Quite the journey. Over the duration of The Walking Dead, many stars have come and gone. While some have had shocking deaths — we’re still not over Glenn or Carl’s demises — other actors chose to leave the series.
Andrew Lincoln, who portrayed hero police officer Rick Grimes on the AMC drama from its 2010 debut, announced that he would be leaving the show in 2018 during season 9, leaving fans shocked and curious about how he would exit the zombie series.
“I love this show. It means everything to me. I love the people that make this show. I promise not to cry, I’ve done enough crying on screen,” he said at Comic-Con ahead of his final season. “I suppose what I wanted to say is that my relationship with Mr. Grimes is far from over. And a sort of large part of me will always be a machete-wielding, Stetson-wearing, zombie-slaying sheriff deputy from London, England.”
A source shared with Us Weekly at the time that the actor really wanted to do more movies, as well as spend more time at home. After his final episode, however, it was revealed that he definitely isn’t done with the Walking Dead universe. Instead, there would be multiple Walking Dead films around Rick Grimes, in which he would return.
Of course, not everyone is so lucky. Chandler Riggs exited the show in 2018 after appearing in the first eight seasons as Rick’s son Carl Grimes. It was not his choice to leave the show and didn’t plan to, but the character was killed off after being bitten by a zombie while saving another member of the town.
So, what other stars have exited the Walking Dead through the years? Scroll through the gallery to catch up with them all now.