Yahoo News Andrew Lincoln says Walking Dead is "great" without him
The Walking Dead's US ratings are tumbling week by week as we get closer to leading man Andrew Lincoln's departure, so he's urging viewers to come back to the show.
It was revealed this week that Lincoln will feature in just two more episodes before walking away as Rick Grimes, leaving the show to a few remaining original cast members and many newer players.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lincoln insisted that The Walking Dead was in need of reinvention in its ninth season and his departure was a necessary component of that.
"There's something beautiful in the original DNA of the show in that it is all about change," Lincoln promised. "The show will live on and it will continue to be great."
He went on: "It's exciting because there is a sense that there is a new vision for the show. I think [new showrunner] Angela [Kang] and everybody involved in it are performing out of their socks. To the best of their ability, they're putting it all out there.
"It's a really exciting landscape that all of the characters are inhabiting. It's the show I always thought we'd get to when I did the pilot - a pared down, much more dangerous and compromising and spare landscape."
Lincoln admitted that it does feel bittersweet to be missing this evolution of The Walking Dead, but would have felt worse staying around for too long.
"What I don't want to do is stay too long when I think the show will actually benefit from other people taking the reins and forging a new path," he explained. "And that's what I think is happening now.
"It's beautiful watching and seeing my dear friends who are incredible actors doing extraordinary things and turning it into a new show. And that is enormously gratifying."
And who knows, fans may not have seen the last of Rick Grimes? Earlier this week, Angela Kang hinted that The Walking Dead's "time jumps" could allow for Lincoln to return some day.
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on FOX and NOW TV in the UK.
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