The Walking Dead: Rick's Season 7 Start Has Andrew Lincoln's Mom Worried

09/15/2016 03:47 pm EDT

If you're worried about the fate of Rick Grimes, you're not alone. Well, you probably knew that, considering you're one of over 16 million people who watched the leader of Alexandria get put in his place in The Walking Dead's Season 6 finale, but still.

Rick actor Andrew Lincoln's mom is biting her nails right beside you but possibly for a slightly different reason. After seeing her son play such a terrified, broken down role in the Last Day on Earth finale episode, Mama Lincoln is worried about her son going back to such a place.

"I remember my mother said to me, 'That's going to be quite a challenge to get back into that state that you were straight after a break,'" Lincoln tells EW. "And I just said, 'Thanks, mom. That's kind of my job, thank you.'"

Given Lincoln's attachment and understanding of how rocked Rick's world is, he may not have too much trouble getting there.

"As the season finished, the story was about Rick being broken," says Lincoln, "and realizing that basically everything that he thought has been turned upside down in the space pretty of much of a day. The world that he fought and strove for for so long has irrevocably changed."

In Season 7, Rick will be in a darker place. "You meet a man who's powerless, terrified for his own life and his son's family's life, and everybody else beside him," Lincoln says. "And he realizes that there's a new world, a much bigger, scarier, and formidable world."

It all sounds like very fair reason for a mother (and fans) to worry.

The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season on October 23 at 9 PM ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

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