Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes looking fierce in The Walking Dead series finale.

When Andrew Lincoln made his dramatic return as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead‘s final episode, his appearance gave the zombie franchise a poignant, albeit rather gory, full circle moment. Lincoln originally left The Walking Dead in season 9, when a barely breathing Rick was picked up by the Civic Republic Military. Rick remained absent right up until the very end of The Walking Dead‘s final episode, which showed the iconic post-apocalyptic protagonist running from his helicopter-flying captors.

The primary purpose of Rick’s return in The Walking Dead‘s finale was, of course, to set up his spinoff with Michonne, The Ones Who Live. Rick’s failed escape provided a perfect jumping-off point for the next chapter in his story, but Andrew Lincoln’s return was also an acknowledgment that The Walking Dead‘s ending would feel incomplete without the character who started it all. Rick’s botched escape also, however, brought his The Walking Dead story closure in a sense that may not have been immediately obvious.

Rick Grimes Gets The First & Last Zombie Kills In The Walking Dead

Rick Came A Long Way During His Zombie-Killing Career

Rick killing a zombie covered in mud using a spike in The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead season 1 was a more innocent time – a time when the sight of a single zombie was enough to terrify characters and viewers alike. The first zombie to be put down onscreen was the young girl at the gas station in The Walking Dead‘s opening episode, who took a bullet through the skull courtesy of Rick Grimes, who was then still reeling from his first glimpse of the undead. 176 episodes later in The Walking Dead season 11’s “Rest In Peace,” the main show ended with Rick Grimes facing down a CRM helicopter.

As the chopper loomed, a frustrated Rick took his standard issue CRM skewer and drove it directly into the muddy head of a walker half-swallowed by the swampy riverbank. In doing so, Rick, having previously claimed the honor of the show’s very first zombie kill, claimed the honor of also carrying out the very last zombie kill in The Walking Dead‘s main show. It feels entirely appropriate that, as the franchise lead and the show’s first hero, Rick Grimes was granted this full circle moment.

Had Rick not stubbed out the zombie in The Walking Dead‘s final episode, the show’s final kill would have gone to Danai Gurira’s Michonne, who sliced a walker’s head in half during her own comeback sequence. Since Michonne only joined The Walking Dead in season 2, her scene would not have carried quite as much narrative significance. Giving the first and last zombie kills both to Rick Grimes added to the sense of occasion and made that final explosion of blood and brains all the more meaningful as The Walking Dead‘s last seconds played out.

The Walking Dead Will Need To Repeat Rick Grimes’ Full Circle Moment In A Future Show

The Walking Dead’s Final Episode Wasn’t Very Final

Rick with his hands raised at the entrance of the Cascadia base in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

Rick getting the first and last zombie kills in The Walking Dead is certainly meaningful, but also something of a technicality. AMC’s franchise has continued to release new content via a number of different spinoffs and, in truth, The Ones Who Live was a Rick Grimes beard hair away from being The Walking Dead season 12. At the time of writing, Daryl Dixon seasons 2 and 3 and Dead City season 2 are all in the pipeline, and the potential for additional projects remains firmly on the table.

The Walking Dead was right to give Rick the first and last zombie kills when the main show concluded, but that will mean nothing if he doesn’t also get to put down the very last walker in the entire franchise.

There will, however, come a time when the entire Walking Dead franchise draws to a close, and when that day arrives, there will also be one last zombie who gets its head smashed into pieces by some intrepid survivor. Once again, The Walking Dead should call upon Andrew Lincoln to do the honors.

The Walking Dead season 11’s final episode was an ending in name only, not the real final chapter of the story. Plenty more zombies have died since Rick stood on that riverbank in “Rest In Peace” – a good number of those neutralized by Rick himself. The Walking Dead was right to give Rick the first and last zombie kills when the main show concluded, but that will mean nothing if he doesn’t also get to put down the very last walker in the entire The Walking Dead franchise.