Characters come and go every season on The Walking Dead, but sometimes, an actor's
departure can be somewhat controversial. From career moves to behind-the-scenes drama,
here are the real reasons why these Walking Dead actors left the show.
After joining The Walking Dead in season two,
Maggie Greene evolved into one of the show's strongest and most important characters,
leading the Hilltop and the Militia, all while fighting off countless walkers. But Maggie
disappeared from The Walking Dead in season nine, off in search of new bands of survivors.
Actress Lauren Cohan tried to nail down a new contract with AMC and asked for the pay
raise that was coming to her as a veteran cast member. Cohan said on Andy Cohen Live:
"It wasn't actually that I was asking for it,
it's that my contract had finished. So that's a pretty standard renegotiation."
Cohan and producers worked out a deal where Cohan returned for six episodes of season nine of The
Walking Dead, but would then leave immediately to star on ABC's spy dramedy Whiskey Cavalier.
But it's a good thing Cohan had her Walking Dead safety net. ABC canceled the show after
one season, and luckily for fans, Cohan will return to the undead series in 2020.
The Walking Dead is known for being brutal, and they proved it by killing off a main character
who's also just a kid. The eighth season brought the death of Carl Grimes, Sheriff Grimes' son who
grew up in a zombified, war-torn world, and who no longer represented a bright future after his slow
and emotional death from a walker bite. But actor Chandler Riggs announced his acceptance to Auburn
University, leading to speculation that he'd leave The Walking Dead to focus on his studies.
But not long after this news broke, Riggs told The Hollywood Reporter that he'd actually wanted to
take a gap year before college to focus on acting, and that leaving Walking Dead wasn't his decision.
Riggs stated about his exit from the show:
"It was devastating for me and my family because the show has been such a huge part
of my life for so long. For a few days, we didn't know what to do."
Riggs had also recently purchased a house in Georgia, where The Walking Dead films,
leading him to admit:
"That was a big deal that I wouldn't be on anymore."
"It was really weird because I never thought that it would happen, because
my character is still alive in the comics and he plays a pretty big role throughout the comic, so."
The Walking Dead fans would argue that the show went from good to great when Danai Gurira joined
the cast in season two as Michonne, a mysterious warrior, who went from wandering the wastes with
two chained walkers, to being a leader of the show's main survivor group while forming
a family with Rick Grimes and his children. But Gurira announced that she was leaving The
Walking Dead after the show's forthcoming tenth season. She said at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019:
"I can confirm that this is the last season I will be on this amazing TV show as Michonne.
It is not connected to my heart. My heart stays right here. It was about my calling and other
things I feel called to. The opportunities I've had, exploring it as a creator of work."
And she's not just talking about her work in film, which includes her role as
Okoye in Black Panther, one of the biggest movies of all time.
Gurira seems to want to return to being one of America's most renowned playwrights. Among her
works are In the Continuum and Eclipsed, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play.
While The Walking Dead is an ensemble drama, Sheriff Rick Grimes was always the main character,
from the moment he woke up in a hospital to a zombie-ravaged world. Later seasons found
him reuniting with his wife and son, leading a group of survivors, welcoming a baby daughter,
losing his wife and son, and trying to rebuild some semblance of a life. That's an extremely
full plot arc for Rick Grimes, and it was also a lot of emotional lifting for actor Andrew Lincoln.
In 2018, Lincoln announced that we would leave the series during the ninth season
of The Walking Dead. Lincoln told a crowd at San Diego Comic-Con:
"I love this show. It means everything to me. I love the people that make this show.
I suppose what I wanted to say is that my relationship with Mr. Grimes is far from over."
Lincoln said he would reprise his role of Rick in three Walking Dead movies and
wanted to keep the regular role in his life, but ultimately struggled
to balance family with work. Lincoln told The Hollywood Reporter about his probable return:
"What I would hope to see is Rick Grimes again. But he doesn't look well."
The Walking Dead shoots for months on end in Georgia,
far away from where he calls home, in England. Lincoln told EW Radio:
"I have two young children, and I live in a different country, and they become less
portable as they get older. It was that simple. It was time for me to come home."
Lennie James' relationship with The Walking Dead and its universe of AMC shows is long
and complicated. His character, Morgan Jones, first serves as a walking example
of the increasing physical and emotional toll of life in the post-apocalyptic zombie world.
He helps Rick acclimate to the new rules of life, after he emerges from his coma.
The death of his wife and son left Morgan a broken man who goes on a killing spree, until
an encounter with the peaceful survivor Eastman instills in him a new esteem for human life.
While Morgan appeared occasionally for maximum impact, he became a regular cast member in season
six, during the Alexandria compound period. He left the show for good after season eight,
moving over to Walking Dead sister series Fear the Walking Dead, joining a different group
of survivors trying to outlast zombie hordes earlier in the timeline of The Walking Dead.
Halfway through season seven in 2017, Polyanna McIntosh joined The Walking Dead world as Anne,
or rather Jadis, a former antagonist and the leader of a survivor group called the Scavengers.
Her last appearance came in the season nine episode "What Comes After," which is also
the last appearance of main character Rick Grimes.
But in a show where regular characters perish as a matter of course,
Rick doesn't die in this episode. Gravely injured, he's lifted to safety in a helicopter after Anne
discovers his barely living body. Where is she taking Rick? What has she got planned?
It's almost certain all will be revealed in a series of three The Walking Dead spinoff movies,
in which McIntosh could play a critical part, reprising her role as Anne.
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