'The Walking Dead's Ross Marquand: It 'Sucked' To Lose Carl

The three share their reactions to finding out Carl’s fate! Alanna lost her chess buddy, and [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Walking Dead's Ross Marquand, who plays Aaron, was "genuinely shocked" when he learned longtime survivor Carl Grimes was going to die — and it "sucked" to lose the teen.

"I think we all thought he was going to be the new leader of the show down the road in the future," Marquand told fans during a Q&A session during Walker Stalker Con London.

Marquand said he didn't learn of Carl's fate until he read the script.

The shocker came in part because Carl Grimes plays a pivotal role in the comic books, and because Walking Dead veteran Chandler Riggs, who played Carl, had been with the series since it's first episode in 2010.

Despite the massive shake up Carl's death brings to the show, Marquand said deviation from the books helps keep the show unpredictable — and makes for some exciting new possibilities.

"I think the comics vary from the show quite a bit and I think that's what makes the show fun and interesting," Marquand said.

"It's a lot like Game of Thrones in that respect, where it's a show that keeps on challenging your expectations on what's gonna happen with the characters."

He continued, "I thought it was surprising as hell, but I actually think for the show overall it's gonna do amazing things for Rick and it's gonna motivate him in ways we've never seen before."

"But it did suck," Marquand said. "It sucked when we found out."

No one was caught off guard more than Riggs, who told EW he thought executive producer Scott Gimple was joking when he broke the news.

"I honestly thought he was joking the first time he said it, because Scott has a pretty good sense of humor and we joke around a lot. So I thought he was joking," Riggs said.

"When I realized he wasn't, it was quite the shocker, because I was really looking forward to the story arc from the comic book with another group, the Whisperers. Carl has a really, really cool interaction with one of the members of that whole group and I was super excited to do that whole story line."

A freshly released photo from the upcoming fourth season of Fear The Walking Dead might be hinting at the spinoff series adapting the Whisperers story arc instead, where Carl played a central role.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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