I do not think that Tom Payne asked to be let go from the series. He stated on the Talking Dead that one day while he and his girlfriend were talking he missed a call from Angela Kang. He stated that he jokingly said to his girlfriend "I missed a call from Angela. I better call her back. I wonder if this is "the call"." He has made it clear that he was frustrated that Jesus was being developed, yes. And because of that I think he was a-okay with being presented the death of Jesus. He also stated on Talking Dead that he received the phone call 2-3 episodes prior to it being filmed.

 

Excerpts from The Hollywood Reporter article:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...-tom-payne-exits-jesus-fate-explained-1163273

 

I don't think this is anything new at all. Jeffery DeMunn, the actor who played Dale in the first couple seasons wanted off the show after the original showrunner Frank Darabont was run off the set.

Also Corey Antonio Hawkins who played Heath left the show to pursue other acting gigs.

In FTWD Frank Dillane also wanted off the show and was killed off.

I don't see this as any sort of warning sign at all.

 

I think this case was just a matter of it working for both parties. They probably never intended on killing Jesus but needed a big character to die for the whisperers introduction. Tom had expressed frustration over the direction of the character so they sort of came to that agreement that Jesus would be the big character to die.

They could have promised to give his character a better arc but I think they had a plan for the series and Jesus was just never going to be a big part of it. So make everybody happy and kill him off.

The Lauren thing is different. I think it was basically a contract issue and they sort of played it like they do in sports. Instead of giving her that fat check, they gave her a "bridge deal". Appear in the first half, get paid a higher prorated salary, and we will revisit it after the season ends. If her other show doesn't take off and they come to an agreement, she will be back for season 10. If not, she will cameo and be written off or just written off. Since she isn't in the rest of this season, they can pretty much do whatever they want with her character.

 

But it just seems to me that the character could have been given a big arc to expand his relevance in the story and on the show. Maybe that would have excited Tom a little more to continue playing the character. They've added so many things for other characters or taken events from one character and placed it on another one so often. I think something could have been done for Jesus if Tom did not ask to leave. Besides, if a high profile character had to die in the mid-season finale to give us a kick in the gut, I can think of at least 3 others that would have fit the bill.

 

Andrew approached Gimple several seasons ago about his character having an end point. In a recent interview Andy stated that his exit had been planned for season 8 and that his final episode was to be the season 8 finale. He shared in interview that they were tossing around about three scenes for the end of 816 involving his departure and one of those scenes was his death as he sat under the tree after having slashed Negan's throat and then saving Negan. Then while filming season 8 during their break to attend San Diego comic con is when he came to the realization that it was not time for him to leave. One of the reasons he states is because of the death of Carl he thought it would be too much to lose both Grimes characters within the same season. So while Lauren's exit may have caused a bit of story juggling for season 9 Andy's exit had been in the works for quite some time.

EDIT: This was revealed during his interview with YNB for The Talking Dead. Linked article that offers some of the quotes from that interview.
https://www.thisisinsider.com/walking-dead-almost-killed-rick-grimes-2018-11