For weeks fans of The Walking Dead have been parsing quotes from the producers and stars of the hit AMC series, searching for clues as to which characters won't survive the upcoming fifth season. However, despite their diligence, it appears a significant casualty has already slipped by them.

When The Walking Dead returns Oct. 12, it will be without one of its fixtures since Season 2: the kiwi-green Hyundai Tuscon found by Rick Grimes & Co. on the gridlocked highway after they left Atlanta in hopes of reaching Fort Benning. It quickly became the survivors' most frequently used vehicle, participating in supply runs and the search for Sophia, herding walkers and fleeing Hershel's overrun farm (the Hyundai even received its own backstory, in the web series The Oath).

That all ended last season with the second attack on the Prison, which saw most of the survivors scattered and on foot. Some fans may have held on to hope that the Hyundai would reappear -- perhaps to play an instrumental role in the rescue from Terminus -- but it simply wasn't meant to be.

“While we had a great run with The Walking Dead, the plot of the show changed and moved in such a way that the car ceased to have a role,” David Matathia, Hyundai's director of marketing communications, told Variety.

The automaker's sponsorship went well beyond product placement, to a partnership with Robert Kirkman's Skybound Entertainment that included a sweepstakes to win a Walking Dead-themed car, and the release of a special-edition Tuscon.

Hyundai will continue to advertise heavily during the show, but it just won't be the same. And while there were certainly other casualties during the second attack on the Prison -- the Dodge Ram 1500, the Plymouth Grand Voyager and, yes, Daryl's bike -- the kiwi-green Tuscon may be the deepest felt.

We pay tribute to the Hyundai below with photos from some of its best scenes. It will be sorely missed.