‘The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs on Auditioning for Spider-Man

Former The Walking Dead star Chandler Riggs, who played Carl Grimes through the zombie drama’s eighth season, says he didn’t make it very far when auditioning to play Marvel Studios’ rebooted Spider-Man.

“Yeah, I didn’t even get a call back,” Riggs told ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis during Walker Stalker Con Orlando. “I just auditioned for it, and it’s fine.”

Riggs previously confirmed he auditioned for Spider-Man in 2015, when Sony Pictures and Disney-owned Marvel Studios were on the hunt for a new and younger Peter Parker following news the aborted Amazing Spider-Man franchise would give way to a rebooted Spider-Man as part of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That role would eventually be won by then-19-year-old Tom Holland, who would go on to debut as the character in Captain America: Civil War before headlining Spider-Man: Homecoming and being christened one of Earth’s mightiest heroes in Avengers: Infinity War. Riggs also went out for the lead role in Disney-Lucasfilm’s young Han Solo prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story.

“I auditioned for Spider-Man, I auditioned for Han Solo, all those big movies,” Riggs told ComicBook.com earlier this year after his long-surviving Walking Dead character was killed off the series. “I would love to do something like that. It would be awesome, especially now that I have a lot more free time, it would be really, really cool.”

Appearing at Walker Stalker Con Nashville over the summer, Riggs praised the Spider-Man star, saying Holland is “such an incredible actor, and he’s so funny.”

The 19-year-old Riggs is now pursuing a music career, producing and performing electronic music under the “Eclipse” name. “Acting is awesome, but I’m really, really able to express myself creatively in music,” he told KTLA 5 earlier this year.

“I got pretty close for a couple [roles], but nothing too big yet,” Riggs told fans during the Q&A portion of his Walker Stalker Con Orlando appearance when asked about his acting future. “But I’m still auditioning, and taking some acting classes, staying very busy. So I’ll be in something soon, don’t worry.”

Riggs has two projects in post-production: crime-thriller Inherit the Viper, where he appears alongside Josh Hartnett and Bruce Dern, and sci-fi Only, where he appears with former Walking Dead co-stars Joshua Mikel (Savior Jared) and Jayson Warner Smith (Savior general Gavin).

The Walking Dead Season Nine debuts Sunday, October 7 on AMC.