The Walking Dead fans were shocked when Shane Walsh was killed off in the penultimate episode to season two.
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Many viewers felt that the character, played by Jon Bernthal, had departed too soon after he met a grisly end on the show - which is almost finishing its eleventh and final season.
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Why did The Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal leave?
In his final moments on The Walking Dead - in an episode broadcast back in 2011 - Shane was seen being stabbed in the chest by friend-turned-enemy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), after he plotted against his leadership. Because he had already been bitten, he turned into a zombie - but was shot in the head by Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), making it certain that he was dead.
However, the character did make two reappearances in later series of the AMC show. In season three, Rick mistakes someone else for Shane during a hallucination, and then in season nine he has a vision of him while seriously injured. Given this, there is the possibility for his return in upcoming episodes.
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The reasons for Bernthal’s departure are two-pronged. The actor, 46, told Jake's Takes that it was partly due to his schedule getting "really, really busy", particularly with three kids to look after. However, he said at the Fandemic Tour Houston that he “shed a couple of tears” on his final day on set because he was going to “miss” his castmates.
Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, stars in the show's final season
Series creator Robert Kirkman has also said that he had planned Shane’s death before the series even began. Speaking to TV Line in 2012, he said: “Frank [Darabont, executive producer] always talked about how, if the first season had been 13 episodes, we would’ve went ahead and told the entire Shane story and killed him off at the end of the season, which was pretty much what we did in the comics. But because that was a six-episode season instead of a normal-sized season, we decided to hold it for season two."
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