How ‘The Walking Dead’ Can Keep Rick Alive and Make Daryl Its New Star

Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln is exiting The Walking Dead, making way for series veteran Norman Reedus to fill in that vacated lead role — but Daryl Dixon‘s promotion doesn’t have to come at the cost of Rick Grimes‘ life.

ComicBook.com previously theorized ways The Walking Dead could move on from Rick Grimes without killing him — Rick could go missing, his abduction tied to the return of the recurring helicopter already confirmed to play a role in season 9 — but writing off Rick Grimes without giving his story a definitive end would see the narrative inevitably dominated by what would then become “The Mystery of the Missing Rick Grimes.”

If Rick is to be written off but be kept alive, and his fate not left open-ended or a mystery, one option becomes clear: take the show on the road.

The Walking Dead insider Johnny O’Dell confirmed the series’ upcoming ninth season will see the characters “on the road a lot more than recent seasons,” suggesting a return to when the survivors migrated from place to place in seasons 4B and 5A before settling down in the walled-off community of Alexandria.

Season 9 will also see the characters turn their sights towards rebuilding civilization. Steps were taken towards realizing society in the closing moments of the season 8 finale, which depicted an established and connected network between the cooperating Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, and Sanctuary communities.

“I think what’s exciting about next season is, just by virtue of the narrative, the story evolves a great deal,” executive producer Scott Gimple told TV Line. “From the things said in the [season 8] finale, there’s a bigger ambition now, a bigger thing that they’re chasing. It isn’t just regular, everyday survival, which they’ve become quite adept at. It’s what to do with that. Now they’re going after civilization.”

Lincoln’s “out” then becomes his Alexandrian leader electing to stay behind while a smaller pack of trusted individuals venture out beyond Alexandria’s walls in search of outside communities and other survivors.

Such steps would mirror how Rick Grimes and company initially integrated into Alexandria: Aaron (Ross Marquand), a recruiter for the suburban community, assessed the group from afar before approaching and inviting them in. Daryl filled a similar role when the group first assimilated into Alexandria — and it’s one he could fill again.

Daryl, long uncomfortable by the confines of society, is the perfect candidate to mount his motorcycle and oversee a small pack of “welcome party” survivors — Aaron, Carol (Melissa McBride), Rosita (Christian Serratos), Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Alden (Callan McAuliffe), and others — tasked with traveling to nearby regions, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, in an attempt to establish a wider network and re-establish a society.

As leader, Rick remaining behind in Alexandria is a plausible explanation for his absence — and the same applies to Hilltop leader Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who is also poised to exit the series this upcoming half-season.

Shifting the narrative away from the network of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom not only reinvigorates the show by returning the thrust of the action back to the road — away from the relative safety of the communities — but also furthers the narrative by having the group actively seek out other survivors.

Most importantly, taking the show on the road keeps The Walking Dead from having to kill two more of its prominent characters — one thing the series is running dangerously low on.

The Walking Dead debuts its season 9 trailer this Friday at San Diego Comic-Con ahead of its October return to AMC.