Tough times for Rick Grimes, people!

He watched one of his own die.

Then watched another of his own die.

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Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Tough times, indeed!

Any way you slice it, it doesnt look good.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Everyone was talking about the cliffhanger and who was going to die and all of that.

Now the event is finally over.

We know the purpose of it all was that Negan really wanted to make Rick submissive.

That was his goal in this.

And the question really becomes now: Has he succeeded?

What does this do to Rick going forward?

ANDREW LINCOLN:Youre right.

Its Abraham and Isaac isnt it?

Negan is the omnipotent one.

I did ask [showrunner Scott M. Gimple] and I said, What are we looking for here?

Is there any sense in which Rick gets out?

Theres a plan, theres a glimmer?

But he unequivocally said, No, this is Earth-shattering.

And I was like Oh really.

Weve got to do that, have we?

Thats why we had to do it in the way I had to do it.

If it isnt, Im going to have a very seriously long talk with Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman.

What is that kernel, then?

Let us do this.

Let us still be united and the memory of this will be united in our family unit.

The quote that keeps coming back to me is from one of the greatest men that ever lived.

And that keeps rumbling around in my head this season.

I know Daryl is going to be blaming himself a lot, clearly, for what happened.

How much is Rick going to be blaming himself for his own hubris that led up to this tragedy?

Yeah, guilt is never very far from Rick Grimes shoulder.

It comes with the package.

Hes a man who takes his responsibilities very heavily, not lightly.

And I think that makes him somebody that people want to fall in behind, or alongside.

Its also his strength, its also his weakness.

This is shattering, what happened to him.

I do think that its going to change who he is forevermore and through the end of the season.

How does everybody else in Alexandria react when Rick comes back and tells everyone about the new rules?

All I will say is that this is a rocky road.

Its a shocking beginning to a season, but it is the beginning of a season.

Thats what people have to remember.

This is where we begin, after the quake.

And each react in their own individual ways.

Its moreLord of the RingsthanLord of the Fliesthis season.

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