New ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Trailer Recaps Rick Grimes’ Journey

A just-released trailer for The Walking Dead Season Nine teases Rick Grimes‘ final episodes and looks back at Andrew Lincoln‘s eight-year tenure as the character.

The trailer recalls Rick’s first steps into a world gone bye when waking up in the zombie apocalypse after recovering from a coma-inducing gunshot wound before reuniting with his missing family, wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs).

Emerging as the de facto leader of a small pack of survivors, Rick lead his family to the relative safety of the Greene farm and claimed a prison from the dead as their new safe haven, ultimately losing that home to the machinations of one-eyed villain the Governor (David Morrissey).

Rick then shepherded his tight-knit band of survivors from Georgia to Alexandria, Virginia, where they made a life for themselves and ended the reign of bully dictator Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Now, 18 months after winning the war and being freed of their servitude of Negan and the Saviors, Rick has turned his focus to ushering in a new world with lover and Alexandrian co-leader Michonne (Danai Gurira). Rick strives to fully unite Alexandria with its neighboring communities — Hilltop, Kingdom, Oceanside, and the Sanctuary — to make a better future for all, setting his sights on a major project that will literally and symbolically unite the growing network of survivors.

Rick making that new beginning comes just as Lincoln ends his time with the series, stepping away in favor of spending more time with his young family.

“I love this show. It means everything to me,” Lincoln said at San Diego Comic-Con in July, publicly confirming his exit for the first time. “I love the people who make this show… I’m particularly fond of the people who watch the show. You people. This has been the most extraordinary, amazing, and beautiful experience of my career.”

Lincoln teased his relationship with the part is “far from over” when talking to ComicBook.com, telling us, “I’m not gonna say anything more than that, but I will say, ‘Watch this season.’”

Rick Grimes’ final episodes begin Sunday, October 7 when The Walking Dead returns for Season Nine on AMC.