Andrew Lincoln regrets leaving ‘The Walking Dead’

At least, that’s the opinion of his former Walking Dead co-star Norman Reedus.

Reedus let the news slip when he was talking to Entertainment Weekly this week ahead of season 9’s big finale on Monday night.

“I talked to Andy the other day,” he said. “And he was like, “Man, I picked the wrong time to leave the show because it’s so f—ing good right now.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you did, dude. You picked the wrong time.’”

When the news broke that the star planned to leave fans were distraught. And when the final episode came in November it was an emotional departure for both Lincoln and the show’s many viewers. But against the odds, after being critically injured, Lincoln’s character Rick Grimes, escaped alive. Then came the news that fans would see him again, but this time in a series of spin-off movies.

Read more: Andrew Lincoln on shooting his final Walking Dead scenes: ‘I broke the set’

Lincoln originally made the decision to quit the epic zombie saga, so that he could be closer to his family back in the UK. The zombie favourite films in the US state of Georgia.

Read more: Andrew Lincoln quit ‘The Walking Dead’ to spend more time with his family

Today, AMC, the network that makes the show, posted some behind-the-scenes shots on Instagram in the run-up to Monday night’s show. One of them was a portrait of Lincoln’s Rick Grimes.

Now ahead of this season’s finale, fan theories are circling that Grimes might return one last time. Reedus wouldn’t give anything away, but he did add:

“I will say visually the last episode is nothing like you’ve ever seen on The Walking Dead before. It’s completely different. It was so fun to shoot. It’s a different look, 1000%, in the end. It’s a huge, visually explosive episode that’s going to be visually stunning.”

The Walking Dead series 9 finale airs on Monday night, 9pm, on Fox.