The Walking Dead season 9: Are Ezekiel and Carol now a couple?

Mrs. Carter: Is a new The Walking Dead romance now official between Ezekiel and Carol?

Today, AMC released a number of photos from their upcoming ninth season premiering this October, and it’s pretty clear that the one above is generating the most conversation. This shows that these two characters (played by Khary Payton and Melissa McBride) have formed a tight bond over time, and it gives Carol something that I wasn’t sure she would have over the series’ run — a full-fledged love interest. There have certainly been many people ‘shipping Daryl and Carol (myself included) for a while, but it didn’t quite seem like the writers were every really willing to go there with Daryl. That character has never ventured too close to have a real, genuine romance on the show, and it’s fair to wonder whether it will ever happen.

With Carol and Ezekiel, you do have two characters who know each other very well and have a built-in trust, which is really the biggest thing that you can ask for in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s ultimately just rather nice to see Carol happy, given that this is somewhat of a rarity on this show with everything that she has been through. Earning Carol’s trust to get close to her on emotional level has really only been earned by Daryl, but over the past few seasons we have seen Carol and Ezekiel grown closer as friends and earn each other’s trust.

She deserves happiness, and hopefully, Ezekiel ends up giving her that and this isn’t just one of those cases where being in a relationship automatically means that someone is being killed off. This is certainly something that we’ve seen in the past on the show. One great example is Glenn and Maggie; meanwhile, another is Rick and Michonne, and it’s already been made clear that Andrew Lincoln is leaving at some point this season. Can we just have one romantic relationship that lasts? This is a very dark show and it needs a small element of hope so that it makes it worth watching. For the longest time that hope for me was Carl, but now that he’s gone and rick is leaving i need something else to be a beacon for the future. If you can’t tell I’m still salty over Carl’s death.

Maybe Ezekiel and Carol will be the rare Walking Dead romance that lasts, or maybe this is a way to add something new to the story that hasn’t quite been there before. It’s certainly something that I’m looking forward to seeing when the show finally returns.

What do you think about the idea of a romance between Ezekiel and Carol on The Walking Dead? Share right now in the comments!

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