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Fans were devastated when Andrew Lincoln announced his departure from the show after “The Walking Dead” season 9 at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year. But with the show already known for taking away beloved characters from its fans, it may seem that the premature announcement of Rick Grime's departure is hurting the show's ratings.
In a feature article for Forbes, Erik Kain talks about how prevalent Rick Grime's departure from the show has been for “The Walking Dead” season 9 marketing materials. It seems AMC leaned on the fact that Andrew Lincoln's departure from the show was already public to build anticipation for season 9's plot.
Unfortunately, the saturation of Rick Grime's departure from the show may have hurt the show's ratings even more. According to Kain, AMC may have been better served by keeping Lincoln's departure under wraps as fans may now be tired of losing their favorite cast members. While AMC might be trying to avoid the fan backlash from Carl Grimes's (Chandler Riggs) death earlier in the show's story, learning about “The Walking Dead's” main protagonist's death is a different problem to contend with altogether.
In a comparison of episode ratings by Alex Welch on TV By the Numbers, fans can see that “The Walking Dead” season 9 and its second episode hit the lowest number of viewers in a long time. The show's second episode only had 4.9 million viewers while its ratings for viewers aged 18-49 considerably dropped too. While troubling, the numbers may not be wholly representative yet considering that the show is still only past its second episode.
Lincoln's departure from his role of Rick Grimes is not the only cast deduction that will happen in “The Walking Dead” season 9. Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Rhee, will also be leaving the show in season 9. Thankfully for fans, Cohan's departure from the show may be temporary compared to Lincoln's departure.
Fans still looking forward to understanding how Andrew Lincoln will transition away from the show can catch “The Walking Dead” season 9's next episode when it airs during its weekly Sunday schedule on Oct. 21. Hopefully, the following episode will provide enough exciting materials to bump up the show's numbers.
