Andrew Lincoln Expresses Regret About Leaving ‘The Walking Dead’

The cast of AMC’s hit television series The Walking Dead held a virtual reunion through the app Zoom at year end. Hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown, the virtual meeting was set up to showcase support for the Democratic Senate candidates from Georgia Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The meeting featured several current and former cast members from the show including Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christian Serratos, Lennie James and Sonequa Martin-Green. However, arguably the most notable face returning for the Zoom meeting was Andrew Lincoln, who formerly played the main character of the series Rick Grimes. When reflecting about his time on the show, Lincoln revealed that he regretted leaving.

Lincoln starred as Grimes for the first eight seasons of The Walking Dead, before he announced prior to the ninth season premiere that he would be exiting the series to spend more time with his family in the United Kingdom. The actor officially left the series during the fifth episode of season 9 titled “What Comes After.” Toward the end of the episode, Rick is assumed to be dead by most of his friends. Unbeknownst to them however, he is picked up by a mysterious group and hauled off to an unknown location. Not long after Lincoln’s departure, AMC announced that a series of movies centered on Grimes were in development, with Lincoln attached to the projects.

Little has been revealed about these movies since the first announcement was made, and with The Walking Dead announced to be ending after its eleventh season, the current status of the films is in question.

During the meeting, Lincoln revealed that he spends almost too much time with his kids now that he wishes he never left and misses the cast. “You guys I love,” he said. “I mean, the connection that we have to the land, to the place, to the people. Arthur, my 10-year-old son won’t let me take a job unless it’s in Georgia now. He just misses it. He goes, ‘Take me back there!’ I came back home for the kids, and now they’re sick of me, and I wish I’d never left. It was a terrible decision.”

With The Walking Dead coming to a close in the near future, it is possible for Lincoln to make an appearance during an episode or possibly the series finale.