One of Jon Bernthal’s most notable characters is The Walking Dead’s Shane Walsh. Despite the bad boy being killed off in season two, he’s remained an important figure in the AMC series. He’s reappeared as hallucinations, been mentioned throughout the series, was confirmed as Judith’s biological father, and even appeared in Rick Grimes’ send-off episode.
What if Bernthal played Rick Grimes though? A role played by Andrew Lincoln for nine seasons. During an event from AMC which included a rewatch of season one’s six episodes, an audition tape was shown. Not only was Lincoln’s audition tape shown, but Bernthal’s was as well. Only, this was Bernthal’s audition as Rick.
Take a look below at the audition tape. Provided by Twitter user EzekielsPayton.
https://twitter.com/EzekielsPayton/status/1300116807156666368?s=20
Needless to say, Bernthal owned the role as Shane Walsh. Things worked out the way they were supposed to. Despite Shane being killed off, he remains a major part of TWD. And it provided Bernthal the ability to go on to become Frank Castle aka The Punisher. And be in notable films such as The Accountant, The Wolf of Wall Street, Baby Driver, and Ford v Ferrari.
What do you think? Would Bernthal had made a good Rick Grimes?
Make sure to check out our podcasts each week including Geek Vibes Live, Top 10 with Tia, Wrestling Geeks Alliance and more!
A girl with too many fandoms to count.

![‘Victorian Psycho’ Review: Maika Monroe Is Only Partly Unhinged In This Subdued Horror [Cannes 2026] ‘Victorian Psycho’ Review: Maika Monroe Is Only Partly Unhinged In This Subdued Horror [Cannes 2026]](https://cdn.geekvibesnation.com/wp-media-folder-geek-vibes-nation/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Victorian-Psycho-2-300x169.jpg)
![‘Coward’ Review – A Poignant Tale Of Love And Secrecy Amid Relentless Brutality [Cannes 2026] ‘Coward’ Review – A Poignant Tale Of Love And Secrecy Amid Relentless Brutality [Cannes 2026]](https://cdn.geekvibesnation.com/wp-media-folder-geek-vibes-nation/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Coward-2-300x169.jpg)

![‘Parallel Tales’ Review – Asghar Farhadi’s Overlong But Potent Parasocial Fable [Cannes 2026] ‘Parallel Tales’ Review – Asghar Farhadi’s Overlong But Potent Parasocial Fable [Cannes 2026]](https://cdn.geekvibesnation.com/wp-media-folder-geek-vibes-nation/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Parallel-Tales-Still-2-300x169.jpeg)