There's not a lot of details surrounding why former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara was let go from the AMC series other than creative differences. It looks like one of those creative differences could have been killing off Rick. If you've been watching the show then you know that none of the characters have been safe in the series. Mazzara explained in a recent interview with Hero Complex that he uses death as a way to drive the story forward and affect those left living. So if killing Rick meant it would make for a compelling story Mazzara would have done it. Obviously AMC wasn't on board with Mazzara's main character killing spree, but here's what he had to say about it,
Every day I get tweets from people saying, ‘If you kill Daryl, we riot.’ I’ll say this: I would never kill a character just to shock the audience. It’s about finding further story. When Dale was killed that put Shane in motion, when Shane is trying to kill Rick, Rick ends up stepping up as leader, that puts his marriage in jeopardy. It affects Carl. Carl was also affected with Lori’s death. All these deaths are very meaningful. So if there was a story in which killing Rick or Daryl or Hershel or anybody, the Governor, Andrea, Maggie, really affected the surviving characters and led to other stories I would do it. That would obviously be a big deviation from the book but in my mind when I’ve said no one is safe, I’ve been 100 percent sincere.
I swear if Daryl dies I'll riot! I know he doesn't do it to shock the audience, but let's face it... it's shocking! I'll also admit that the show has been getting better and more intense even with all the crazy deaths. I can't wait to see how season 3 ends. If Daryl does end up dying, there's really nothing we can do, we know that there will be more deaths by the time the season ends.
What do you think about killing off Rick to move the story? He is as main a character as you can get in the show.