The Walking Dead Producer On Season 8’s Body Count: “Everyone’s On The Table”

Game of Thrones notwithstanding, The Walking Dead is arguably the most brutal series currently on air, no thanks to its phenomenal makeup department.

But AMC’s apocalyptic flagship also owes a great debt to its pool of screenwriters, who aren’t afraid to deviate from Robert Kirkman’s long-running comic book series. Not only that, but they also make no bones about bumping off The Walking Dead‘s key players, and over the years viewers have been forced to part ways with Glenn, Beth, and Abraham….to name but three.

However that may be, as series producer David Alpert tells the Huffington Post (via ComicBook.com), there’s method to the madness, particularly now that season 8 has upped the ante right across the board. Alpert’s interview strays far into spoiler territory, so unless you have no qualms about encountering potentially huge story revelations ahead of time, put a pin in this page for now.

Still with us? As rumors about Carl’s seemingly imminent death continue to swirl, Alpert was asked point-blank about the fate of Chandler Rigg’s adolescent survivor, and here’s what he said:

I think we’ve shown time and time again that everyone’s on the table, and we’re the type of show [where] we don’t have a problem deviating from what the comic does. We had people saying, ‘Oh, if Daryl dies we riot.’ No, it’s like we hear you. We still get people petitioning us to bring Beth [Emily Kinney] back. There are so many people that love Emily that want her back. That being said, everybody’s on the table and where the story demands we go, we’re gonna follow.

In short, Carl Grimes isn’t out of the woods yet, which is something that can be said about the entire cast of The Walking Dead season 8. With AMC’s three-pronged war now in full swing, no one is really safe, which only means that each new instalment is a nail-biting affair.

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