When a show as legendary as The Walking Dead made a shocking departure from its source material, fans noticed, and they noticed hard. For years, fans of Robert Kirkman’s iconic comics had followed the grim, harrowing journey of people trying to survive a world overrun by the undead, forming deep attachments to its characters and storylines in the television series adaptation. But when the show hit a major turning point, it threw everything fans thought they knew into chaos.
There were many times throughout the popular zombie series that fans were left stunned by unexpected twists. But there's one particular moment we can think of right now that stands out as one of the most controversial. One of the show's most beloved characters, Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), met a fate that shocked the entire fanbase.
Surprisingly, The Walking Dead killed off Carl Grimes in the eighth season
No one wants to see their favorite character meet a tragic end, but Carl's death in The Walking Dead season 8 was absolutely soul-crushing and a game-changing moment that left fans reeling. What really made everyone upset about Carl's death is the fact that it wasn't even supposed to happen. Yes, you read that right!
In Kirkman’s original Walking Dead comics, Carl survived, growing into a strong, morally grounded leader whose journey inspired hope in an otherwise brutal and unforgiving world. On the show, however, the writers made the shocking decision to diverge from the comics and cut his story short. And to make matters worse, he didn't even go out with a bang. It was already bad enough that a major, fan-favorite character was getting killed off when he shouldn't have, but the way Carl’s death was handled made it even more devastating.
Sure, some could say he went out a hero since he was in the process of helping a stranger when a walker bit him. He would then go on to take his own life to avoid reanimation and hurting his friends and family. But a character like Carl deserved so much more than that. Carl deserved a farewell that truly honored the journey he had been on since the very first season, and unfortunately, The Walking Dead didn't give him that.
Honestly, the zombie series really messed up by killing Carl off. It would've been nice to see Carl's entire character arc play out just like in the comics. However, there still would've had to been slight changes, since Carl gets married to Sophia in the comics and has a child. Like with Carl's death in the series, the writers made another major change earlier on regarding the Sophia character. In season 2, Sophia is turned into a walker and is shot dead by Rick. So if Carl had survived in the series, he would've had to be given a new love interest if they wanted to keep his story moving in a similar direction as the comics.
Carl's death definitely changed Rick going forward and his outlook on the world around him, and that was supposedly the main reason why the writers decided to kill him off. But regardless of the fact, it still felt like a huge mistake that the series never fully recovered from.
The Walking Dead can be streamed on Netflix right now.