‘The Walking Dead’ Showrunner Addresses Exactly How The Midseason Finale Twist Will Play Out

Major spoilers for The Walking Dead’s season 8 mid-season finale, ‘How It’s Gotta Be.’Carl Grimes […]

December 11, 2017, 2:14am

Major spoilers for The Walking Dead’s season 8 mid-season finale, “How It’s Gotta Be.”

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Carl Grimes will be the next major death to hit The Walking Dead.

The mid-season finale ended with Carl revealing to Rick and Michonne his inevitable demise: he’s been bitten by a walker on the midsection, dooming him to die.

Appearing on live aftershow Talking Dead, showrunner Scott M. Gimple addressed Carl’s imminent death, saying the bite — which is in an area that can’t be simply removed from the body — will play out the only way it can.

“That is a bite on his side. This is a very solemn moment, and I’m trying not to sound… it will play out as bites play out on the show,” Gimple said. “I think the reason I step lightly there is… yeah, it’s going to play out like bites play out.”

February’s mid-season premiere will finish off Carl for good, but Carl isn’t in the ground just yet. According to Gimple, there’s still some story left in the fading teen:

“The bite is going to play out as we’ve seen bites play out, and it’s very important to Carl’s story and the entire story what happens in the next episode,” Gimple added. “So I’m just focused on the fact that Carl right now is alive and he has some business to attend to.”

“That is a one-way ticket,” the showrunner said of Carl’s bite. “But I’d like to think that the things we see in the next episode are so important to his life and the other characters’ lives.”

Gimple praised longtime Carl actor Chandler Riggs‘ performance in his upcoming sendoff episode episode, which will serve as a major propulsion for Rick and Michonne’s stories in season 8B.

“The work he does in this episode, in the premiere, in the next episode that you’ll see, is definitely the finest work we’ve seen on the show,” Gimple noted. “I’m not saying the finest work by Chandler, I’m saying the finest work by any actor on the show.”

Riggs confirmed Carl’s story is coming to an end.

“When Carl pulls up his shirt and pulls down his bandage to reveal the bite, it’s a huge moment for him, for Rick and Michonne, for everyone in the group,” Riggs said in a pre-recorded message on Talking Dead. “He’s definitely happy with the way things ended up, with him saving all of Alexandria and making sure everyone was alive, and it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens next.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with its mid-season premiere in February.