‘The Walking Dead’ S8 Finale: Why I Have A Huge Hunch That Rick’s Going To Die

The writing is on the wall for Rick Grimes. Here are all of the reasons why I think the Ricktatorship is coming to fatal end on the season eight finale of ‘The Walking Dead’.

I know what you’re thinking: they can’t kill Rick! He’s Rick! What’s The Walking Dead without Rick?! Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that question, but something deep down inside of me is telling me that the end of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is nigh. In fact, the more I think about it the more I feel sick to my stomach because it’s as if the eighth season of The Walking Dead has been telling us all along that this is the end for him. Where do I even begin to explain this? How about I start with showrunner Scott Gimple‘s most recent EW interview, in which he reveals that the season eight finale is more like a “conclusion” to the first eight seasons of the show. Um, what?

“Also, this episode isn’t just like these 15 episodes coming to a conclusion, but Angela [Kang] and myself and the writers had always talked about this in many ways being sort of the conclusion of the first eight seasons,” Scott explained. “This show will be very much a new show next year and with a bigger, new narrative.” Think about it like this: the narrative for the past eight seasons has been survival, which was 99.9% of the time led by Rick. If the narrative is changing, wouldn’t it make sense to think that someone else might be taking over? Unfortunately it’s safe to assume that it won’t be Maggie (Lauren Cohan) considering there has been no update on her contract negotiations for season nine.

And then there’s the below image, released by AMC ahead of the April 15 finale episode. The picture shows Rick and Carl pre-apocalypse, holding hands as they take one of the walks that Carl mentioned in his goodbye letter to his father on the April 9 episode. Rick is wearing his sheriff’s uniform, and we can only see the back of him and Carl as they walk away from the camera. While many believe this could be a flashback, I, personally, have a feeling this will be the last thing we see after Rick dies. What would be more perfect than us watching Rick and his son reunited in the after life at one of their most cherished shared memories?

Next, I have this to ask: why else would Morgan (Lennie James) leave? In the promo for Fear The Walking Dead we hear him say that he “lost” people, but who else other than Rick is Morgan truly connected to? Also, this could explain why Morgan has been seeing dead people. They could have been warning him that Rick’s death was coming, especially if Morgan is somehow involved in Rick’s death. Does Rick sacrifice himself to save Morgan? Does Morgan miss saving Rick by mere seconds? I can’t quite put this last piece of my theory together, but I can’t imagine that Morgan cares enough about to disappear after they die other than Rick.

Lastly, how about all of those interviews about Andrew leaving the show? In fact, when THR asked Andrew if he saw an “end in sight” for himself on the show, his response was: “Yeah, I think so. I’ve said to you before and I really feel that the fans — and also for my own satisfaction — that there deserves to be an end point. There needs to be an end game and that is something that is definitely being talked about. I can’t get into all of that. But all of that will be answered. As I’ve said to you before — and I will continue to say — my relationship with Rick Grimes is far from over.” Then they asked if he saw Rick’s journey coming to an end “sooner rather than later”, and his response was: “That’s a question I’m not at liberty to answer. It’s such an extraordinary story and in my heart, it deserves some resolution.” Sigh.

I also want to be really annoying and point out that after the season six cliffhanger finale of The Walking Dead, I predicted that it was Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) who was killed. Here’s what I wrote on April 6, 2016.

We’ll find out what’s really going to happen when The Walking Dead‘s season eight finale airs on Sunday, April 15 at 9pm ET on AMC. The episode will be immediately followed by the season four premiere of Fear The Walking Dead at 10pm ET, in which we’ll see Morgan