Quite the journey. Over the course of The Walking Dead‘s 11 seasons, many stars have come and gone. While some have had shocking deaths — we’re still not over Glenn or Carl’s demises — other actors chose to leave the series.

Andrew Lincoln, who portrayed hero police officer Rick Grimes on the AMC drama from its 2010 debut, announced that he would be leaving the show in 2018 during season 9, leaving fans shocked and curious about how he would exit the zombie series.

“I love this show. It means everything to me. I love the people that make this show. I promise not to cry, I’ve done enough crying on screen,” he said at Comic-Con ahead of his final season. “I suppose what I wanted to say is that my relationship with Mr. Grimes is far from over. And a sort of large part of me will always be a machete-wielding, Stetson-wearing, zombie-slaying sheriff deputy from London, England.”

A source shared with Us Weekly at the time that the actor really wanted to do more movies, as well as spend more time at home. After his final episode, however, it was revealed that he definitely isn’t done with the Walking Dead universe. Instead, AMC is planning multiple Walking Dead films centered around the character Rick Grimes, and Lincoln is set to reprise his role.

Of course, not everyone is so lucky. Chandler Riggs exited the show in 2018 after appearing in the first eight seasons as Rick’s son Carl Grimes. It was not his choice to leave the show and didn’t plan to, but the character was killed off after being bitten by a zombie while saving another member of the town.

“I was planning on going to college until I found out,” Riggs told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “I found out when I was doing rehearsals for episode six back in June. It was quite the shocker for me, Andy and everyone because I don’t think anyone saw it coming. It’s definitely not a bad thing because it has been awesome being on the show, but now I get to go and do a lot of other stuff that I haven’t gotten to do before.”

Danai Gurira, who played fan favorite Michonne, exited the show after season 10. Unlike Carl, though, Michonne wasn’t killed off — she went on a mission to find Rick, who she (correctly) believes is still alive. Whether that means she returns in the movies remains to be seen, but fans are certainly hopeful.

Another spinoff of the hit series, Tales of The Walking Dead, premiered in August 2022.

Keep scrolling to find out what other stars have been up to since leaving The Walking Dead:

Andrew Lincoln

Lincoln’s Rick Grimes led the show for seasons 1 through 9. He exited in 2018 to focus on his family but is set to reprise the role in multiple Walking Dead films. The Love Actually star has two children with wife Gael Anderson. In 2020, he starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol TV movie. In July 2022, it was announced that he would reprise the role of Rick in a limited series rather than in the originally planned movies. 

Pollyanna McIntosh

The Scottish actress’ 2019 departure from the AMC series wasn’t the end for her character, Anne — it was only the beginning.

McIntosh returned to The Walking Dead universe in 2021 for the final season of the TWD spinoff, World Beyond. She also appeared in Lodge 49 and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Danai Gurira

The Macalester grad left the series midway through season 10 after seven years of wielding swords as Michonne. During her run on the show, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Panther character Okoye, a role she’s expected to reprise in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Gurira is also set to reprise her role as Michonne in a 2023 TWD limited series with Lincoln.

Matt Lintz

After the brutal reckoning of penultimate episode of season 10, fans said goodbye to a handful of main characters, including Lintz’s Henry. Since leaving the show in 2019, he joined the cast of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.

Lennie James

James played Morgan, the first survivor Rick encountered after waking from his coma in season 1. He left The Walking Dead in 2018 after season 8, then joined season 4 of Fear the Walking Dead as the same character. He also starred on the TV series Save Me from 2018 to 2022.

Scott Wilson

Wilson, who played beloved farmer Hershel Greene, left the show in season 4 after his character was decapitated by the Governor. He reprised the role once in season 9 as part of a dream sequence experienced by Rick. Wilson later appeared in Bosch, The OA and Damien. He died of leukemia in 2018, shortly after filming his season 9 cameo.