Shocking Twist: The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes Was Meant to Die Much Sooner!

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Summary

  • Rick Grimes was originally meant to die much earlier in The Walking Dead series according to Robert Kirkman.
  • In the comics, Carl ends up killing a zombified Rick, signifying a passing of the torch.
  • Shane was planned to kill Rick in the original The Walking Dead series plans, with Carl being the main hero as a result.

There are few characters that were part of the many, many seasons of The Walking Dead who were as recognizable and beloved than Rick Grimes. That of course, was by design. While people came and went throughout the series, there were some characters who had some very interesting pieces of plot armor they wore around themselves at all times. Rick Grimes had that same kind of plot armor in the original The Walking Dead comic books. However, there was a time when their creator, Robert Kirkman didn’t give him the same kind of plot armor.

There was a time that Rick Grimes turned into a minor character. He was someone who wasn’t going to around all that long at all. And one has to wonder just how The Walking Dead show would have gone especially, if he had beek killed off as early as Kirkman intended at one time. While Rick did eventually step out of the main series long before it had run its 11-season course, he was a valuable and important part of the franchise right up until his fake death on a bridge. One has to wonder who might have replaced him had he been killed off earlier? How would so many of those important plot points have played out?

The Walking Dead Series Already Changed Things From The Comics

Both Rick And Carl Exited Earlier On TV

In the comic book series, Rick was such an important part of the story that he lasted all the way to the bitter end. Or at least, almost all the way to the last issue. In The Walking Dead #192, Rick is gunned down by Sebastian Milton, the spoiled son of former Commonwealth’s leader Pamela Milton. Carl (whose story was also greatly changed in the show) returns home to discover a zombified Rick.

Carl ends up finishing off his father in what was essentially as passing of the torch. And then, in The Walking Dead #193 the story jumps forward in time 25 years, picking up with an adult Carl and a transformed society, where a new generation are growing up without the constant threat of the shambling undead. It was a happy ending for everyone but Rick Grimes, but even he would almost certainly have been happy that his son got to see the world return to some kind of normalcy.

In the series, neither man had anywhere near as happy an end. Carl was killed in the 9th episode of Season 8, “Honor” when he gets bitten by a zombie trying to help a new survivor he believes will be able to help the community and who simply deserves to be saved. Rick doesn’t last a whole lot longer. His last appearance in the show came in the season finale of Season 9 when a bridge blows up and his group believes he was killed. Instead he was carried off secretly in part of a deal arranged between Jadis and the CRM. The Walking Dead series went on for another two seasons without Rick. Quite a bit longer than the one issue the comic book run had.

Robert Kirkman Didn’t Think Rick’s Survival Was Realistic

Winning Several Wars Against Other Groups Seemed Odd

In a letter that was reprinted many years later in The Walking Dead comics, the creator of the franchise made it clear he wanted to kill off Rick much earlier, because he simply didn’t believe Grimes could possibly live through everything he lived through.

There’s something to be said for that idea. After all, in the AMC series, Rick has indeed lived through everything. He even lived through an exploding bridge. He lived through an authoritarian regime that doesn’t value human life beyond what it can provide its leaders. And in The Ones Who Live, he’s gone on.

Shane Took Rick Out In Original The Walking Dead Plans

Lori Was the Inflection Point

In Issue #6 of the comics, Shane has a jealous breakdown because he had been sleeping with Rick’s wife when both thought Rick was dead (but was instead just in a coma). Carl shoots Shane, saving his father’s life. Something happened very similarly in The Walking Dead series. However, Kirkman revealed that originally he wanted it to go a different way.

Originally, Kirkman thought it would be a far better story idea for Shane to be successful in killing Rick, with Carl there to see the whole thing. In this turn of events, Carl would have been the main hero of the comic book run.

The show seemed to be setting up some kind of handing off of the baton as Carl became more mature and – it has to be said – a better person than his father in several ways, even after having lost an eye. However, the showrunners decided to go a different way, allowing Carl to show how good he was, but killing him off all the same.

Things turned out differently in The Walking Dead series for a whole host of reasons, including the fact that when a show has a popular actor like Andrew Lincoln locked down for multiple seasons, it’s not going to just throw him away. But it would have been a very interesting twist if the network had done just that.

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2025-03-17 15:36