Former ‘The Walking Dead’ Star Comments on Andrew Lincoln’s Exit

The Walking Dead alum Lew Temple, who played prison inmate Axel, says soon-to-leave leading man Andrew Lincoln “will always be the Tom Brady” of the series.

Asked about Lincoln’s upcoming exit on Twitter, Temple wrote:

“I don’t think you ever leave The Walking Dead… you just bring it to another amazing solar system… Andrew can do that, and we are all better off for that… He will always be the Tom Brady of TWD.”

Tom Brady, of course, being the superstar quarterback of the New England Patriots, who is a five-time Super Bowl champion, four-time Super Bowl MVP, and three-time NFL MVP player.

It was learned last week the Rick Grimes actor will be exiting the series after eight years in season 9, where Rick will be “phased out” in just a half-dozen more episodes.

Co-star Norman Reedus — who plays Rick Grimes’ brother-in-arms and right hand man Daryl Dixon — was the first to publicly react to the news, sharing to Instagram a photo of the two embraced in a hug. Reedus is reportedly negotiating a $20 million payday to take over the lead role from Lincoln.

Michael Satrazemis, a director on the series since season 1 episode ‘Guts,’ was the next to react to the news, leading to subsequent comments from Cyndie actress Sydney Park and Eduardo actor Peter Zimmerman. Satrazemis’ post was later deleted.

As exclusively revealed by ComicBook.com, AMC is expected to officially announce Lincoln’s departure ahead of his final episodes.

Temple joined the series in 2012 in the season 3 premiere, ‘Seed,’ which revealed the survivors’ newfound prison — reclaimed from the dead by Rick Grimes and his tight-knit crew — was already home to a pack of inmates imprisoned there before the world fell.

Temple’s Axel lasted just 10 episodes, being abruptly shot and killed by the Governor (David Morrissey) in 3×10, ‘Home.’

Before his death, Axel was cozying up to Carol (Melissa McBride), who was ultimately forced to use his corpse as a shield under gunfire from the Governor and his fighters.

The Walking Dead returns this fall on AMC.