The Walking Dead Season 7 brought out a side of Rick Grimes that was painful to watch. Rick went from a fearless leader to losing all his power in an instant. Rick’s life changed forever the second Negan swung his bat at Abraham’s skull. Rick was arrogant and believed their group was the strongest, until another person tested his resolve.
Good thing The Walking Dead Season 8 will have none of that for Rick. Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick on the show, said he’s glad to see his character pick himself up during a The Walking Dead press conference at New York Comic Con. There’ll be no more snot bubbles, according to Lincoln, but more importantly, no more Rick cowering in the corner refusing to defend himself.
"I've always said Rick is like a shark. He needs to keep moving, otherwise he dies. Giving him something to do with his grief and pain is essential. Kicking Negan's ass is good. He's very focused," Lincoln said. "You've seen a completely inverted Rick. He's a man who's willing to die. He's free. He's willing to put everything on the line… It's a polar opposite Rick you see this season. I'm so happy to be playing that man and not last season's Rick."
Another difference is Rick isn’t fighting on his own. He has a group of fellow leaders to help make the tough decisions in the the fight against Negan. King Ezekiel, Maggie and Dwight are prepared to counsel him. Unfortunately, Rick doesn’t know how far Negan’s reach extends in the area. They don’t know where Negan’s outposts are and they aren’t prepared to act without intel. The only thing they know for sure is that Negan needs their supplies. Negan gets food and medicine from the communities. Negan’s food supply will dwindle and hungry people make terrible decisions.
However, Negan has ammunition and creativity on his side. Eugene, the brains of Alexandria, has switched over to the Saviors. At this point, it seems Eugene was purely motivated by survival reasons, so we don’t know if Eugene has fully committed to abandoning Alexandria. We saw a bit of his loyalty emerge when he gave Sasha a pill to end her life. He does care about Rosita and the other people who’ve helped her survive, even if it only was to use his knowledge of science.
How do you think Rick will handle the situation with Eugene and Negan? Let us know in the comments below. The Walking Dead Season 8 premieres Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. on AMC.
