The Walking Dead season 6: Rick Grimes to sacrifice Alexandrians to save his own people? [Spoilers]

Rick Grimes will do anything to keep his people alive and that might even mean putting the original residents of Alexandria in danger to do so. With season six of The Walking Dead in full swing, executive producer Greg Nicotero reveals the group leader may be taking his power trip too far.

In order to protect his fellow survivors, viewers have seen Rick concoct a plan to redirect a hoard of walkers away from Alexandria but the move went awry due to the Wolves launching their attack on the community. With the threat of hundreds of walkers, episode three will see Rick use his survival instincts to stay alive but Nicotero hints he could make the wrong decision.

Speaking to IBTimes UK in London on 23 October, the director said: "Rick's biggest journey for the first half of the season is getting it out of his head that it's us and them. Rick treats the Alexandrians like, if any of them die, it's fine because we're all still here. That plays very prominently in the next episode. Rick basically says [to his main group], 'You guys keep running and if [any of the Alexandrians] slow you down, don't wait for them'. It's not a very nice thing.

"Of course, one of the Alexandrians hears that and is like, 'F**k you dude!' It's a really interesting arc that Rick has going on because as far as he's concerned, he only wants to protect his group but that's not living, that's just surviving the day. We will see this transition of Rick not just worrying about his group but expanding his horizons."

Watch The Walking Dead season six episode three trailer:

Ross Marquand, who joined the zombie series in season five playing Aaron, also weighed in on Rick's dominance within the community. The US actor said: "Rick is really thrusting the group into some very dangerous situations. It's funny because [the people in Alexandria] were doing fine for the last two years without Rick and his group and now all of a sudden they come in and wreak havoc. The whole plan to divert walkers from the quarry up the road of course backfired and now the whole community is in grave peril because of it."

In episode two of season six, Carol, Morgan, Maggie and the other residents who remained at Alexandria, were rocked by the Wolves who unleashed a bloody massacre on the camp. There is still a shroud of mystery surrounding the Wolves and Nicotero, who is also the show's special effects supervisor, teases their return in future episodes. He said: "The Wolves had a big episode last week and they're not necessarily gone from the show."

The Walking Dead airs on Mondays at 9pm on Fox in the UK.