The Walking Dead: Dead City’s fifth episode has introduced a new villain whose introduction speech accidentally highlighted a major issue with the original show’s ending. When Robert Kirkman created The Walking Dead comic, he intended to make a zombie movie that never ended. In reality, the series would run for 16 years in total, and while the TV franchise has yet to beat the number, it’s rapidly gaining ground. Like the comics, The Walking Dead originally followed Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a deputy who wakes up from a coma to a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

The show charted his turn from kind-hearted, small town police officer to a battle-hardened zombie killer. While Rick remained the protagonist in the comics until (almost) the very end, Lincoln left The Walking Dead during season 9 to spend more time with his family. While this was once set to lead to a series of three movies focused around Rick, Lincoln will finally return to the saga with the upcoming Walking Dead spinoff show Rick & Michonne. While Rick made a brief cameo in the final scenes of The Walking Dead’s series finale, he wasn’t present for the final battle.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Admits The Problem With Rick’s Absence

Lincoln’s reasoning for exiting The Walking Dead is perfectly understandable, but it can’t be denied the show has missed Rick badly. The Walking Dead: Dead City episode 5 “Stories We Tell Ourselves” revealed The Croat (Željko Ivanek) isn’t actually the main threat in New York, with the Dama (Lisa Emery) pulling the strings behind the scenes. It appears she and The Croat really want Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to go back to his old ways and join them in keeping a grip on the city.

When The Croat’s plan to grab Negan goes awry, the Dama is none too happy, and gives a poetic description of what went wrong: In doing so, The Walking Dead: Dead City’s latest antagonist gave an acute description of the original show itself, and how The Walking Dead ended on a bit of a whimper.

“The show started out with a bang… but then there was a plot twist. You thought you had your hero, but he got away. And what good is a hero offstage? So naturally the ending fizzled. And let’s face it, everyone knows the ending is all that matters.”

Dead City’s “Offstage Hero” Speech Sets Up Rick’s Spinoff & TWD’s Real Ending

Of course, the Dama is talking about Negan, but this descriptor could just as easily be applied to the main series too. That said, the franchise has been building to Rick’s return for years now, and in the universe of The Walking Dead, multiple characters are trying to track him down, including Morgan (Lennie James), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Michonne (Danai Gurira). The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne will set the stage for the titular characters’ big reunion, and may even be building towards the ultimate conclusion of the franchise itself.

It would be a real shame to bring back Rick after such a long absence, only to conclude his story over the span of a single miniseries. Presumably, Rick Grimes’ comeback will build to another big battle, with Rick reuniting with his old chums – and his children, of course – to close out the saga on a more satisfying note than the flagship series did. The Walking Dead: Dead City even seems to imply the Dama could be a major foe in future too.