‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Air Date, Spoilers: Leaked Footage Hints Daryl Replaces Negan as Survivors' Leader

“The Walking Dead” season 9 will premiere soon but its pilot episode will already be Andrew Lincoln’s last appearance as Rick Grimes. His character will exit within the 90-minute premiere episode but how he will depart has yet to be seen.

There were many guesses as to how Rick Grimes will leave and one of the most common suggestions is that he will become a zombie. Others say he will just go someplace far away to fulfill a mission and the latest guess is that he will die in the hands of the Whisperers. But regardless, his exit will be a sad event since he also has a family to leave behind in “The Walking Dead” season 9.

In the real world, Andrew Lincoln’s departure also saddened his colleagues and even the series’s executive producer, Greg Nicotero, admitted that he still can’t believe that the actor will not be around anymore.

“I think I’m still in denial,” the EP told the Insider. “I keep thinking he’s still going to walk down the hallway.”

“I watched him (Lincoln) as an actor, and he watched me as a makeup effects artist, and became the producing director on the show,” he added. “It’s been an amazing opportunity to collaborate with an actor like him, and a friend like him. It’s still weird. It’s so weird.”

Meanwhile, apart from the fact that Rick Grimes is leaving in the first episode, leaked footage revealed another spoiler. According to Express, a five-minute video was uploaded online and it allegedly shows scenes in ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9’s pilot episode.

It was said that one of the returning characters, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), has replaced Negan as the leader of the Survivors and it was Rick Grimes who appointed him to the post. In the leaked video, he is seen giving orders to Negan’s group and this scenario seems to confirm the assumption.

“The Walking Dead” season 9 will premiere on Oct. 7 on AMC.