Walking Dead boss reveals fears fans would stop watching after Rick exit
As the long-running series draws to a close, showrunner Angela Kang looks back on her greatest challenge.
The march of The Walking Dead is almost over – the series, which has been on the air since 2010, is set to conclude with its next episode, Rest in Peace.
Angela Kang has served as showrunner on the last three seasons of the zombie drama – reflecting on her time in charge, Kang told RadioTimes.com that perhaps her greatest challenge remains one she faced upon first accepting the job.
"I will say that one of the most stressful things I had to deal with in my tenure was writing out Rick Grimes, [and] figuring out how the show goes forward," she revealed.
Having led the cast since the show's pilot episode, Andrew Lincoln opted to depart The Walking Dead midway through its ninth season in order to return to the UK. Of course, the series ran for another four years following his exit, but at the time Rick's leaving felt like a seismic shift – both for fans and the show's creative team.
His final appearance – to date, at least – was in the episode What Comes After, which saw Rick apparently sacrifice himself to stop a zombie herd, though in fact – unbeknownst to his friends and family – he was taken to parts unknown by Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh).
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"I think in general the fans really got the emotion out of that episode that we hoped – and they kept watching the next episode, because I think our studio and our network were afraid that the entire audience would just stop watching right there," Kang admitted.
"So our job was to make sure that the entire audience doesn't stop watching. That was an interesting challenge."
Kang was tight-lipped as to whether Rick might appear in The Walking Dead's series finale, but we know for certain that fans will be reunited with the character in an upcoming spin-off, also featuring Danai Gurira as Michonne.
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