The Walking Dead's Chandler Riggs to Appear on Talking Dead Next Season

Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl Grimes on AMC's The Walking Dead, may not have been allowed to [...]

The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale Carl

Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl Grimes on AMC's The Walking Dead, may not have been allowed to appear on the series's postgame analysis show Talking Dead last night, but after fan pressure on social media mounted, host Chris Hardwick announced that they had already arranged to bring the young actor on Talking Dead during Season Five. On Sunday, Riggs tweeted at Hardwick, "@Nerdist you should have me on next week!" Riggs's fans agreed, and they started tweeting their support.

Chris Hardwick

For his part, Hardwick responded, "YOU CAN COME ON WHENEVER YOU LIKE, SIR! #OpenInvitation." However, not long after that, Riggs tweeted, "AMC says NO TALKING DEAD for me-thanks everyone for your support & requests!  @nerdist #ClosedInvitation." With rumors that one of the comics' most gruesome and controversial scenes would be adapted for television last night (it was, and Riggs was a part of it), much of the speculation revolved around the idea that maybe having a 14-year-old actor discussing attempted child rape wasn't quite ready for prime time. Indeed, even with two adults on the couch (star Andrew Lincoln and showrunner Scott Gimple), they mostly spoke about the brutality with which Rick dispatched the Marauders and not the attempt on Carl. Others theorized that he might be a "surprise guest," meaning that his character could die in the episode -- or that Lincoln's appearance meant that Rick was going to die and as series star he was being afforded more time to talk about being written out. Still other theories were somewhat less provocative; things like the cost of working a young actor into the night, and/or the costs associated with flying Riggs out to Los Angeles for his appearance and compensating him for his time also came up (as did the notion that simply inviting yourself to a paid work event on social media probably wouldn't fly with most employers). Whatever the case, Riggs will get his time on Talking Dead come next year. Let's just hope for his sake he isn't a "surprise guest."

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