The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs Shares BTS Throwback Photo from Carl’s Final Episode

Former Walking Dead star Chandler Riggs on Saturday shared a behind-the-scenes photo commemorating the two-year anniversary of filming on Carl Grimes’ final episode.

The photo, taken during filming on 809, “Honor,” shows Riggs posed with parents Gina Ann and William Riggs and co-stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Alanna Masterson and Christian Serratos.

“Honor” first aired in February 2018, kicking off the second half of Season 8 and putting Carl’s father Rick Grimes (Lincoln) on a more merciful path. His son’s death ultimately convinced Rick to spare Savior leader Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in that season’s finale, after a letter penned by Carl urged Rick to understand that “every life is worth something.”

Riggs later said he only learned of Carl’s death when performing rehearsals for episode 806, “The King, the Widow, and Rick,” where Carl was bitten by a toppled walker when rescuing stranger Siddiq (Avi Nash). The incurable bite would force Carl to take his own life three episodes later.

“I found out — we got the script for episode six, when [the bite] was supposed to happen,” Riggs said during a June convention appearance in 2018. “We were doing rehearsals for it and then, after the rehearsals, [then-showrunner] Scott Gimple brought me in and then told me. He said, ‘That’s why you kind of act weird after you trip, because [the bite] happens.’”

Speaking to THR, Riggs admitted he “didn’t expect for Carl to ever get killed off.” Then 18, Riggs had newly purchased a house near the show’s Senoia, Georgia set when he was informed Carl would be killed in a major deviation from creator Robert Kirkman’s comic books.

“I was planning on going to college until I found out. I found out when I was doing rehearsals for episode six back in June,” Riggs said in 2018. “It was quite the shocker for me, Andy and everyone because I don’t think anyone saw it coming.”

Riggs has since expressed his hopes of reuniting with Lincoln in the Walking Dead movie trilogy, set some time during the unseen six years skipped over in the closing minutes of Lincoln’s own final episode in Season 9.

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres Sunday, October 6 on AMC. Follow the author @cameronbonomolo on Twitter.