With the upcoming arrival of the mid-season premier of AMC’s hit show, The Walking Dead, many fans are left in a dilemma after it was revealed in a recent season finale back in December of 2017, that the character, Carl Grimes played by Chandler Riggs, had been bitten. This sparked a lot of fan theories, and disbelief over the death of Carl and has left the fan-base split over his death. On one hand, their are viewers of the show who are glad-or neutral-about his character’s death, and feel that Riggs leaving the show will not affect the quality of the series; and may in fact make it better.

On the contrary, a surprising amount of viewers are upset about Carl’s departure as a character in the show. They feel that the main character, Rick Grimes (Carl’s father), will begin to lack purpose and drive in the series. Though, people seem more upset about the seemingly pointless way Carl had died. When Glenn Rhee, played by Steven Yeun, was killed off viewers were devastated but knew to expect his death. In comic universe of The Walking Dead, which the show has been following since season one of the series, Glenn dies at the hands of Negan; so the inevitable death of Glenn was something fans of the comic version could expect.

But what people are scratching their heads about, is that Carl’s death makes no sense for the direction the current season is going in. According to the comics, season nine was supposed to be centered mostly around Carl, and his relationship with a new character. The following seasons would focus more on Carl’s character and how he changed. But with his death, comes to absence of intriguing story lines in the upcoming seasons. The the show runner, Scott Gimple, has been receiving some backlash about his decision to kill off Chandler Riggs’ character. Viewers are speculating that this decision was due to money disputes; that AMC was unwilling to boost Riggs’ pay now that he was no longer a minor. Other fans are simply chalking up his death to poor writing.

No matter the reasoning, Carl’s death has left people confused and emotional about the future of The Walking Dead. His character was meant to stand as a symbol for the future, and now that he is most likely leaving, it is anyone’s guess on what will happen to the series. I asked a casual viewer of the show, Adriana Martinez, if The Walking Dead could continue after Carl’s death and she had to say that, “I’m not sure if the show will continue after Carl’s death, but it will definitely create curiosity for what will happen, the same way Glenn’s death did. But if they show wants to see long term viewers, then killing off Carl, who’s a crucial character to the comic-universe and is suppose to carry the rest of the series, then it’s gonna be difficult.”