The Walking Dead’s Cailey Fleming Wanted Scenes With Chandler Riggs’ Carl Grimes

Judith Grimes actress Cailey Fleming names Chandler Riggs, who played Judith’s older half-brother Carl Grimes through Season 8, as the actor she most wishes she could have worked with on The Walking Dead. Fleming’s aged-up Judith first appeared in Season 9 episode 5, “What Comes After,” the sendoff episode for Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes, in an introductory scene taking place more than six years after the death of Carl and the presumed death of Rick in a bridge explosion. The younger Judith (played by twins Chloe & Sophia Garcia-Frizzi) was able to say goodbye to Carl before he committed suicide to prevent succumbing to an incurable walker bite, but Fleming “would love to have had a scene with Chandler.”

“I think that seeing the bond that they had would have been amazing to see [in Seasons 9 and 10]. I think that would have been so cool,” Fleming said during a live stream when taking over The Walking Dead‘s Instagram page. “I think having a scene with him would have been really special, but that would have been really cool.”

Asked if Carl and Judith would have gotten along if they were both six years older, Fleming said, “I think so. I think seeing Judith look up to Carl as the big brother role that he could play, I think they would get along. All brothers and sisters have some fights, like little tiny things, but I think that if they were to grow up together and to fight together, I think that would have been really cool.”

Judith has a little brother of her own — Richonne baby RJ (Antony Azor), born to Michonne (Danai Gurira) months after Rick’s disappearance — and “she’s really thankful for him,” Fleming added. “And she does get to be the older sister, and she does get to teach him about the apocalypse, and she does get to be an inspiration to him, and she’s really thankful for that.”

While Fleming’s Judith has yet to appear opposite Lincoln’s Rick, who next returns to TWD Universe in a trilogy of movies, the 12-year-old actress did meet her TV dad in a hair and makeup trailer during Season 9.

“So, as you saw in Season 9, Rick left in the same episode that [older] Judith came, so she didn’t get to have any scenes with him,” she said. “But I did get to meet him, he’s really sweet, and he’s amazing. He’s such a talented actor.”

Following Lincoln’s departure from the show five episodes into that season, Riggs said it would have been “really interesting” to explore Carl after the six-year time jump that followed Rick’s supposed death.

“It’s kind of hard to know what Carl would be like after a six-year time jump,” Riggs said at San Jose Fan Fest 2018. “I think he definitely would take on this, if Rick wasn’t in the picture anymore, I think Carl would definitely take on this, I guess, just the older brother role, and really take care of [his siblings], and do what he’s been doing — or do what he was doing — for the years that he spent with Judith.”

TWD Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.