LINCOLN I didn’t know that was the reaction. I’m actually really upset to hear that. No, it is what it is. I think that’s fair, because it was a cliffhanger. I don’t think it was a satisfying finale. If I had walked off into the sunset and been bitten, there would have been some closure to it, and then people could move on. It wasn’t easy to leave. But Rick Grimes has been though some stuff, man. And sometimes there is a point where you have to go, OK, where else can we go with this?

GURIRA OK, fine, he could have died. But I think there was something very cool about him not dying. And the next episode was set six years later, and I thought that was fantastic. And then they’ve got a five-year-old son, and that’s great storytelling too — oh snap, she was pregnant! I love how it was done, actually.

Danai, how did the show change after Andrew left?

LINCOLN It got a lot better.

GURIRA No. It was hard, it was very hard. It did change dynamics. We stayed a family and we stayed connected, but you could definitely feel the absence. I loved the storytelling that I got to do — Michonne’s belief that Rick was still out there, and the idea of being a full-out mother with two kids. There was all this stuff for me to play with, but it was in the presence of his absence.

Andrew, what it was like for you after leaving? Did you keep up with the show at all?

GURIRA No, he couldn’t care less.

LINCOLN It was a very strange decompression. I was absolutely exhausted. It felt very monastic, doing this day to day, making sure we didn’t drop a scene, that we got it right. I felt like the C.E.O. of a conglomerate, which is not the job I signed up for. Those were the responsibilities that came with this juggernaut of a show. Press requests and things are not my natural thing.

You also had this enormous fandom to deal with.

LINCOLN It was quite surreal to walk out in front of 10,000 people, and half of them are dressed like you and the other half have tattoos of your face on them. I’m quite quiet. I would go back and retreat to the countryside and walk my dogs and be at home and cook food and be a glorified Uber driver for my children. There was ground to make up. It was a life choice. I love acting with a passion. But I also love not acting.