Ahead of the October premiere, The Walking Dead's new showrunner Angela Kang has provided some key details surrounding the upcoming ninth season. For those who prefer to remain spoiler-free, you may want to exit this article prior to reading the information below.

Kang has confirmed the rumors surrounding lead character Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, who will indeed be exiting the series. Season nine will serve to honor the actor as well as the character's legacy.

"Rick Grimes has been somebody that people have loved watching, just loved this character's journey," Kang told Entertainment Weekly. "He is this man who was looking for his family, and found them, and lost many of them, but has fought on and on. And I think that's meant a lot to people."

And while we now know that Grimes' farewell is imminent, it still remains to be seen how he will be departing. His death is not a foregone conclusion.

"We just really wanted to be respectful of that character and send him off in a great way. So that was the charge for us this season," Angela added.

The series will be in need of a new lead, possibly Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon, but for now, no such information has been revealed. Kang has disclosed that season nine of The Walking Dead will focus much more on the show's female characters.

“We’re going to see our women really step up. We’re gonna show a lot of stories about leadership with Maggie (Lauren Cohen), with Michonne (Danai Gurira), with Carol (Melissa McBride).”

As it stands, this is all we have surrounding the forthcoming season of AMC's The Walking Dead, which is due to begin October 7.

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