Big Richie on ‘The Walking Dead’: Background & Details

A new character was introduced tonight, and fans have no idea who he is, even though he’s quickly becoming a meme. Read on to learn more about Big Richie. This post will have spoilers for Season 9 Episode 9 of The Walking Dead. 

Big Richie was a zombie who was still hanging out at the Sanctuary when Negan returned after escaping from Alexandria. Negan looked at him and said, “Loyal to the end” when he still saw him there. In fact, Negan had a tough time taking out this particular walker, as if he had an emotional attachment to him.

But it doesn’t appear that we’ve ever actually seen Big Richie on the show before. He’s not listed in the cast. The only Richard listed is a resident of The Kingdom who was later killed. We’ve never known a Richie who was at The Sanctuary.

The best guess is that Big Richie worked for Negan and must have stayed at The Sanctuary after everyone else left, because he appeared to be the only walker there that Negan recognized. By killing him, finally, Negan was letting go of the last remnant of his past.

But no, it doesn’t appear that we’ve seen Big Richie as a character on the show before tonight. We’ll just have to think of him as a Savior who was loyal and close to Negan.

One additional interesting twist about Big Richie. A lot of fans thought they could hear this walker saying “Negan.”

There aren’t any good theories about this part right now, but we’ll update this story as we know more. He couldn’t have been a Whisperer convert or he would have fought back before Negan killed him (unless he truly was loyal to Negan til the end.) Maybe the show just made it sound like he was saying Negan for artistic effect, or to show how much Negan really wanted to connect with his Sanctuary past. He wanted to reconnect so much that he imagined the walker saying his name. That’s certainly a worth interpretation for what many fans heard tonight.

No matter what Big Richie’s past is, his future will live on as a meme.

During Talking Dead, we learn that Negan hadn’t seen a walker in six years. That’s another reason why Big Richie had such a big emotional impact on him.

Let us know what you thought about the episode and Big Richie by tweeting the author of this story or commenting on a Reddit discussion here.  Did you hear him saying “Negan” too? You can stay updated on new stories about The Walking Dead by joining the email list here and choosing the “Scifi and Fantasy TV” category.

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