As The Walking Dead premieres the penultimate episode for Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes Sunday night, viewers aren't ready to say goodbye.
Lincoln officially announced his exit at San Diego Comic-Con in July after weeks of rumors said the longtime Walking Dead star would be exiting in its ninth season.
AMC then began advertising Season Nine as "Rick Grimes' final episodes," later confirming episode 905 would be Lincoln's last with an advertisement aired immediately following The Walking Dead 903, "Warning Signs," aired Oct. 21.
When speaking to EW at Comic-Con, Lincoln admitted he felt "a certain sense of relief" after officially confirming he would be leaving, but said he regretted word of his exit leaked.
"It's gonna be a great season," he said in July, "but it would have been greater if it was not spoiled to a degree."
Showrunner Angela Kang has since confirmed Season Nine will be Lincoln's last, but hinted he could return as Rick Grimes.
"He is definitely out of the show this season. The intention is, this is his exit from the show," Kang told the BBC. "But who knows what time may bring. We always love our Andrew, so since we've got some time jumps you never know what might happen."
"This is a show with dead in the title. There are going to be losses," King added. "Not all of them are deaths, sometimes there are departures of different kinds, but this is really a show about how people survive."
Signs point to Rick's fate possibly being tied to the developing helicopter mystery, which has been quietly unfolding for years.
Former showrunner Scott Gimple, who ran The Walking Dead seasons Four through Eight, began prepping Lincoln's exit years before the public became aware he intended to leave in favor of spending more time with his young family.
"It was a possibility that we talked about," Gimple said of Lincoln's exit at New York Comic Con.
"There were things that you build things into the story, maybe it'll go this direction, maybe it'll go that direction. Things started moving in that way and we followed the story threads that were laid out. We were able to fulfill it this season. There was a plan. There were little turns here and there but it generally stayed with the plan."
Lincoln's final episode, "What Comes After," airs Sunday, November 4 at 9/8c on AMC.