To some fans, Carl’s impending death on The Walking Dead has been hanging over this holiday hiatus period like a storm cloud. To others, it’s just in line with the show’s tradition of killing off major characters. Chandler Riggs, who has had a great sense of humor about it, has been re-assuring fans things will be OK. Even so, a Walking Dead without one of its original stars will still feel different.
Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman understands this. “I know that some fans online have been very upset, but that’s by design,” Kirkman told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re not supposed to be happy when these characters die. We are supposed to be worried about what comes next, and anticipating what comes next, and stressing about what comes next. That just shows that you’re engaged and you’re interested. Our job is to now pay that off and fulfill that interest, and prove that this was a decision worth making. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
Even still, fans are worried about Carl’s death affecting future comic storylines in the show (in the comics Carl is still alive and instrumental major storylines like The Whisperer War). “There are big, huge stories coming up that you might think will be massively altered because of the absence of Carl,” Kirkman told EW. “But we have known these story lines have been coming for years. There are plans in place to make it all work. The loss of Carl doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to be losing big swaths of the comic book story. It means that there will be some differences to them. The goal is that those differences will be as exciting to the audience as they are to me.”
(Pictured above: a post-All Out War Carl from the comics)
Head to Entertainment Weekly to get more quotes from the interview and tell us in the comments how YOU think Carl’s demise will affect the story.
This one was tough, It didn’t feel super organic to me, it really felt like Carl was written out of the show. The way he got bit was so anticlimactic. This is the first time I am questioning the future of the show. If I had to guess I’d say that they are going to have Rick not kill Negan because it is what Carl would have wanted. If they give Carl’s storylines to characters I don’t care about it will be painful to watch. Still I will hold my judgement until I see what the payoff is storywise. I want to see Rick turn into a total savage to the point where even Negan is terrified of him, but I don’t see them going in this direction. The writers have a huge challenge ahead of them and I’m excited to see how it all plays out. Also have Alpha blow someones head off with her freaking shotgun! The Whisperers have so much potential! Make them savage like comic Governor! I love the politics and the communities but I have to ask you to BRING THE HORROR BACK TO THE WALKING DEAD!