(Spoilers ahead for the Oct. 28 episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC)
So we know that, by some unknown means, that Andrew Lincoln is quitting “The Walking Dead” during this half-season, and thus taking his character Rick Grimes with him. Presumably this means Rick will die, though there’s always the chance that he’ll simply walk out like Morgan (Lenny James) did last year, but he’ll go someplace out of view instead of onto “Fear the Walking Dead.”
But it’s more likely that he’s going to die, because characters very rarely just leave on this show. So, assuming that Rick is going to die, we may have just seen the beginning of the end for him.
This week’s episode ended on a big cliffhanger for Rick. After he and Daryl (Norman Reedus) managed to get out of the big pit they accidentally rolled into, Rick declared that he was going to stick around and try to lead the incoming herd of zombies away from any of the nearby settlements.
But this plan did not go super well, as Rick and his horse were soon surrounded, and his horse bucked him onto a concrete slab that, unfortunately, had some rebar sticking out of it. And one bit of rebar went right through Rick’s side. So he’s lying there on this slab, rebar in his guts, zombies coming at him from all sides. Looks pretty dire!
It’s not terribly likely, of course, that Rick is gonna die right there on that slab at the beginning of next week’s episode. This week we did get a hint that help was nearby just before things went south, as Maggie (Lauren Cohan) rode up and saw several zombies that Rick and Daryl had killed not long before. So Maggie is in the area when Rick goes down, and it seems like there’s a good chance she’ll help get him out of this specific predicament.
But the issue for Rick in this moment is not just about whether he’s gonna get eaten by zombies. The rebar in his flank will be a big problem even if he does manage to get away. Considering the way Carl got basically a whole episode to say goodbye to everybody last season, it seems likely they’ll do something similar for the character who has been at the center of “The Walking Dead” since the series premiere way back when.
So if we had to guess, we’d say that Rick will manage to get off that slab, but then will die from his injuries later. But we’ll have to keep watching to find out!