With confirmation that The Walking Dead Season 9 will be Andrew Lincoln’s last, the trailer for the upcoming run certainly looks like it’s putting Rick in a tough situation as he struggles to keep the different factions surviving and thriving.
Lauren Cohan is also rumoured to be leaving the show which may be why there’s an emphasis on Maggie in the trailer. THR reports that Lincoln addressed his departure at Comic-Con, telling Hall H that “There seems to be an elephant in the room…This will be my last season playing the part of Rick Grimes.”
Robert Kirkman had previously all but confirmed the fact that the star would be leaving, telling THR a few days ago that “He cares about the fans. He cares about the show deeply. He wants to do something special on the way out. We have something amazing planned. I wouldn’t want to spoil anything, but anybody who has been a fan of his journey, who loves Rick Grimes, who loves the world of The Walking Dead, you’re going to want to see what we do.”
Meanwhile, there have been a couple of new casting announcements (some of whom you can see in the trailer).
The brilliant Samantha Morton has been cast as Whisperers leader and villainous favourite Alpha, according to THR, which is obviously an incredibly exciting prospect. She joins fellow newcomers Brett Butler (as Tammy), John Finn (as Earl), Rhys Coiro (Jed), Dan Fogler (Luke), Zach McGowen (Justin) and Angel Theory (Kelly), while The Wrap reports that Spring‘s Nadia Hilker will play Magna, a comics character and “a tough as nails survivor who has been living on the road.” Which of these will stick around and which will be zombie food? We’ll have to wait and see…
The Walking Dead returns this October. Keep up with the latest genre news with the issue of SciFiNow.
