Former ‘The Walking Dead’ Stars Comment on “Big Blow” of Andrew Lincoln Exit

Austin Amelio, who played disfigured and reformed Savior mole Dwight on The Walking Dead, said the looming exit of Andrew Lincoln will come as a "big blow" for the series.

Appearing over the weekend at Salt Lake's FanX convention alongside former co-star Steven Ogg, who played mad-dog Savior general Simon, the pair praised the departing Rick Grimes star, who confirmed publicly for the first time during San Diego Comic-Con in July the upcoming Season Nine will be his last.

"I didn't realize he was leaving. Thanks, buddy," Ogg joked during the Q&A portion of their shared panel appearance. "Any other spoilers you want to fill my life with? Santa Claus is fake, what else?"

In response to an audience member shouting Maggie Rhee actress Lauren Cohan will also be leaving the show, Ogg said sarcastically, "Great. What a great day this has been."

"I think it's gonna suck," Amelio said more seriously.

"That dude is someone we look up to on the show and he's a big — not just a pillar, you know, Chandler [Riggs, who played Carl Grimes] leaving was a big blow — but this guy is like the full, both wheels leaving the truck. He sets the energy, he sets the standard, and he sets how hard you have to work."

"Yeah, it's gonna suck, big time," Amelio said of the long-running series feeling that loss. "But what he left behind will stay, people will have that ingrained in their memory forever. I think everyone else [on the show] knows how to bring it and it's a big blow."

"It changes things a lot," Ogg added.

Lincoln, when previously opening up about his oft-talked about exit, said he made the decision to step away in favor of spending more time with his young family, who live overseas.

"But I think for Andy being eight years away from his family, and his kids are getting older, and they're all back in England. I'm happy for him," Ogg said. "He's ready to try something new and do something new. I think for the show, I mean, it's gonna change things, which I think is actually good to keep things [fresh]."

Ogg, who has since gone on to join Westworld, said he carried over lessons exemplified by Lincoln in post-Walking Dead works.

"Andrew, from day one that you meet him, from his work — I mean, Austin and I, our first sort of week really shooting together was the Negan head smashing," Ogg said of the Season Six finale that introduced bat-swinging big bad Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). "We both commented, out of movies, theater, everything we've seen, Andrew, those five nights we shot?"

"Top, top, class actor," Amelio said.

Lincoln is that "in heaps," Ogg explained, saying, "that presence, the whole thing, you pass that along."

"So you take that — I'm on a new show — and that's what you want to bring to that. And it's funny because when people mention it, all I think about is, 'Yeah, well, that's what Andrew Lincoln gave to me, was that idea,'" Ogg said. "So he'll be missed on the show. But he gave so much to the fans and to us, his friends and family on the show."

It remains to be seen if Amelio's Dwight, exiled by Daryl (Norman Reedus) in the closing moments of the Season Eight finale as a show of mercy, will resurface on the revamped show in Season Nine, which has since undergone an 18-month time jump.

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, October 7 on AMC.