'Walking Dead' Comic Update: Next Issue Will Be The Last, According To Robert Kirkman

Robert Kirkman announced he is bringing his popular and long-running comic book series to an end with the next issue.

The release of issue #193 for “The Walking Dead” will indeed be the end of the comic series that began back in 2003. Kirkman dropped the news on fans out of nowhere, especially on the heels of the previous issue’s events.

[SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ISSUE #191 and #192]

After leading “The Walking Dead” for over 190 issues, Rick Grimes was killed by the son of Commonwealth’s disgraced governor, Pamela Milton. He killed Grimes as revenge for bringing down his mother from power, despite averting a civil war within the world’s biggest community.

Kirkman made the announcement with an essay he closes out issue #193 with, explaining why he is bringing the series to an end after Grimes’ death.

“That’s it… it’s over… we’re done. I’m sure you have a million questions… and I’m sure you feel as emotional about all this as we do… if not more so,” Kirkman wrote. “I’m completely willing to bet some of you are angry over this. I get it… I do. I mean… WHY didn’t we announce this so that fans would have some time to prepare? Well… personally… I hate knowing what’s coming. As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can FEEL when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel.”

Kirkman also revealed he had the main story beats for Grimes’ remaining story mapped out since 2015.

“As I worked to come up with ways to expand the story, none of it felt right,” he continued. “Everything felt like an unnecessary detour… it was, for lack of a better word, filler. The harder I tried to come up with new places to go, the clearer it was to me that this is what this story needed… it needed to end.”