'The Walking Dead' Showrunner Explains Rick's Exit, Show's Future

The Walking Dead will do its duty of honoring Andrew Lincoln and his Rick Grimes characters in their final season according to new showrunner Angela Kang.

Kang, who steps into the role formerly occupied by Scott Gimple, inherited an AMC show where the leading man will be making an escape back home to spend time with his family after nine years in the part. While the show is determined to continue in his absence, Kang is burdened with giving Lincoln a proper sendoff to both honor him and please audiences who have been around since 2010.

"The goal this season was just to pay homage to that character — the character that brought us into the show," Kang told EW. "Rick Grimes has been somebody that people have loved watching, just loved this character's journey. He is this man who was looking for his family, and found them, and lost many of them, but has fought on and on. And I think that's meant a lot to people. And we just really wanted to be respectful of that character and send him off in a great way. So that was the charge for us this season."

Still, there will be difficulties which come as the show's main protagonist is no longer around. Kang says the creative team will continue to "tell the story of the people going forward, because it's never been a story just about this one man. It started with him, but it's always been a story about this group of people that have each other's backs, that help each other survive, that help each other be more human. And that's the story that we'll continue to tell."

As most actors on the show will tell you (especially Spencer actor Austin Nichols), Lincoln made everyone around him better.

"He has so empowered the other actors to carry on the positive legacy that he's had on the set all these years," Kang said. "And they really have absolutely stepped up. They have been stepping up all season. So we have all these wonderful actors that are on our show that are gonna be just as positive, and wonderful, and warm as he was. And that's really the lasting legacy that Andy leaves us as a human being on our set."

The Walking Dead will return for its ninth season in the fall. Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC, returning for the second half of its fourth season on August 12. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.