I'd imagine Magna will be one of the community leaders by about season 11. She will basically be an entirely new character because in the comic she has basically spent half the time off page screwing her girlfriend...…. at times in some quite raunchy locations.

 

Magna, Yumiko and Connie are "in" for me. I'm iffy on Luke, but Kang is trying to give him some traction in the form of a buddy pairing with Alden so at least we're getting more familiar with him.

Kelly? Jury really out. Needs more screen time, but the slingshot's cool.

 

If the show's taught me anything it's that when I start to like a character too much...

 

I mean, I've said this a lot but I wish they'd start aiming towards wrapping it up. To me, it's just not the same show post-Grimes.

But that said, for a lot of people that's fine and I can see why. The appeal of a zombie show is a rotating cast, it shouldn't really ever be the same forever.

I'll keep watching until I'm not enjoying it anymore, and given the fact that I am enjoying it, I don't think it's doomed.

 

I stopped because I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I might have stayed on if an endpoint had been set. I've done that with series before. This is the first one though that I invested so much time in and then bailed out.

 

Stealth, you need to get back in. This season is amazing.

 

Even if I had to quit, I'd still come here or otherwise keep up with the plot. I've been a fan since 2012, I have to know what happens and were it's going.

 

I am not overly excited about most of the new characters so far. Magda's group is meh except for Luke and Connie, I like Luke a lot. Alpha is the first new character that definitely has me excited. I don't know, so far it's been eh okay, nothing for me to rant and rave about but I'm not turning away from it either.

Henry is annoying as all hell...I'm ready for him to either get a major character adjustment or just get killed already. Our regulars are holding strong so far, super sad to her about Michonne, she has always been my fave character. Alpha's daughter is annoying too...gawd, I'm so ready for them to just move on from her.

Judith so far, for me, hasn't been that exciting either...we've not gotten a lot of story line with her yet but I expect it to be good, I like her just not given us a whole lot of her as I had expected. Lydia, we'll see, still like her but she's never been in my Top 5 of characters. Still loving all our regulars from past seasons.

Is it going down the tubes? I don't know, I guess that's for each person to decide for themselves. What one likes another doesn't, so if it's gone down the tubes for you, then it is but for others who find it refreshing and exciting, then for them it has not. For me, I am in the middle. It's definitely changed a lot and has strayed far from the comics. So far I'm still tuning in.

 

...But there is Dog now! Dogle

 

Never read the comics and I kind of saw the time-skip as a good way to softly reboot the show after two of the main people decided to scale back their appearances. Some people grow too attached to the fictional characters. I take it as it is and just roll with the programming.
I'm in it because I'm into the post-apoc and the zombies. Apart from a small inkling of other shows out there that I watch, nothing else really does it for me like TWD does. If shows like Doctor Who and select, daytime soap opera's stay on for decades with obvious changes in casts and characters, then it shouldn't be a problem for TWD.

 

We need several spin-off shows based in other regions. TWD: Miami, TWD: New York, etc.

=)

 

I don't know. Without Rick, there is no center any more. It all seems to fall apart. Too many new people I don't care about but should, too many soapy relationships and politics. I feel like Daryl - stay out in the woods and think of the good old times.

 

Nope. IMO they pulled off the impossible. This show still works without rick grimes.

 

Without Rick, yes. Without a focal point, not so much. Maybe they wanted that feeling, that everyone goes their own way without a person keeping them together, but it doesn't work for me. For a moment I thought Jesus could be a new center, but... oopsie, there he goes too. It is basically a bunch of new people I don't know much about and a few older sidekicks. I simply don't care about those characters anymore, except Carol, Daryl and Ezekiel. TWD was one of the very few shows I watched without doing anything besides, even if I know the episode inside out already. Not anymore, I just can't stay interested long enough even for the new ones.

 

It's time to invest your time in something else my friend! May I suggest go-kart racing or eating contest photography?

 

Yeah, I know. Nothing but praise allowed or it is getting personal.

 

Okay. Controversial statement here and I'm semi-prepared to be torn apart for it.

But dare I say... I think the show might actually be better without Rick Grimes. At least, at the point we're at in season 9.

I love Rick and he's 100% integral to what the show used to be. But the way the show is right now, I don't think he'd really have much use. There's so many people and communities. I honestly think it'd be worse off having a singular main character who we know will 'save the day' and make the decisions. Right now, this show functions best as an ensemble.

Like I said, love Rick, but I think TWD has grown beyond him.

 

Maybe it is just that there is no time to get adapted to it in the series. Rick is gone, and seconds later we skip 6 years and he is just gone. Same with Maggy. Just gone, not much reaction. Jesus. And now the rest on the spikes. There is no room to really deal with it, even if in series time it has been years. If not for Michaunne and Daryl it is almost as if Rick never existed, Maggy isn't dead, okay, but still another integral part of it all is missing. Maybe those changes are just to much to fast for me. And what is it with the rift between Michaunne and Maggy, Alexandria and the other communities. This really bugs me, and it is never explained. I am not much into flashbacks, so I would have preferred we see that in "real time". And maybe it would be better if Rick really was dead. Now I am kind of always waiting to see him back, although I know it won't really happen anytime soon if at all (some possible radio contact doesn't count). It is been six years, and no matter where he is, he would have tried to come home. This will propably happen in the movies, but it is all speculation. So there are a lot of loose ends that weigh heavier on my mind than the Whisperers or the new characters.

 

None of us wanted Rick gone. But we tried to go with it and dammit that works. Samantha Morton made it work for me.