players, but there is no one more important in this world overrun by ravenous zombies than Rick Grimes. He’s the former Atlanta sheriff who woke from a coma and found the world had gone to hell. Rick has been the linchpin of the series from day one, a man struggling to keep those he cares about alive and to rebuild civilization. Lincoln, amid all the gore he’s waded through, has given him a nobility worthy of Atticus Finch.
If the Television Academy could see past its noses regarding genre TV, Lincoln would have a shelf full of Emmys.
But how does Rick go out? On a show like this, a death from natural causes would be considered a happy ending. (I do think a hilarious twist would be if Rick somehow crossed state lines and was informed that the rest of the world got the zombie problem under control ages ago but pretty much quarantined all the walkers in Georgia. Maybe that’s something best served for the series finale.)
It’s not looking so great for Rick.
Last week ended with him tossed by a horse and impaled on a rebar pipe. Two herds of walkers are closing in on him.
AMC has confirmed the episode title, “What Comes After,” and says of the episode, “Rick is forced to face the past as he struggles to maintain the safety of the communities and protect the future he and Carl envisioned.”
Among the ghosts of Rick’s past appearing: Shane (Jon Bernthal, “Marvel’s The Punisher”), Rick’s best friend, whom Rick killed in season two; heroic Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green, beaming in from “Star Trek: Discovery”) and kindly Hershel (Scott Wilson, who died last month).
Can Rick really go into that Good Night without seeing his beloved Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), killed off in season three, and son Carl (Chandler Riggs), who died last year?
The character, tellingly, last week shared moments with Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), the only other survivors from season one.
The only significant character left for him to cross paths with is Maggie, played by Lauren Cohan, who also happens to be exiting — at some point — to star in the ABC midseason series “Whiskey Cavalier.” Could Maggie save him from the immediate threat but ultimately perish as well?
Another actor might have been able to make “The Walking Dead” work, but another actor would not have brought the intensity and intelligence Lincoln brought to every scene.
To Rick Grimes, R.I.P.
To Andrew Lincoln, all we can do is say thanks and promise to follow him wherever he roams next on the tube.
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