Time’s running out for Carl Grimes. The Walking Dead‘s midseason finale left viewers with their jaws on the ground when it was revealed that Chandler Riggs’ character had fallen prey to a walker bite, which can only mean one thing: that Rick’s young son is about to meet a tragic end in the upcoming midseason premiere.
It’s something that the show’s impassioned fanbase has been bracing for for months now, and in a recent interview with Variety, The Walking Dead EP Scott M. Gimple explained just how significant Carl’s death will be and what kind of impact it’ll have on both the rest of the characters and the story.
Describing it as “nuclear,” the producer teased that this is actually one of the “hardest deaths ever.” And on a show like this, that’s really saying something.
“It’s nuclear in how it affects the characters, how it affects the story, how it affects their world moving forward,” Gimple told Variety. “The death of this character, this young hero…it creates the last sort of conversation of who these people are going to be and how they’re going to move into the future. It might be very tragic. It might be very hopeful. It might be somewhere in between. Not all the characters are going to respond the same way, and the tragedy itself makes it very difficult to hear Carl’s words and to act on them in a way that he wants.”
Continuing on, he explained how he feels The Walking Dead is cursed, as it has such a great cast but they often end up dying.
“It couldn’t be more personal this time around because not only has he been there since the beginning, but he also grew up on the show. It’s incredibly difficult. ‘The Walking Dead’ is cursed, because it is a show that has some of the warmest, most professional, most giving actors I’ve ever seen share a soundstage together. Yet it is a show where people regularly die because that’s the world they inhabit.”
Finally, Gimple said that though it’s tough to see Carl go, it’s “really important to the story.”
“This is one of the hardest deaths ever, but I believe this is a really important story with an important message. It’s an unbelievable tragedy to see this character go, but his death is not the end of his story.”
The Walking Dead will return for episode 8×09, titled “Honor,” this Sunday, February 25th. And to commemorate the death of one of the show’s most important characters up to this point, it’s set to be an extended installment – coming it at 82 minutes in length. The only question that remains now, is, are you ready to say goodbye to Carl Grimes?