In preparation for the role, Lincoln sought inspiration from Gary Cooper in his work in the American western film High Noon (1952), as well as the television drama series Breaking Bad.

[19] Weeks after their conflict with the prisoners, Rick, Glenn, and the mysterious, katana-wielding woman Michonne, search for a nearby crashed helicopter[20] which leads them into the town of Woodbury, Georgia.

Rick sets off in search of his wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), and young son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), along the way witnessing what has happened to the world.

In the episode "Guts", a young man named Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) rescues Rick from the tank and leads him to a group of survivors scavenging for supplies.

The last remaining employee there, a medical doctor and researcher named Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich), reveals that the building will soon self-destruct, and whispers something in Rick's ear before the group escapes the doomed facility.

In the episode "Bloodletting", the shooter, Otis, takes them to an isolated farm occupied by Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson), a veterinarian who works to save Carl's life by using a transfusion of Rick's blood.

A former member of Rick's group, Andrea (Laurie Holden), now a Woodbury citizen and The Governor's lover, unsuccessfully tries to negotiate terms of peace with the two conflicting communities in the episodes "I Ain't a Judas" and "Arrow on the Doorpost".

In the episode "Clear", Rick and Michonne form a stronger bond on a journey to retrieve guns after the assault, where they meet the mentally unbalanced Morgan, who has lost his son.

In the season premiere, "30 Days Without an Accident", having relinquished leadership, Rick tries to live a quieter, peaceful life as a farmer, growing crops and raising livestock for the community.

The citizens of Terminus trap the group in a boxcar, where they find Glenn, Maggie, Sasha and Bob Stookey (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and new allies Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson), whom Rick recognizes from the prison invasion, Sergeant Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz), Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt), and Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos).

In the episode "Strangers", the group meets Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) who brings them to his church to stay before going to Washington, DC in hopes of a cure.

In the episode "Crossed", a rescue mission in Atlanta for Beth Greene (Emily Kinney) ensues as Daryl informs the others of her whereabouts at Grady Memorial Hospital with escapee, Noah (Tyler James Williams).

In the mid-season premiere, "What Happened and What's Going On", Rick's group travels to Virginia where Noah's community is and eventually strive for Washington despite the cure being outed as false, in hopes of finding a safe haven, but suffer one more loss with Tyreese.

In the episode "Remember", Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh), a former congresswoman from Ohio and leader of Alexandria interviews the group and assigns Rick as a constable in the community along with Michonne.

Later, while looking at the balloons that Glenn and Enid had released in the sky as a sign that they were still alive, Rick and all the residents of the community witness how the watchtower that was outside Alexandria collapse on the walls, allowing the entry of the horde of walkers.

In the episode "Knots Untie", Jesus takes Rick to the Hilltop Colony, and when he learns they live in fear of Negan and his Saviors, offers to assassinate him in exchange for a trade of supplies.

Rick makes preparations for an attack from the Saviors in the episode "East", but in the season finale, "Last Day on Earth", when Maggie has complications in her pregnancy, leads a team to seek Dr. Carson's aid at Hilltop.

In "New Best Friends", Rick negotiates with the leader Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), and she agrees on one-third of supplies once the war is over, but they need a large quantity of guns to make a formal alliance.

Sasha, having committed suicide to prevent herself from being used as bait, reanimates as a walker and attacks Negan, buying the Alexandrians a chance to open fire against the Scavengers and Saviors.

In the episode "The Damned", Rick and Daryl lead a group of survivors to take control of a Savior compound with the added goal of capturing a stash of guns housed inside.

Six years have passed since their departure from Virginia and the only possible clue that Jadis gives to Rick's current fate is her mentioning to Huck that she had traded "something very valuable" to the CRM in order to get her new life.

As Greenwood collapses following a CRM bombing to destroy any evidence of their presence, Rick and Michonne escape and take one of the community's hybrid vehicles that has enough ethanol to get them home to Alexandria.

Escaping from the base as it's overrun with walkers, Rick and Michonne return to the Civic Republic and expose the CRM's atrocities to the civilian government who take emergency oversight of the military and reform it for the better as well as opening free travel to and from the city.

In the comic, he is faced with dealing against a murderous sociopath that claims the life of two group members, as well as an attempted suicide indirectly provoked by his close and trusted friend.

Later in the series, after his wife's death and his son suffering from amnesia after being shot, his long friend Andrea helps him see a brighter future for the community they reside in called Alexandria and Rick begins to embrace his leadership position, as well as start a relationship with her.

It's a necessary action, given the circumstances, but it also rings in an honest-to-god character change for our hero, who, having dispatched zombie Sophia, seems to have developed a new recognition of the ruthlessness and self-centeredness it may take to survive in this new world order.

Rick is bound and determined to get back to his wife and let her know their son is in mortal danger, without ever doubting his own ability to successfully complete the mission, while Shane on the other hand is not quite as automatically selfless and heroic.

Rick's change of heart when he looks down at the two dead walkers on the floor and is reminded of the friendship between himself and his former partner is a beautifully played moment, which speaks volumes without a single line of dialogue being uttered.

The people of Oceanside almost immediately lose what little distinctive identity they once had, falling in line like they were just waiting for some bearded dude to show up and start ordering them around, and there's no acknowledgement of the weirdness of this, of how close Rick's tactics are to the very man he's trying to destroy".

He represents The Walking Dead's conflicted core, the conduit that writers use to explore both the hard choices a successful survivalist has to make and what it costs people when they become unfazed by death.