Chandler Riggs Hints At A Potentially Dark Turn For Carl On The Walking Dead

Young Carl Grimes may be about to wander down a dark and dangerous road on The Walking Dead season 8.

At least, that’s according to Chandler Riggs, who spoke to Triple J (via ComicBook.com) about his adolescent character, and why he’s “very admiring” of Negan and the respect/fear he commands. Indeed, Riggs has been a long-time servant of The Walking Dead, having first appeared alongside his on-screen father, Andrew Lincoln (Rick), back in 2010.

In that time, we’ve watched Carl grow into one of the show’s key players, and let’s just say he’s been put through the wringer since his first encounter with a walker almost a decade ago. Which is something that can be said about most, if not all of The Walking Dead‘s principal characters.

One thing that will certainly fuel rumors online is the way in which Chandler Riggs refers to Carl’s perspective on Negan, and why he’s drawn to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s sadist. Could it be that Carl will descend into a full-blown villain in the not-so-distant future?

That would be awesome! That would be really cool. Actually, in Episode 7 of last year, there was a few minutes during Negan’s power trip over Carl, there’s a few times where Carl was very admiring of Negan’s power. I did a few subtle things in there to hint at him possibly going down that path.

Overall, though, Chandler Riggs believes season 8 is about bringing a sense of closure to AMC’s all-out war, which is an arc that began to unfold during last night’s gripping episode.

Season 7 was all about building up and getting everyone ready to fight against Negan, and this season is going to be lots of explosions, lots of killing, a lot more Negan. Lots of fighting, lots of cool stuff. It’s really really fun this season.

We’re not exactly sure we agree with Riggs’ definition of ‘fun’, but let’s just say The Walking Dead has really upped the ante for this year’s installment:

We’ve had a few characters this season who I feel so bad for, because they’re coming in in the midst of all the war and the craziness with the explosions and everything. I mean I definitely feel like an OG or a veteran because I’ve been on since I was 10.

The Walking Dead season 8 continues with the premiere of “Monsters” on Sunday, November 5th.