The Walking Dead's Angela Kang Finally Addresses The Daryl And Carol Criticism

"The Walking Dead" won't be around much longer. The final season has already begun airing new episodes, and soon, fans will have to say goodbye to the flagship series that's anchored AMC's programming since 2010. But the franchise shares a similar quality to the mighty Hydra of Greek myths. When you chop off one head, two more grow in its place.

The series will continue to live on in the form of its various spin-offs, like "Fear the Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead: World Beyond." And even though Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has been missing in action for a few seasons, he'll return in a trilogy of films set to debut on AMC within the next few years. There's a lot to look forward to, but one spinoff has been met with a bit of controversy.

In 2020, it came out that AMC was also working on a spinoff centered on Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), who have both been on "The Walking Dead" since Season 1. The problem with this announcement is that Daryl and Carol are still alive on the tentpole show, so the existence of a spinoff seems to imply that the two of them will survive until the finale. That knowledge takes some of the stakes out of any precarious situations those characters find themselves in from here on out, and now, "The Walking Dead" showrunner Angela Kang has commented on the future of the two zombie-hunting friends.

It's important to note the idea Daryl and Carol will survive "The Walking Dead" is an assumption. It's always possible the show could end with a flashforward while the spinoff series depicts what happened to the two in the interim. A lot can happen, and Kang was coy about offering any details about either project. But she did reveal this intriguing tidbit: "The interesting thing is, we knew that Daryl/Carol was coming. The decisions for that, plus the show ending — they didn't happen simultaneously, but they happen to kind of mirror each other" (via Digital Spy).

She doesn't delve into how exactly the two projects mirrored one another, but the good news is that it sounds as if the writers' plan for those characters supported the idea of a spinoff independently. Out of anyone still within the main group to get a spinoff, those two certainly make the most sense, seeing how close they've gotten over the years. Fans already know the actors have fantastic chemistry together, so the prospect of seeing more of them will be a real treat.

Kang reflects on their unique dynamic, "But I think what is really touching about Daryl and Carol is that they are so important to each other. They do lean on each other in a really special way ... So that's going to be something that carries out over the course of the story. And then at some point we will hand them off into another story." Even if the adventures of Daryl and Carol continue, there are still plenty of cast members left whose fates are up in the air.