Following the release of the previews and clips for the latest episode of The Walking Dead, many jumped to the conclusion that Carl Grimes would have a deadly run-in with some walkers. And while Carl came pretty close to biting the dust, he ultimately made it out of the situation alive, and with a new friend.
Carl isn’t exactly the most popular character among the show’s fans, and rumors about his exit from The Walking Dead have been circulating for a while now. These rumors really picked up last year when the actor who plays him, Chandler Riggs, revealed he was planning on going to college.
With Riggs starting his education at the University of Georgia this year, we’ll have to see how the young actor manages to balance acting and school life. So far this season, Carl’s had pretty limited screen time. The show has jumped around in time, dedicating some episodes to only a handful of characters and ignoring other characters for weeks. Because of this, the show might be able to work around Riggs’ class schedule, but if his character is going to develop in any meaningful way, this will likely become pretty difficult.
So what can we expect for Carl for the rest of this season? Well, just because he didn’t die in The King, The Widow, and Rick, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be safe for long. If the showrunners are planning on killing him, they could just be waiting until the midseason finale.
Also, there’s a chance that this past episode has set up Carl’s fate. His new friend, Siddiq, doesn’t seem to have any sinister motives, but in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, you can’t get too trusting. There are also some theorists who think that Carl was bit by one of the walkers that attacked him in the woods, and that his fate will be revealed in a later episode.
While I’m not crazy about his character, I was still relieved to see him make it out of that encounter alive. Since Carl has barely been in this season, having him die in a random walker attack in the woods would be pretty unimaginative. The kid has survived some close calls in the past, so dying like that would also be kind of anticlimactic. If Carl does get killed off this year, it should at least be done in a way that will have a significant impact on the events of season 8.
What do you think is going to happen to Carl this season? If you think he’s safe, who do you have next in your TWD dead pool? Sound off below.