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Following the devastating news that Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln is leaving The Walking Dead, showrunner Angela has explained how the next season will be proceeding. Although season nine

is Angela’s first venture into being a showrunner, she is confident that it will continue to prosper without its long-running protagonist. Speaking at San Diego Comic Con she explained that

this year’s season will focus on the “core cast”. She went on: “We really care about having stories for all of our characters. “We always try to give people great material and our cast is

amazing across the board. "But with every season, what we've found is, there are seasons where certain characters really come to the forefront and then that might change the

following year. So this is no different from that." Angela also revealed she has a lot of material for the characters who have been around for a long time. She continued: “It sort of

fits with the storytelling of this particular season. But that said, there will still be great moments for all of our characters. “Having a large cast… it's different, but it's

also fun, because you get to tell a lot of stories in the ensemble." Director of the show Greg Nicotero also spoke about the ninth season, and how he is endeavouring to give fans “the

Walking Dead show they fell in love with so many years ago.” He added: “You get to see scenes with Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), you get to see scenes with

Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus), you get to see scenes with Rick and Daryl. You're going to get a lot more of those pairings." Maggie Rhee actress Lauren Cohan

also chimed in on her upcoming final scenes, hinting that she will have more scenes with Andrew and Norman before the departure, saying: “Andy and I definitely do a lot of acting together

this year. “For us, it's amazing, but for the characters, it's really interesting because Maggie and Rick are on different sides as to how to proceed with things, but coming

together and trying to find a way through this, and a way to evolve this civilisation. "Daryl and Maggie feel the same way and so there is… there is disagreement in the camp, but

you'll see with the time jump how things have evolved. “It's a greater conversation about one philosophy versus another. You get to see all of us together having these really deep

conversations about each of our viewpoints." Kang also hinted at trouble on the horizon for the group, as those with opposing opinions are forced to deal with their conflict. She added:

“These are people that love and care about each other deeply, and so we really wanted to dive into the complexities of that. "When you have people who are family to each other, how do

you work through differences of opinion about how you govern, or how [do] you build for a future, or how [do] you continue on after something as traumatic as war?" Is this conflict

within the community what could bring about the end of Rick’s time on the show? While he has maintained a dictatorship throughout his nine years on the show, his time leading with an iron

fist may finally be up. THE WALKING DEAD SEASON NINE WILL AIR LATER THIS YEAR.