The Walking Dead season 8 boss discusses upcoming death

Why is The Walking Dead killing off Carl Grimes? It’s a question that so many have wondered over the past few months and for good reason. This is not where the character goes in the comics and, beyond that, Carl is beloved. Out of all of the major people on the show he was in our personal top three of ones we felt would never die. It felt far more likely that the writers would eliminate Rick from the equation than it did his son, given that Carl felt like the character that would actually inherit the world and try to make it a better place.

Alas, that’s not happening. Killing Carl, especially via zombie bite, is another reminder within this era of Negan that the zombies are still important. Beyond that, the writers and producers behind the scenes seem to think that this move is the shot in the arm that the series needs to propel the rest of the world. You can still argue that there were other ways in which that could’ve been done but we’ve now reached the point where what’s done is done. Nobody behind the scenes on The Walking Dead is going to be throwing a phoenix down Carl’s direction and bringing him back to life.

Here is the justification that current showrunner Scott M. Gimple offered up on the subject to TVLine:

“Looking at where the show is and where we wanted the story to go, Carl is trying to change the world even as he’s leaving it, and that has an incredible amount of impact on everything going forward.”

It certainly feels like everything within this statement could be true — The Walking Dead needed a way to push their story in a new direction and the feeling was clear that killing off Carl now was the best way in order to do that. Maybe if every other character becomes a little more like Carl in the process of his death, we can start to see it. Beyond that, this just feels like a cheap way to blindside many fans with their favorite character leaving the show far too soon.

Related – Is The Walking Dead not promoting the end of Carl enough?

Is there another justification in killing off Carl to you? Sound off in the comments!

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