In a stunning announcement, Melissa McBride has exited The Walking Dead spin-off show that would have focused on her loving mother-turned-vicious killer character Carol Peletier and her crossbow-wielding biker friend Daryl Dixon, played by The Boondocks Saints star Norman Reedus. The long-running zombie horror series first aired in 2010 and focused on a revolving cast of characters as they survived the years following a world-ending viral outbreak. The show has since spawned two spin-off shows, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The World Beyond. A trilogy of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) films is planned as well as three additional spin-off series: Isle of the Dead centering on Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan's (Jeffery Dean Morgan) journey to Manhattan, an anthology character backstory series, and a final series centered on Carol and Daryl.
McBride is one of the few remaining cast members associated with the 11-season long series that have survived the show's notorious chopping block since The Walking Dead's debut. Although she was not a series regular with a prominent role until a few seasons into the show's run, Carol quickly became a series favorite due to the emotional storyline of being an abused wife, losing her child, and reinventing herself as one of the most ruthless and cunning leaders of the core group of survivors.
Per TVLine, it has been revealed that McBride has exited The Walking Dead spinoff show. According to the report, the reason for her exit stemmed from a creative decision from the team behind the forthcoming series. The show was originally intended to focus on friends Carol and Daryl, the only two characters to have appeared in every season since the first, managing to outlast even former lead sheriff's deputy Grimes. The new version of the spinoff will reportedly focus only on Daryl following the conclusion of The Walking Dead, which is set to air its series finale this year.
Without further information, speculation will run wild following the news of McBride's exit. With the reason given being a creative decision, no doubt coming from story changes during the writing process of the show, this news could lead to many possible conclusions regarding Carol's status following the series finale of The Walking Dead. If McBride has been written off the show, this could mean that her character may die either during or following the conclusion of the series. Although her death is possible, it is unlikely due to the popularity of her character and the timing of the news. If AMC wanted her death to remain a secret, they would not have revealed McBride's exit from a sequel show this far in advance. A more likely scenario is that the finale will find McBride in a somewhat reasonable and comfortable setting.
McBride has been part of the cast from the very beginning, working on long shoots, covered in sticky fake blood, and enduring more and more action-packed scenes as the series continued. It is also likely that McBride has deemed that one more series of exhaustive work is too much and has backed away from the production. Although the report says otherwise, without an announcement from AMC, the reasoning behind her departure cannot be officially confirmed. For 12 years, McBride has entertained audiences around the world with her emotional portrayal of one of the most compelling characters on The Walking Dead. Regardless of the reasoning behind her exit, McBride will be missed.
Source: TVLine