‘The Walking Dead’: Chandler Riggs Explains Why He’s Been Quiet Recently

Former The Walking Dead star Chandler Riggs has been quietly prepping exciting acting and music projects following the death of his character, Carl Grimes, in Season Eight of the zombie drama. He recently explained as much, and teased the fruits of his labor.

i know i've been quiet for a while- i've been putting so much more time and effort into my creativity (in terms of both acting and music) over the last few months and i'm starting to see the results of that hard work.
i've got so much exciting stuff that i can't wait to show you.

— chandler riggs (@chandlerriggs) October 27, 2018

Riggs also revealed during a September convention appearance he's enlisted in acting lessons in addition to developing his career as a musician, where he creates and performs electronic music under the name "Eclipse."

"I got pretty close for a couple [roles], but nothing too big yet," Riggs told an inquiring fan during Walker Stalker Con Orlando, pointing to his auditions for lead roles in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Marvel Studios' Spider-Man reboot. "But I'm still auditioning, and taking some acting classes, staying very busy. So I'll be in something soon, don't worry."

The 19-year-old actor next stars in crime thriller Inherit the Viper alongside Josh Hartnett and Bruce Dern, and sci-fi Only, where he appears alongside former Walking Dead co-stars Joshua Mikel and Jayson Warner-Smith.

Riggs performed at EDC Las Vegas 2018 following the debut of his four-track EP on SoundCloud earlier this year.

"I'm actually producing music kind of on the side, and I'm starting to play some shows and things like that," Riggs told KTLA 5 after relocating from Georgia to Los Angeles when his tenure on The Walking Dead ended. "I'm doing that and acting, it's quite a lot to juggle but it's a lot of fun."

Riggs remarked acting is "awesome, but I'm really, really able to express myself creatively in music."

He has since said he's "satisfied" with Carl's controversial death in The Walking Dead Season Eight mid-season premiere, which came as a major deviation from creator Robert Kirkman's source material.

The late Carl is still the driving force for father Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who makes his own exit from the series this Sunday. Carl's death fuels Rick's obsessive mission to fulfill the idyllic future he promised his dying son, bringing Rick into conflict with even close allies Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

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