Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) had been a member of two separate survivor groups before he was found by Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) about a week before the start of "The Walking Dead" Season 4. Unfortunately, his journey ended last episode after he was bit by a walker and after one of his legs was cut off by Gareth's (Andrew J. West) cannibal group.

No one is indeed safe on "The Walking Dead," no matter how popular one's character is. But why was it Bob's time to go? Executive producer and comic book writer Robert Kirkman talked to The Hollywood Reporter and explained why they decided to let go of Gilliard's character.

"Bob was happy because we learned in season four that he was always the last one to survive," Kirkman said. "When the prison was taken over by The Governor (David Morrissey) last year and when Bob was on the road and smiling and happy and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) questions why, it's because he was still part of a group."

"We took this fantastic moment in the comic and attributed it to Bob," he added. "He told a great story last year but as we know on the show, it's really challenging to stay alive. I always loved that moment in the graphic novel - when it's Dale who is grabbed by the Hunters and his leg is cut off, and the whole 'tainted meat' moment happens to him. We went to great lengths to be sure we shot images that mirrored that moment in the comic because Jeff DeMunn's Dale died in season two."

"So it was sadly just Bob's time to go," he said. "It does a lot for propelling Sasha's story forward. Bob was an integral part of the group. He just started developing that relationship with Sasha, but in the first episode, Bob was the one that mouthed off to Gareth at Terminus, so it could be that he put himself in the line of fire."

The previous episode was filmed a few months ago, according to Wetpaint, so Gilliard knew that his character will be killed off. "The Walking Dead" actors sometimes do a little bit of misdirection to avoid dishing spoilers to fans. Perhaps, Gilliard lied to fans at some point, and so he recently took to Twitter to say sorry. "Apologies TWD peeps!" he tweeted. "Apologies to everyone I've lied to in the past few months. Thanks to all of Bob's rioters! See ya around!"

In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, West revealed that they already had a "Death Dinner" for both him and Gilliard. "Everybody was there, and since it was an episode where both of us go out, we were both there," the "Greek" alum said. "But Lawrence is obviously the much more well-established character on the show, and that's a much bigger moment in the show, at least from my perspective. He's been around for a long time. He's one of the good guys, so that was the focus for me."