The Walking Dead: Where Did Carol Go?

Warning. Major spoilers for the fourteenth episode of The Walking Dead’s sixth season (Twice As Far) follow!

To conclude Sunday’s episode, we lost another character. Fortunately, she is not dead like Denise (who viewers fell in love with as she threw up on her glasses) but she chose to leave. Melissa McBride’s Carol left a break up note for her recent lover, Tobin, and left without giving any notice.

Where did she go?

Let’s consider what the note said. To paraphrase, Carol tells Tobin, “I was banished in season four and I came back just in time to save everyone at Terminus.” Don’t forget, when Carol was approaching the place the characters once thought would be safe, she told Tyreese she wouldn’t stay there. Despite the show she has put on at Alexandria, she likely never wanted to stay put.

At this point, where she went is anybody’s guess. We can only assume she hasn’t gone far and will remain on the show. The most concrete reason comes from the fact that McBride commented on the script of the season finale and The Walking Dead cast members don’t get scripts to episodes in which they are not featured.

Most fans will want to see Carol come back as Negan arrives and save someone’s life but that’s just not going to happen unless she sacrifices herself. Negan is more powerful than even Carol can handle. His Saviors are not the clumsy, greedy cannibals of Terminus, but calculated savages. If Carol decides to show up for Negan’s welcoming committee it will only spell trouble for her in the group.

So, when does Carol come back? Assuming we don’t follow her on a separate journey, it’s probably safe to say we won’t see the character again this season unless Morgan goes looking for her. It’s clear that she and Morgan have some form of connection, initially built on disagreements but clearly running deeper than that.

It’s not impossible for her to have left to never be seen or heard from again. We’ll all be left wondering, “What ever happened to Carol Peletier?” for the rest of our lives. The Walking Dead did this with Morales from season one. We never saw him again and probably won’t, though, he was not nearly as popular or invested in by fan emotions as Carol is.

Remember, this is a character who committed suicide by zombies in The Walking Dead comics. A fate of leaving on her own terms is better than one in which she becomes zombie chow. My bet, though, is we will see her again – when she is ready.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.