The Walking Dead TV series shocked fans when it killed Carl Grimes in its eighth season. The show has long challenged viewer expectations by killing off characters who survive in the comic-book source material. The most famous of these was when Negan beat Abraham to death instead of Glenn, before turning his attention to Glenn anyway. However, Carl’s death not only veered away from the comics, it changed everything readers knew about the story.
In the comics, Carl lasted until the very end of the series, even outliving his father. In the final issue, Carl was an adult with a wife, Sophia (who also died in the show), and a baby named Andrea (after another character changed entirely for the series). Carl told his daughter a story about how her grandfather, Rick, helped change the world. But that will never happen in the TV show, and it’s a shame.
On the TV show, Carl saved Siddiq from walkers, but was bitten in the process. Ultimately, Rick left his dying son with a gun and Carl took his own life so he wouldn’t reanimate. The purpose of the death mostly seemed to be to shock the audience and prove anything could happen at any time on the show. The Walking Dead started as a series about Rick Grimes trying to find his family, and the comics ended with Rick changing the world so Carl could live to tell his story. But, with Carl dead and Rick gone after Andrew Lincoln left the show, neither of these characters can play a role in the final season of the series.
Yes, the show could switch out Carl with Judith. In the comics, Baby Judith died in Lori’s arms when The Governor gunned them both down at the prison. On the TV show, Lori died giving birth to Judith, but Judith is still alive. This change from the source material offers Judith a chance to get married, have a baby and tell her child the story of what happened. However, Carl was there from the start of the story, and the idea was to see him grow up and become a man. Viewers haven’t seen Judith grow up like they did Carl, thanks to all the show’s time jumps. And the absence of Carl hurts even more because the plot point ultimately did nothing to affect the show in a deep way.
Ultimately, without Carl, Rick or Michonne on the show, it appears Daryl, who isn’t a character in the comics, and Carol, who was completely different there, will be the two who lead the way to the Commonwealth. While the TV show has always tried to separate itself from the comics source material, it has no choice now. The problem is that, while Lincoln and Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne, asked to leave the show, there was no good reason to kill Carl. Losing the character hurts The Walking Dead‘s final season as Carl was set up from the start to grow into a survivor and a leader.
Airing Sunday, Oct. 4 on AMC, The Walking Dead Season 10 finale stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton and Cooper Andrews.