It's hard to imagine AMC's The Walking Dead without its steadfast protagonist Rick Grimes, but fans may soon have to get used to the idea, as a new report claims Andrew Lincoln will be leaving the show in season 9. Rick is one of the last few remaining characters from The Walking Dead season 1, and the most recent season of the show dramatically killed off his son, Carl Grimes, who had long been considered "safe." The report also claims that Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon, will see a pay rise as he take over as the show's lead, so it's pretty safe to assume that AMC has plans for season 10 and beyond... but should the writers be thinking about wrapping things up instead?

Though Rick's departure is not yet official, the original report from Collider was quickly corroborated by Entertainment Weekly, so The Walking Dead fans should start bracing themselves for the big goodbye. The news is also likely to spark discussion about whether The Walking Dead can survive without Rick Grimes or, perhaps more saliently, whether it should continue without him. While the show is certainly an ensemble, Rick has always been there at the heart of the journey, and it's hard to imagine The Walking Dead without him.

Should Season 9 End The Walking Dead's Story?

The Walking Dead is still one of the most-watched shows on TV, but there's denying the fact that ratings have been on a long, steady decline, and fan dissatisfaction has been on the rise. From the infamous Glenn dumpster-death fake-out to the gimmicky "Who did Negan kill?" season 6 finale cliffhanger, we've been getting the impression for a while that The Walking Dead is running out of places to go.

Fans have pointed at showrunner Scott M. Gimple as the culprit behind The Walking Dead's perceived decline, but the show's loss of momentum was arguably inevitable. You can only draw out the threat of the zombie apocalypse for so long before the living learn to efficiently dispatch the undead and build up fortifications to keep them out - as Rick and co. did with Alexandria, and then with Hilltop. For the past couple of seasons the walkers have barely registered as a threat in the background of the "All Out War" between Rick and Negan, and now that war has come to an end.

Season 8 of The Walking Dead saw the show hit its lowest ratings since season 1, and while each new episode still draws million of viewers, it's hard not to see this as a series approaching the end of its life cycle. In many ways, having a definitive end in sight would be an incredible storytelling opportunity; The Walking Dead has always had to maintain the status quo of a core group of characters surviving, but remaining under threat from either the walkers or their fellow humans. This has meant a cycle of the group finding a new safe haven, managing to turn it into a home, and then seeing their safe haven some destroyed or overrun by walkers and being forced to move on - generally via long walks through the woods.

If the show was allowed to end, there's no limit to what season 9 showrunner Angela Kang could do. We could find out that other countries managed to contain the zombie threat with their civilizations still intact. The show could end with a big jump forward in time that finds the United States' infrastructure rebuilt and the zombie virus cured. Or, to go down a less optimistic road, the story could end in disaster - with almost everyone killed off, and just one or two characters left to walk into the sunset. Or maybe we'll find out that the entire series was just a coma dream that Rick was having.

But while fans may prefer The Walking Dead to go out with a bang instead of a whimper, AMC is unlikely to cancel its most-watched show, and Rick's departure would be a pretty massive shake-up of the status quo in its own right. So, if Andrew Lincoln does leave, what could the future of The Walking Dead look like?

Page 2: Where Can The Walking Dead Go Without Rick?

Norman Reedus as Daryl and Danai Gurira as Michonne in The Walking Dead

Where Can The Walking Dead Go Without Rick?

First of all, if the reports are accurate then Rick's departure from The Walking Dead will see Daryl take over as the series' main character. When last we saw the gruff biker, he was plotting with Maggie and Jesus to do something about Hilltop's new prisoner, Negan, whom Rick had decided to keep alive. It's possible that all of this is leading up to a coup within the group, where Rick's leadership will be forcibly overthrown. If that were the case, however, Maggie would most likely take control, since she's been running Hilltop for a while now anyway (actress Lauren Cohan is booked to appear in fewer episodes in season 9). Daryl has always seemed more comfortable as a follower, rather than a leader, and it's hard to picture him giving orders and making inspirational speeches.

On the one hand, Daryl moving to a position of leadership would be an interesting piece of character development for a character who has, frankly, been somewhat stagnant since the earlier seasons of The Walking Dead. On the other hand, Daryl becoming the show's main character wouldn't necessarily mean him taking over as the group's leader; it could simply mean a shift of focus to make Daryl the center of the show. If that does happen, The Walking Dead would need to find a way to elaborate upon Daryl as a character - perhaps through flashbacks to his life before the zombie outbreak. It would certainly be cool to see Michael Rooker back as Daryl's older brother, Merle.

As for the broader arc of the show - The Walking Dead's season 8 finale had a mostly hopeful tone, with recent recruit Alden offering to use the "Key to a Future" book to build useful structures like windmills and water mills. Now that Hilltop is no longer at war with the Saviors, the community may finally have room to breathe and expand, putting down roots as a fully realized core of civilization. And while it's hard to imagine The Walking Dead without the walking dead, it would be interesting if the group finally made a concerted effort to start wiping out the walkers in the area, instead of just dealing with the ones they happen to stumble across.

Judith Grimes The Walking Dead

Another possibility that could liven up The Walking Dead would be to have Daryl split away from the rest of the group and hit the road again. Even including the events of Fear the Walking Dead, we've so far only seen a small fraction of the country in the post-apocalypse, and with most forms of long-range communication down, we have no idea what's out there in the world. Though he's settled into the group now, Daryl has always seemed most comfortable when he's a loner - off on his own smaller adventures. Moreover, since the character doesn't appear in the comics, there's no roadmap for him to follow, and the show's writers could really do whatever they want with him.

As a final suggestion, The Walking Dead could move things forward with a time skip of five to ten years. Judith Grimes could become a character in her own right, instead of just an infant to be passed around between babysitters, and we could get an interesting look at one of the first children to be born post-apocalypse, with no recollection of the world that the adults in the show grew up in.

Realistically, The Walking Dead is very unlikely to end with season 9, since AMC probably would not go to the trouble of renegotiating Reedus' contract for the sake of less than a full season. The fact that the show is no longer at the peak of its success doesn't mean it will be cancelled any time soon. Just look at The Simpsons, whose ratings peaked in the early seasons and have been on a long downwards slide since then, but which is still cheerily heading into season 30 this fall. On the other hand, Chandler Riggs last year described season 8 as "one of the last few seasons of the show," so perhaps The Walking Dead really is in the home stretch.

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Would you like to see The Walking Dead continue without Rick? Where should the series go next? Let us know what you think in the comments.

More: Rick's Death Could Save The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead season 9 premieres fall 2019.