The Wasted Potential of Carl Grimes

Carl Grimes was a character in The Walking Dead that seemed untouchable. The Walking Dead followed the story of the Grimes family, starting with Rick waking from the hospital and doing everything he could to reunite with his family. As the years passed by and we started seeing Carl as an actual character instead of a kid growing up in the apocalypse, Chandler Riggs really started coming into his own as both an actor and as Carl Grimes.

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[imlinkzAnimeLIVE]

Carl had one of the biggest impacts on the Walking Dead. I personally think his character could have gone a lot longer, especially after Rick left he would have been a good leader. I think Killing of the character was the biggest mistake that The Walking Dead made. It also would have been pretty cool to see Carl with grown-up Judith working / fighting together as a duo.

[merlin]

Totally agree. I'd love to see a grown up Carl.
Also, killing Carl was one thing, killing Siddiq was sad too. Carl literally sacrificed his life so Siddiq could live but they killed him just a few years later so it felt even more pointless

[idkwhattohaveasausername]

Killing Carl off is what made me quit watching. The show is supposed to be about him and Rick. There is no walking dead without Rick and Carl. Compared to the comics, the show version of him had so much wasted potential.

[jwaximus]

Carl should’ve been the last man standing. A Cowboy/Samurai carrying the legacy of everyone we loved

[phantasm_]

It’s just so annoying that Carl finally turns that page and comes full circle to choose peace and compassion over revenge and bloodshed, and his payoff for that is dying BECAUSE of that correct choice.

[kaz]

I always believed that Morgan should have taken Carl's death. It would have been so fitting and made so much more sense for Morgan to get bitten, and his final request to Rick would be to spare Negan's life. And Rick would grant that, being that Morgan was the first person Rick met when he woke up in the apocalypse, and saved his life multiple times. Plus the obvious "all life is precious" thing.

[MANBUK]

As far as I was concerned TWD was really supposed to be about Carl. Growing up in the new world, seeing how his Dad, Hershell, the Governor and Negan ran their groups before becoming a leader in his own right. Rick was the present and Carl was the future. They killed it

[asainman]

As negan said "That kid was the future"

[kompst_tu]

They did Carl dirty. I could forgive killing Glenn off, but killing Carl was the worst mistake they've ever made. I would honestly be totally okay with them finding a way to retcon his death so he could be in the show again.

[thezoinksguy]

Carl's death was definitely one of the reasons Andrew Lincoln left the show. I mean the father-son relationship of Rick and Carl was his favourite thing about the show, what do you really get after that ends.

[jimmydcriket]

Carl's death was the single worst decision that I've seen in any show

[randompebble]

When I got to the episode of Carl’s death, I literally stopped it halfway through and never went back. What a terrible decision to kill him off, in my opinion he was the most important character in the show because he represented the future of humanity. Would have loved to see the show end similarly to the comics. I might one day come back to finish the series now that it’s finally coming to an end, and I’m getting tons of twd content reccomwnded on YouTube as well, but Carl’s death was the breaking point for me

[zeinobeid]

Carl and Glenn were two kills that even though shocked the audience, causes a lot more problems .After for the story.

[alyssavance]

Since Chandler was turning 18, he was eligible to earn A LOT more money. They wanted to negotiate it (he has very....involved parents and they always have been; Chandler's dad even runs a TWD tour bus), but Scott wasn't trying to shell out that amount of money. Terrible because he did it right after Chandler bought a house as he thought he would be continuing on the show and wasn't given any indication he was in jeopardy. And yes, part of Andy leaving was due to Chandler.

[primroseprom]

Honestly, if the writers brought Carl back and every character just acted like he never died and he’s been here the whole time, I think the audience would just go along with it.

Carl was, and still is, one of the greatest characters in The Walking Dead, and as much as I love Matt Lintz and his portrayal of Henry, I’ll always hate that Gimple decided to kill off Carl for (what feels like) no other reason than cheap shock value.

[gamergo]

Just imagine how much older and more mature carl would have been in season 11

[steamsleeper]

It was pretty obvious they didn’t know what to do with Chandler since he kept aging. He started down a darker path closer to the comics when he killed that boy in s3, then turned almost full pacifist by S4 and onward

[_Devil]

Before this even begins, I already know imma agree. Carl had SO much potential and I hate how he was killed off. I think Carl and Abe are two deaths I still cant get over, even if they were necessary for moving the story forwards. Carl shouldve stuck around until the end like in the comics, I know Carl wouldve had alot of satisfaction knowing that he was right in that Negan could/did change and that he's now an important person to the group rather than an antagonist

[mattyl]

I definitely feel Carl's death was a mistake. We spent the series watching him grow up, hoping he would eventually become a leader only for him to be killed off just as he was reaching that point. If he had stayed on, and Rick still suffered the same fate as he does in 9x05, it would've been the perfect opportunity to push Carl in that direction. Obviously he wouldn't have become the new leader right away, but the remainder of season 9 would've consisted of him dealing with Rick's "death" as he feels he is not prepared to live up to his legacy. On top of this, they are now also dealing with the whisperers. By the end of season 10, he likely could've garnered enough respect from the others to be at least on par with Daryl as a leader through those developments. Then season 11, still the final season, he could've finally reached a point where he no longer struggles with leadership and has ultimately become a capable survivor. No spinoff required. Instead they kind of lost the plot in some regards. Definitely a mistake and definitely a lot of wasted potential in storytelling for Carl.

This is actually something we also missed out on in the comics as there is a time skip to a grownup Carl as the leader of Alexandria. We never got to see any of his journey getting to that point.

[testpilotian]

He wasn’t fired and was even paid the three years he had left on his contract in full, said this on a podcast iirc. Gimple now admits it was a mistake killing Coral off and the only reason they did it was because they didn’t know how Rick would change and let Negan live because the source material didn’t make sense, so killing him off for the shock value seemed the only way to change Rick’s personality the way it did.

What an utter twat.