Warning: this story contains spoilers for The Walking Dead series finale. Rick Grimes and Michonne weren’t the only cameos on Sunday night’s final episode of The Walking Dead. Titled “Rest in Peace,” one of the last scenes of the series finale reunited Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) at the Hilltop colony. While the scene was about the future, there was an easily-missed cameo by someone from Walking Dead past: Chandler Riggs, who played Carl Grimes in the first eight seasons of the AMC zombie drama that wrapped Sunday after 11 seasons and 177 episodes.
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A disguised Riggs makes an uncredited cameo in the background of the scene, appearing as a Hilltop farmer who is only barely visible. Riggs actually revealed his cameo after the series wrapped in April, tweeting on April 1st: “I am in the final episode of TWD.” In a subsequent tweet, the actor added, “Happy april first.”
But fans spotted Riggs in a cast and crew photo from the final day of filming. It turns out Riggs did spoil his secret cameo, which you can see in the official image below.
“Chandler Riggs was in town and he just asked to visit to say hi to friends,” showrunner Angela Kang told EW. “I had such a good time hanging with him on set, and it was just really nice to see him. And then they were doing these scenes and needed some extras, and Greg was like, ‘Well, you want to go for it? Get in there! Go get in the back.’”
As told by executive producer and episode director Greg Nicotero, “That was our last day of shooting and Chandler wanted to come visit. And I looked at him and I went, ‘Hey, you. Take that, go stand in the back of that shot.’ It wasn’t planned. I don’t even think we put wardrobe on him. I think he was just wearing whatever he wore when he came to set. We’re just like, ‘Throw him in the background.’ I think we gave him a hat to disguise him a little bit.”
The Walking Dead series finale, “Rest in Peace,” is now streaming on AMC+.