Things aren’t looking good for Andrew Lincoln on The Walking Dead. The season premiere “No Sanctuary” opens with Rick (Lincoln) bound and gagged in a slaughterhouse at Terminus. It’s just a matter of time before Lincoln is written off the show he told TV & Satellite Week.
“I’ve always maintained that, if and when Rick dies — which is inevitable — I’ll go with it as long as it pushes the story on,” he said.
Lincoln also talked about his character’s demise with The Hollywood Reporter. The actor showed up at a premiere party looking clean shaven in contrast to his character who sports a scruffy beard on the show.
“Either I’m not in the show anymore or there’s a flashback where I found a razor,” Lincoln said with a laugh. “It’s an extraordinary and interesting thing that goes down. I can’t really go into it because I don’t want to spoil it.”
Rick won’t die anytime soon. He’s still alive and kicking in the comic, which is several story arcs ahead of the TV show. Furthermore, AMC just renewed The Walking Dead for a sixth season.
If Lincoln does leave the show, it will likely be of his own accord. His family lives in Atlanta, Georgia for eight months out of the year during filming. The grueling work schedule makes it difficult for him audition for other roles he told The Telegraph.
“Certainly when we went from 13 episodes to 16, it became more complicated, because the window of opportunity I have now is very small. But don’t get me wrong: I’m reading a lot of scripts now, and I would love to find a movie – if indeed the show gets picked up for next year,” Lincoln said prior to the renewal announcement.
The Walking Dead premieres Sunday 9PM, October 12 on AMC.