When it comes to The Walking Dead, death is an inevitability. It's right there in the title. Unfortunately, it's the kind of show where your favorite characters could die at a moment's notice. There are so many characters that we wish had survived longer or wish had survived altogether. But again, that's the territory of the show. Characters come and go, sometimes very violently.
The Walking Dead universe has also often changed course from the original source material, with some of the deaths that occurred in the comic book series not happening at all in the television series. Those pivots from what happens in the comics has saved us quite a few heartbreaking deaths over the years, at least when it comes to a certain few fan-favorite, franchise-defining characters.
One such iconic character from The Walking Dead franchise was supposed to meet her maker in season 3 but has instead wound up being one of the most legendary characters that's still around today. In case you weren't aware, Carol Peletier was technically supposed to die in The Walking Dead season 3, but her death scene was changed to take someone else and save her life instead.
Carol was almost killed off in The Walking Dead season 3
Back in 2016, The Walking Dead special effects makeup artist and director Greg Nicotero revealed that Carol was considered to die in place of T-Dog. Nicotero shared to SFX Magazine that discussions in the writers' room at the time were mulling over what to do with her character. They weren't sure they had enough material to move her character forward and were prepared to kill her off in the third season. Obviously, they changed their minds, but it was a close call.
"Not a lot of people know that when we were shooting season 3, in the episode where T-Dog died, there was a moment where Carol was going to die in lieu of T-Dog’s character," Nicotero explained to SFX. T-Dog was killed by a Walker bite as he was securing a fence, a move he made that allowed Carol to escape and remain alive. Nicotero didn't elaborate on exactly how the writer's came to the decision to kill T-Dog over Carol when Carol does ultimately die by a Walker bite in the comics.
But that just goes to show you that The Walking Dead franchise could have been a lot different had Carol actually died in T-Dog's place in season 3 episode 4, "Killer Within." After that supposed close call with being killed off the series, Melissa McBride, who plays Carol, went on to become a series regular in season 4 and remained so through the eleventh and final season. She also appeared in a flashback in Fear the Walking Dead season 4 and currently stars in spinoff series Daryl Dixon.
Carol appears as a guest star in the first season of Daryl Dixon before becoming a main character in season 2, which was subtitled The Book of Carol, and she will appear again in season 3 and more than likely the fourth and final season — barring an additional close calls with death in the upcoming episodes, of course. Thankfully, Carol wasn't actually killed way back in the early days of the original because she's by far a legend we couldn't imagine the franchise without.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres Sept. 7 on AMC.