If you watched The Walking Dead religiously throughout its glory days, you'll know how big of a character Carl Grimes was. The son of Rick and Lori Grimes, Carl's role in the first few seasons often saw the young boy acting out, struggling with his father's return, and the apparent role that Shane had played in his parents' relationship troubles. However, as the show progressed, he began getting more mature storylines, which saw him slowly evolve into a loyal, young leader of the Alexandria community.
Carl, portrayed by Chandler Riggs, was very much positioned as the future of the show - and it wasn't easy getting him there. But he evolved and grew, learning from his mistakes to develop into one of the show's main - and most reliable - characters. And that's why it was so shocking that The Walking Dead's creative team made the jaw-dropping decision to kill the character off in the midst of its eighth season (in a rather nondescript way that meant nothing in the long run). Here's why it went down like that.
Carl's death was supposed to motivate Rick
Whenever a beloved character is killed off on a TV show, fans often wonder if it was down to the actor, who may have wanted to leave to pursue other opportunities. That wasn't the case here, as actor Chandler Riggs was committed to seeing out Carl's story in The Walking Dead. Bafflingly, it was the creative team who made the call, seeing Carl's death as a storytelling opportunity.
The thinking behind the decision was that it would ultimately motivate Rick to try and find a peaceful end to his war with Negan, refusing to go back to the dark place that Carl saw too many times throughout the apocalypse. AMC's Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe (and showrunner of the original series at the time) Scott M. Gimple told The Hollywood Reporter back then:
"It's all having to do with the greater story of the season... It will be very apparent, the relationship of this awful incident — this very intense story turn — to the greater story... It has everything to do with what happens throughout the rest of season 8."
Negan, despite his villainy, had grown quite fond of Carl - he was the only thing that he and Rick saw eye-to-eye on. So, upon his death, the war between the two calmed for a bit. However, even though it started back up again pretty quickly, Rick used Carl's words of wisdom to him in a bid to find that peaceful solution. So, after defeating Negan and slitting his throat, Rick saved his life and imprisoned him at Alexandria - hoping that one day he could find redemption.
So, as momentarily effective as the death was, Carl was simply used to service someone else's arc. Granted, those someone elses were Rick, Michonne, and Negan - all three of whom were among the main characters in season 8 - but that's not exactly a justified method for a character who so many - including The Walking Dead's own creative team for a time - believed to be the future of the show. Nevertheless, Gimple doubled down on the decision, confirming that it wasn't Riggs' idea to leave:
"This was a story turn, that's it. We did not receive a request [from any actor] or anything like that. This has everything to do with story. It's unbelievably difficult to lose someone you've worked with for as long as we've worked with him. It's been a really tough thing. We're hoping to be telling a story that's worthy of it."
Setting aside the apprent creative reasons for making this move, Carl's death prompted a lot of outrage from the audience. Rumor has it that it even impacted behind-the-scenes relationships, with a long-standing theory that Andrew Lincoln's departure as Rick Grimes less than a season later might have had something to do with that.
Riggs' father, William, took to Facebook shortly after the announcement of Carl's death had been made, saying:
"Watching Gimple fire my son 2 weeks before his 18th birthday after telling him they wanted him for the next 3 years was disappointing."
The post has since been deleted and Riggs did return to The Walking Dead for its series finale in 2022, making an uncredited cameo as a farmer at Hilltop.
The Walking Dead didn't pull off the aftermath of Carl's death
Whether or not they succeeded in telling a story worthy of Carl's death is up for debate, but considering that season 8 is widely considered the worst season of the show, I think it might be safe to say that the consensus is that they didn't. And it's not just down to the fact that Carl died, it's the execution of it and the aftermath that let it down.
Although Negan ultimately did find redemption, bonding with Carl's younger sister Judith, fans still didn't feel like the death was justified. Carl was engineered to be the future of the show and The Walking Dead's creative team went to great lengths early on to showcase what a complex character he was, particularly through his struggles with Rick. Ending all of that to simply service other characters was a huge creative misstep.
Carl's death was intentionally designed to be rather uninteresting. In helping stranger Siddiq, he was bit by a random walker. Just like that, there was no coming back from it for him. It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment put together to show audiences that it could all be over that quickly in a zombie apocalypse. And although it was effective, fans felt that Carl deserved a better ending than that.
What's worse is the show's ineffective way of dealing with the aftermath of that. Carl saved Siddiq in season 8 and the character went on to become a pretty important part of Alexandria throughout the "time jump" years, but he was suddenly killed off in season 10 when he was strangled by one of the Whisperers. And, just like that, the legacy of Carl's sacrifice was ended in an instant.
Fans also weren't as receptive to the notion of Judith taking on storylines that were originally destined for him. While Carl had spent years evolving into the young man who committed the ultimate sacrifice to save Siddiq, Judith's growth took place during the multi-year time-jump, meaning that audiences didn't really know her. So, in a way, it felt like a bit of a copout to simply replace Carl in the narrative with his sister.
And then there's Rick. Carl's death was supposed to motivate Rick and, while it did for that season, the season 9 time-jump did the heavy-lifting (as he was now a changed, more hopeful leader). The character's exit in the fifth episode of that season - which arrived just 12 episodes after Carl's death. 12 episodes is all of the aftermath that was felt, and the near-immediate time-jump rendered all of that useless anyway.
Looking back, it's clear that the show wasn't able to jusitfy such a big swing. The moment has gone down in history as one of The Walking Dead's biggest mistakes and that won't be changing anytime soon.
While Carl was a divisive character early on, audiences had grown fond of him as he became one of the young leaders at Alexandria. He was also told by his mother, Lori, to beat this world. The show's questionable writing in seasons 7 and 8 ensured that he didn't. And this, along with adding more grief onto Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and everyone else who loved Carl, was simply uncalled for.