The Walking Dead: Top 100 Moments

11. Carl Saves Alexandria

Episode 808 “How It’s Gotta Be”

Original Airdate December 10, 2017

Submitted by: Sarabeth Pollock

When Negan shows up in Alexandria in the season 8 midseason finale, he’s at the gates and he is coming in one way or another. Carl snaps into action to save everyone by ushering them into the sewer beneath the community while Daryl leads an assault out the back.

To buy time, Carl gets up on the fence to speak to Negan mano a mano. He implores Negan to reconsider, telling the leader of the Saviors that he doesn’t think that this is what he really wants to do. What’s more is that Carl says he’s willing to sacrifice himself for the people of Alexandria. He will die if that means the people inside the gates may live.

After winning Negan’s respect in “Sing Me A Song,” Negan actually stops to consider this plan. He’s blown away by Rick’s son and his willingness to sacrifice himself, but when Daryl’s group leaves out the back, Negan suspects that Carl might have been stalling things.

What Negan didn’t know, and nobody knew at that point, was that Carl was already a dead man. He’d been bitten while out trying to help Siddiq, and his days were numbered. When Rick and Michonne arrive in the tunnels, they find Carl and discover the awful truth.

It’s clear that Carl knew his time was limited and so he was willing to put it all on the line to save his people. This is the young man Carl has grown up to be, and it’s why his legacy will always be felt on The Walking Dead.