There's no getting away from it: Morgan Jones' time on The Walking Dead is about to come to an end. We're prepared to bet our last bullet that he won't make it to the end of the season. (We'd even raise the stakes and bet our favourite crossbow that his death comes in the mid-season finale.)

We're as sad about it as you are. Lennie James is arguably the most talented actor on the show – certainly the most consistent – he was also the focus of one of the very best episodes (season 6's 'Here's Not Here'). But he's on his way out, so you can say goodbye to all of that.

Why? Well, that's easy – for one thing, his character has been written into a complete corner.

One of the last remaining survivors from the pilot, Morgan's been on quite a journey since we first met him. He helped Rick acclimatise to the zombie apocalypse, and offered him hope when all seemed hopeless.

We didn't see him at all in season 2, but he resurfaced in season 3 – mad with grief, a complete character shift sparked by the loss of his son. Morgan had gone completely crazy by this point, surrounding himself with traps, prepared to kill anyone who came near him. It turned out that he was so lost, he was basically suicidal.

But Rick managed to pull him out of his funk, by offering him the gift he once gave Rick; hope. But wasn't not enough to inspire Morgan to join the main cast – yet.

Lennie James skipped another season before showing up again at the start of 5, a lot better as a result of his encounter with Rick. We saw Morgan journeying to Terminus but, after he discovers Rick's still out there, he eventually finds his way to one of the show's tensest season-closing cliffhangers ever (when he arrives at Alexandria, and finds Rick cold-bloodedly killing Pete).

On the way to this moment, we see Morgan take out a gang of Wolves without killing them – and we discover he's turned into a total pacifist. He even has his own mantra: "All life is precious."

Related: The Walking Dead season 8 premiere: 13 HUGE questions and theories after 'Mercy'

It was a neat way to end the season, with two completely competing philosophies – and a role reversal no less - potentially setting up some juicy season 6 drama between Morgan and Rick.

Sadly, season 6 was when the writing team started to completely drop the ball with Morgan. He'd had a really satisfying journey up until this point, but no-one seemed to know what to do with a pacifist on a show about killing zombies / people, and his potential ended up wasted. Instead of the promised conflict, we got bunch of boring speechifying and truly terrible character decisions.

Since then, they've course-corrected their mistake, pushing Morgan back towards killing. But it's not without guilt, and we seem him (sort of) struggling with the change in season 8's opener, which only highlights just how little sense his character makes now.

Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Morgan's gone from being a figure of hope, to someone who Rick needed to save, to someone who could potentially save Rick to… Well, what is he now? Just another grunt?

After seasons of struggling with the moral dilemma of killing zombies and people, The Walking Dead seems to have finally come to a decision (via a Rick speech, that Morgan wasn't even present for!) – it's alright to kill bad guys, as long as you don't throw a party about it afterwards.

Cool, cool – but how does Morgan fit into this brave new world, staring at his bloodied stick like he's just used it to put down his dog?

AMC

Whichever way the writers take Morgan now, it's going to feel repetitive. They could have really committed to the reset, and had the character be a total bad-ass – but, on the evidence of season 8's opener, they've landed on a man who does kill but also feels bad about it.

That means we're in for more conversations about the morality of what the gang's doing, and more internal struggling from Morgan. It's almost as if the writers know the character's on the way out, so haven't bothered giving him anything new to do. It's similar to what happened with Dale in season 2 – a fantastic, layered character became interminable.

We can't imagine The Walking Dead pursuing this narrative line for much longer, as it's completely against the show's new modus operandi – less talk, more shooting. So, yeah, Morgan's doomed.

He'll be the sacrificial lamb to prove the writers have listened to audience feedback and aren't going to spend half the season discussing the consequences of killing. He'll get some form of redemption, then shuffle off to join the great undead.

So, RIP Morgan – we really hope they don't bring you back as a zombie to further underline the irony of turning you from a pacifist into a killing machine.

Lennie James, you deserve (and have always deserved) better than this.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io