Andrew Lincoln Explains Rick's Choices in The Walking Dead Midseason Finale

The Walking Dead aired its Season 5 midseason finale, "Coda," on Sunday, and one of the highlights of the hour was Rick Grimes' continued presence as an absolutely terrifying human being. In a new interview with EW.com, star Andrew Lincoln explains his character's choices in the episode.

The highlight for Rick came early on when he killed Officer Lamson, who tried to flee from Rick's group. He shot him in the head and then told him to shut up. Lincoln explains why the scene played out in this way, his reaction when he read the script, and his conversation with showrunner Scott Gimple.

"I went, 'Let me just get this right, Scott. I say 'shut up' after I've shot the dude?' And he went, 'Yep.' And I went 'Okay. I'm going to find a way to do this.' I guffawed. Sometimes you have moments playing this role where you just go, 'Oh, thank you!' Because you know what? The last episode I was furious. I kept saying, 'Why don't I shoot the bald dude?!? Why can't I shoot him, Scott? Let me shoot him!' I said, 'Scott, I want to shoot this guy.' And he goes, 'You're being tethered by Daryl. Daryl's your emotional anchor. You're still anchored by people - your friendships and your family.' And I'm like, 'Uggggghhhhhh. I still want to kill him, Scott! I mean, the plan was to slit their throats. Help me out here.' And he goes. 'No!' So I was quite relieved when I read episode eight, because of course as usual with Scott Gimple he's always like, 'Wait. We aregoing to get there. Don't worry about that.' So I read the teaser and I just went, 'Oh my lord! It's beyond badass. It's ridiculous.'"

"But the 'shut up' thing was really interesting because the way I justified it was when I echo Gareth by saying 'Can't go back, Bob' - I think that part of it was him going 'shut up' to Gareth. Because otherwise, really? I'm saying 'shut up' after I shot the guy? Which really made me laugh. And to their credit, [writer] Angela [Kang] and Scott were laughing when they told me. They were like, 'Yeah, we thought it would be really cool.' And I was like, 'That's not good enough! You've got to give me some help here!' So that's the way I justified it, is that it was to Gareth. It was extraordinary shooting that scene."

So has Rick gone too far at this point? Is he turning into Gareth?

"That's what I love about this show and the writing the past few years are the echoes," Lincoln said. "And its almost like there are certain moments and things that we do that resemble the Claimers. Like we're whistling a lot this season, which is what they did. There's a scene on the rooftop where I signal to the family that the deal is on, which is that hand clench that Gareth did as well. There are a lot of echoes that we're putting in that makes you ask: How far gone are these people? How far gone is Rick? Is he too far gone? Is he becoming one of these people? And that's the exciting thing going on in this journey. The writers keep throwing in these strange moments where you ask yourself: Who are we rooting for here? What line have we crossed? But then, Dalton...he should have stopped! I did say stop! C'mon! I gave him fair warning. And he was going to go back to the hospital. He had to get it!"

What do you think of Lincoln's remarks? Let us know in the comments section.