‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Are Posting Crazy Theories on How Carl Can Survive

The Walking Dead midseason finale dropped a major bombshell on fans, and now they’re working themselves into a frenzy theorizing how it could be undone.

Warning: Massive spoilers ahead!

Carl Grimes is going to die. Carl’s death sentence was delivered when he helped lone survivor Siddiq try to clear a group of walkers; he ended up getting a fatal bite.

When The Walking Dead midseason finale ends, we see Carl sitting in a dark sewer chamber with the rest of the Alexandria escapees, resigned to his seemingly imminent fate. However, a lot of fans will not (cannot?) accept that this is truly how Carl is going to go out; in fact, there are a wave of fan theories already popping up regarding how Carl can surprise everyone and live.

Let’s just preface this all by saying: Carl is almost certainly going to be dead soon after the Walking Dead returns. Like, it’s happening. These fan theories below are more the wishful thinking of dedicated fans – and they’re pretty hilarious in how far they stretch to try an circumvent the inevitable:

Theory #1: Immunity

The first thing that fans are turning to is the theory that Carl is somehow immune to the zombie virus, which will be revealed in this seemingly drastic moment. This theory would be an easy move for The Walking Dead to pull, except that there’s the little problem of overwhelming evidence that Carl is infected! When last seen he was getting progressively paler, sweatier, and generally more sick-looking — pretty much the hallmark of an infected person. Also, his death preparations don’t seem to be the work of a kid who’s feeling A-OK on the inside after a walker bite.

Theory #2: The Helicopter Save

One of the mysteries still hanging over The Walking Dead Season Eight is the who is piloting the helicopter that Rick spotted in the sky some episodes back, and for what purpose? Some fans are jumping to the conclusion that the helicopter will provide some kind of cure or curative process (more on that next) for Carl, but it will be a race against time (and The Saviors) to get him aboard. It’s probably the least crazy of these theories, but introducing any kind of (real) cure would immediately up-end everything about The Walking Dead as we know it.

Theory #3: Blood Transfusion

Now we’re getting out there, as some fans are predicting that while a cure for the zombie virus does not exist, a drastic medical procedure like a full blood transfusion might do the trick. Even if The Walking Dead went that route (which it never would), even a high school health class student could probably deduce that a blood transfusion wouldn’t solve the issue of the cellular tissue that was infected at the actual site of the bite.

Theory #5: Faux Bite

Here’s about where we cross from fan theory to questionable judgement: some Walking Dead fans have gone so far as to suggest that Carl’s bite was never real in the first place! There’s various explanations that people are coming up with, from the bite being from a Whisperer, not a zombie; to Carl creating the bite himself for some reason; to – however, we’re not going too far down that rabbit hole. The bite was real, and this kind pushes the limit of the word “theory.”

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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.