‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Didn’t Know How To Feel About Rick’s Exit

(Spoilers from AMC’s The Walking Dead will be found below.)

Rick Grimes exited from The Walking Dead last night in one of the best episodes of the entire series’ run, “What Comes After,” and both as a fan of the series and as a critic who was been covering the show for the last nine seasons, I thought it was a powerful, heartbreaking nearly perfect send-off for the show’s lead actor, Andrew Grimes.

Except for that one scene.

We’ve already written the details surrounding Rick’s death. In a series of hallucinations, he had some touching conversations with past characters Shane, Hershel, and Sasha, and ultimately, Rick blew himself up in a blast that destroyed a bridge and prevented a horde of zombies from overrunning Alexandria. When Rick blew up in the explosion, my reaction was somewhere between Michonne’s “Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!!!!” and Daryl’s more subdued but equally heartbreaking reaction. When Daryl saw Rick blow up, I could hear the Foo Fighters’ “There Goes My Hero,” playing in his mind.

But then came the coda: Anne/Jadis stumbled upon Rick’s body, barely clinging to life, just as the helicopter was arriving. She rescued Rick, put him on the helicopter, and the last shot we see of Rick is his eyes fluttering as he is choppered away to a place “far, far away.”

Just as we predicted, the coda had Scott Gimple’s fingerprints all over it. Andrew Lincoln is not, in fact, leaving The Walking Dead universe. He’s anchoring a series of feature-length projects.

And here’s the thing: Social media reacted very well to the episode itself. Rick’s exit was hugely popular. Heartbreaking. Powerful. Perfect.

https://twitter.com/jardner1719/status/1059296596523999233

https://twitter.com/ThePerishPriest/status/1059448469545467904

But fans weren’t as keen on it once they found out that Scott Gimple had faked us all out, that Rick Grimes is not dead, and that he’s coming back to star in a series of movies. We got the old bait and switch.

https://twitter.com/anairdagmtz/status/1059292594163904512

https://twitter.com/Kid_Flash45/status/1059288447796604928

https://twitter.com/Chocmilksheikh1/status/1059287022786043904

https://twitter.com/http_stardust/status/1059291765767921664

https://twitter.com/BrianMcerlean/status/1059285579702198272

That said, there are also many who are excited about the movies.

https://twitter.com/Frainohh/status/1059447322717892609

https://twitter.com/0MalleyCat/status/1059401376881668097

There were plenty of fans who were also just straight-up confused.

https://twitter.com/orangeycat9/status/1059285824561385472

https://twitter.com/pretty_n_locd/status/1059284763314475008

Leave it to The Walking Dead: Nothing is ever straightforward on this show.

In the meantime, those fans who vowed to quit the show after Rick’s death may have a far more difficult time doing so after that huge seven-year time jump teased at the end of the episode and the introduction of an older Judith Grimes and Magna.