TWD: How Chandler Riggs Feels About Carl's Exit From The Walking Dead

AMC's long-running zombie series "The Walking Dead" established very quickly that no one on the show was safe. The shocking deaths of Sophia (Madison Lintz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) in the earlier seasons kept fans on the edge of their seat, waiting to see if their favorites would make it out of the apocalypse alive. One cast member, Chandler Riggs, literally grew up on the show, playing a starring role since the very beginning. Riggs played Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) son Carl Grimes up through Season 8, and he recently talked about what it was like when his time was up on "The Walking Dead."

In an interview with Comic Book Movie, Riggs reflected on the death of his character and how it felt leaving the show years before its official end. Even though it's one of the saddest death scenes in the series' history, he harbors no hard feelings about having his character killed off. "It was an incredible experience and I'm so lucky to have been on it for so long," the actor said. "I'm so grateful for everything it gave me over the years. I wouldn't have been playing Superman if it wasn't for that. It was pretty bittersweet." 

The opportunity to play Superman that Riggs is referring to is a voice role in the 2023 DC animated film, "Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part One."

Chandler Riggs starred on the zombie series up until his character's demise in the 2018 episode "Honor." Fans were outraged at the show's choice to kill off Carl, but Riggs didn't feel the same bitterness, and saw the end of his character as a blessing. "I knew there was a lot more left in Carl's story that I was not able to tell," he said, "but at the same time ... I've been able to play other characters [in other projects] and really feel like I'm stepping into being an adult actor. It was really cool and I'm not bitter about it at all."

Besides the aforementioned "Justice League" animated film, Riggs has starred in a recurring role on the ABC drama series "A Million Little Things" and in the film "Inherit the Viper" alongside Josh Hartnett and Bruce Dern. The actor seemed grateful for the opportunities that the horror series led him to. Plus, one can't be mad at a show whose thing is literally to kill off characters in shocking ways.

Carl's death in the show is quite a departure from Carl's story in the comic books. The show is also known for surprising its audience by differing greatly from its source material on certain occasions. In the comics, Carl is alive at the very end and has started a family with another character who is deceased in the show, Carol's daughter Sophia. On the show, while on their way to Alexandria, Siddiq (Avi Nash) caused Carl to trip and he was bitten by a walker. Carl opted to take his own life before he could turn into a zombie.