For those that think that Carl is not going to die in The Walking Dead TV show after seeing episode 808, well the actor, Chandler Riggs has already confirmed it via an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“Yes, Carl is going to die,” Riggs tells The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive interview. “There’s no way he can get back from that. His story is definitely coming to an end.” … “It was devastating for me and my family because the show has been such a huge part of my life for so long. For a few days, we didn’t know what to do; I just bought a house in Senoia [near where the show films in Georgia].
When Chandler Riggs was asked if it was his decision to leave TWD, Riggs said:
I’m taking a gap year right now to focus on acting for a while. Leaving Walking Dead wasn’t my decision. It was all story-related.
When Chandler Riggs was asked when he found out that Carl was going to happen to his character, Riggs said:
“I was planning on going to college until I found out. I found out when I was doing rehearsals for episode six back in June. It was quite the shocker for me…”
When Chandler Riggs was asked what was Scott Gimple’s reasoning for killing Carl, Riggs said:
In the comics, Scott was trying to figure out why there was a hole between Rick slitting Negan’s throat at the end of the “All-Out War” arc and then there’s the time jump and Negan is alive and in prison and Rick didn’t kill Negan. Scott was trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between Rick not wanting to kill Negan and Rick also really wanting to kill Negan, which he does right now [in the show’s story]. Scott’s way to get around that was to make Carl this really humanitarian figure and person who could see the good in people and see that people can change and not everyone out there is bad.
When Chandler Riggs was asked if he thinks that Rick could also be killed off the show now since Carl is getting killed off the show, Riggs said:
That is possible, too. I haven’t talked to him much about it, but I know that he has a family that he leaves every year to come to Georgia for months and months to film The Walking Dead, leaving his kids back home in England. I know he’s probably getting pretty tired.
Scott Gimple on Carl’s bite
In case you missed Talking Dead after the mid-season finale, Scott Gimple pretty much confirmed that Carl is going to die as he said:
“That is a bite on his side… It will play out as bites play out on the show.”
In a HollywoodReporter.com article, Gimple was also asked if Chandler Riggs’s real life played a role in his character getting killed off the show, and Gimple said:
“It has nothing to do with real life in any way. All the real-life things were of no concern. In fact, that’s the only thing that made it difficult – a real-life relationship with Chandler, how much we love to work with him and how talented he is. The story went in that direction. If people watch the whole season, they will see how incredibly critical it is to the telling of the story.”
Gimple was also asked in the same interview who’s decision was it to kill off Carl Grimes, and Gimple said:
“This came from myself and the writers and tackling this current story that we’re telling now and some things for the future.”
Andrew Lincoln was shocked
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, had this to say about Carl’s upcoming death and how it will change the show, Lincoln said:
“I always thought Carl was going to be the one who led the show forward; that Rick would hand over his boots and revolver when he walked off into the sunset in season 28.” … It’s huge. When it all happened, it was very difficult because it’s such a departure from the comics and such a shock for all of us.” … “This is the biggest death [of a character] we’ve ever had and probably ever will have, actually, if you are a comic reader and realize the importance of Carl in the comics.”
