‘The Walking Dead’: Fans Think Carl Got In Negan’s Car

Cameron Bonomolo

04/03/2018 03:28 pm EDT

Some Walking Dead fans think Carl Grimes is the secret passenger Negan picked up off the side of the road in 8x14, "Still Gotta Mean Something."

"If sh—t could sh-t, it still wouldn't look as sh—tty as you," Negan says, flinging the passenger door open.

The mysterious hitchhiker can be glimpsed, but just barely, riding shotgun at episode's end as Negan pulls up to the Sanctuary after being presumed KIA.

(Photo: AMC)

It's likely the MIA Laura — the Savior with the barcode neck tattoo — who would be the little birdie that gave Negan his gleeful attitude when he returns to the Sanctuary, promising all kinds of surprises.

Laura knows Dwight is the Savior mole assisting Rick and AHK, and her return would signal dangerous territory for Dwight, who is caught off guard when Negan shows up alive.

But a subset of fans believe it's Carl Grimes who took Negan's ride, and the teen somehow survived or faked his death.

Carl was famously killed off in 8x09, "Honor," after shooting himself in the head before he could succumb to a fatal walker bite. Carl's body was buried by Rick and Michonne, who as recent as 8x14 traded tearful exchanges over Carl's sudden death.

There's also the matter of Rick's actions in the back half of season 8 being fueled by Carl's loss, and 8x15 opens with Rick finally reading the full contents of Carl's letter penned on the teen's deathbed.

But some fans — some suspicious, others hopeful — are theorizing Carl is Negan's secretive passenger:

Seeing Things

The Walking Days of Our Lives: Carl Fakes His Death

In Cahoots With Negan

Looks Like a Woman, Doesn't It?

I Don't Die

Six Feet of Denial

Doesn't Hurt to Hope

An Even Bigger Twist

Fans are also theorizing about that recurring helicopter that showed up again, this time hovering above the junk yard with the intention to collect Jadis, who had a packed bag and a signal flare at the ready.

As for Carl, the one-eyed apocalypse survivor is dead — but actor Chandler Riggs, who has since accepted his departure from the series after eight years, is open to one day returning in a dream or flashback sequence.

The Walking Dead premieres its next episode, "Worth," Sunday, April 8 at 9/8c on AMC, before airing its extended season 8 finale April 15.

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