Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC
Rick leaves on his own
Instead of being killed or exiled or bitten, a somewhat hopeful and bittersweet end for Rick Grimes would be him leaving on his own — either as a sacrifice for his people, or to journey out into the great unknown to discover more communities.
We’ll start with the less depressing option. While Rick’s done an amazing job of combining a network of communities, he likely assumes there are other communities elsewhere in the country (and the world). Rick may decide to go on a huge excursion out into the country, to find more communities who could help build an even larger network of people and resources. Then again, he has Michonne and Judith, and from the looks of things in season 9, he’s very content and happy playing house with them.
Thus the stronger theory may be that Rick isn’t killed off, but actually exits the show by way of sacrifice.
We’ve learned that Anne aka Jadis aka Garbage lady who can’t be trusted has been communicating with whoever has a functioning helicopter. She’s apparently been trading people for supplies, and we have no idea what happens to the people who were traded. A theory we have for now is these people are being sent off to the Commonwealth, a 50,000 strong community introduced in the comics. There, people are separated into different classes, essentially upper and lower-class. Perhaps the people Anne traded away for supplies were sent off to work as lower-class citizens of the Commonwealth.
So how does Rick come into play with all of this? We saw in “Warning Signs” how Gabriel just got knocked out and may be used as a bargaining chip by Anne to get into the Commonwealth. If Rick learns of this, he may take Gabriel’s place, and head off to the Commonwealth to learn more about them.
Again, this may be a bit of a stretch, with him likely not wanting to leave his family or friends behind. Then again, Rick is always trying to find the next best thing to help him and his loved one survive.
How do you think Rick will leave the show? By force, by death, or on his own terms? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.