'The Walking Dead': What Was The Significance Of Negan Appearing In Carl's Vision According To Greg Nicotero

The Walking Dead executive producer and director Greg Nicotero says Negan appearing in Carl's vision for the future has a foundation in the earliest seasons of the show.

"Carl sees that there can be a world where they all live together," Nicotero said on live after show Talking Dead.

"He says in his speech, 'you did bring people back before.' He's talking about after Woodbury and the Governor and that Rick brought all those people back. So Carl's looking at that Rick and saying, 'it's not unheard of for you to find it in your heart to bring people into our community.'"

The episode peered into a possible future with the visions of a feverish Carl Grimes as he slowly succumbed to an incurable walker bite.

Carl's idyllic future included a lush and thriving Alexandria now home to friends-turned-enemies, like Eugene, and enemies-turned-friends, like de facto Savior leader Negan.

His hopeful future included a world where Rick Grimes and his band of survivors have found peace, and bat-wielding Negan has reformed — becoming so docile to the point he interacts sweetly with a young Judith Grimes.

Rick promised to fulfill Carl's dying wish and make his desired future a reality, despite Rick's continuing promises to kill Negan.

Actor Chandler Riggs said Carl saw Negan as "an annoyance getting in the way of the world," with Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan reporting the bat-wielding bad guy saw the teenage Grimes as "the future of this world."

With Carl now dead, his absence has axed any possibility of the television series exploring plentiful moments shared between the characters in creator Robert Kirkman's monthly comic book series.

Nicotero, who directed last Sunday's mid-season premiere, said it was "rough" filming "Honor," which sent off Carl and his 18-year-old actor.

"When you're dealing with someone like Chandler who's been on the show from the beginning, from literally the end of the first episode, it was rough," he told ComicBook.com.

"I mean, aside from one of our original cast members going, I think the idea that it was someone that we grew up with. He was eight years old or nine years old when we first started the show. He was a little kid. So it was pretty intense."

"It's never easy, I'll tell you," Nicotero said. "It's never easy saying goodbye to people on the show."

That future may or may not come to pass, but according to executive producer Scott M. Gimple, the "time jump" being expressed by way of feverish visions doesn't rule out the series undergoing an actual time jump as it did in the comic books.

Following the conclusion of the All Out War storyline, the comic books jumped ahead several years to a prosperous and developing Alexandria.

The Walking Dead airs Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.