The Walking Dead‘s Rick has been the lead character for five seasons now — but is it time he join the dead who walk among him?

When The Walking Dead‘s first episode hit screens back in 2010, Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes was our sole protagonist. The second installment introduced us properly to characters like Glenn, Carol, Daryl, Carl (or “CORAL!” as his father calls him) and the rest of the survivors that we’d be spending so long with. But even with this wealth of storytelling potential, Rick has remained the narrative center and ultimate heart of the series.

Which is why you might be a bit shocked when we say that killing Rick off would be the best move The Walking Dead could make. Now, hear us out. We’re not saying we hate Rick, in fact at times he’s been the most riveting part of the show. Lincoln’s emotional and heavy hitting performance has made us laugh, made us cry, and made us hide behind our cushions as he opens a can of whoop-ass on anyone who dares cross him or his group. But, it’s starting to feel like Rick Grimes has already brought everything he can to The Walking Dead, and the show’s running out of ideas.

In this article, we’ll try to explain why killing off its lead is the best thing the show could do for its own future.

Repetitive story lines

In season 1 of The Walking Dead it was really interesting seeing Rick try to stay true to himself and his own beliefs in the scary world of the zombie apocalypse. In season 2, it was riveting seeing Rick try to assert his authority on the group and defend his values of the past against opposition of Shane (and in the finale, literally kill his ties to his old life by murdering his best friend and police partner). In season 3, we were glued to our screens as we saw Rick struggle to see a place for his old values in this harsh new world, and thrilled as we saw him transition from optimistic pacifist to deranged murderer and back again. In season 4, we got a sense of deja vu as we watched Rick go from optimistic pacifist to relentless warrior and back again (again). Since season 5 has started, we’ve yet again see him turn into a ruthless warrior — and it looks like we’ll see him be reformed by a combination of Michonne and Morgan’s return in the finale. Probably only to see him descend into madness again next season.

Obviously, it’s great fun seeing Rick lose his cool and take it out on a group of nasty villains or faceless zombies. But when that’s just part of an ever-lasting cycle, and Rick is only learning things we’ve already seen him discover, it gets boring. If the writers have an exciting new direction in which to take The Walking Dead‘s protagonist, then by all means keep him around. But if next season is only going to see him go down the same path and back again, Rick needs to die for the greater good of the show.

Carl’s coming of age

In season 2, Rick gives Carl his sheriff hat, telling him it’s time for him to grow up and be a man. The hat is symbolic of Carl’s future as a leader of the new world. Not only has he experienced first hand the travesties of this harsh world, he is literally a product of it – never having known life outside of the zombie apocalypse. As rich as this metaphorical exchange is, its narrative weight has been diminished because Carl hasn’t had the chance to become a man. He’s always been cared for by his father, who stops him from joining the fight and keeps him out of harm’s way.

We’re assuming that the ultimate endgame of Carl’s story will be to see the impact this life has had on him, and what kind of man that has turned him into. The problem is, he can’t become a man until his father is dead and he’s forced to fill his boots (or hat). With Rick dead, Carl would have to either embrace his father’s values (by continuing to wear the hat), or reject his ideology by discarding the hat and bringing in a new way of doing things.

Breathing space for other characters

The Walking Dead has a fantastic set of characters. Carol’s slow-burning arc from scared housewife to battle-hardened warrior has been a triumph, and seeing her confronted with some ghosts from her past (Pete’s domestic abuse and his child’s need for love) within the walls of Alexandria has only reinforced just how much she’s changed. Michonne has done the opposite, changing from a samurai-wielding murder machine to a woman who wants to leave behind the violence and live a normal life.

And we haven’t even mentioned Daryl yet, arguably the most popular character of the show, and yet the most mysterious. One of the reasons Daryl is so popular is because he’s a bit of an enigma, but after five seasons we’d expect the show to scratch below the surface of his backstory and character. Eugene, Sasha, Abraham, Glenn (can you remember his last weighty story line?) and everyone else have also had next to no development, despite being some of the main protagonists. Season 4’s standalone, character-led episodes proved that The Walking Dead doesn’t need Rick to be able to tell a good story. And now, we’re getting to the point that valuable screen time is being wasted on regurgitating the same plot for Rick, rather than telling an interesting new story about a different character.

Rick’s contribution to the show is undeniable, and if the writers of The Walking Dead know where to take the character next, then he should by all means stick around. But if it’s going to be more of the same, Mr. Grimes should be dispatched in favor of fresh new places for the survivors to go. Game of Thrones has proven that you can continually kill off your main character and still keep the story-line relateable and effective. Maybe it’s time Rick stopped being “The Walking Dead” (as he described himself earlier this season) and started being, well, dead.

Do you think Rick should die in ‘The Walking Dead’?

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