Revealing that he had been bitten on the ribs a few episodes prior, Carl Grimes — Rick's teenage son, who has been played by Chandler Riggs since the show's pilot — is on death's door. "Yes, Carl is going to die," Riggs tells The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive interview. "There's no way he can get back from that. His story is definitely coming to an end."
When did you find out?
I was planning on going to college until I found out. I found out when I was doing rehearsals for episode six back in June. It was quite the shocker for me, Andy and everyone because I don't think anyone saw it coming. It's definitely not a bad thing because it has been awesome being on the show but now I get to go and do a lot of other stuff that I haven't gotten to do before. Scott wanted to meet in person because it was such a big deal. We had just finished rehearsing for a scene in episode six and he wanted to meet with me and my mom and dad and talk about what's going to happen.
When did you find out?
I was planning on going to college until I found out. I found out when I was doing rehearsals for episode six back in June. It was quite the shocker for me, Andy and everyone because I don't think anyone saw it coming. It's definitely not a bad thing because it has been awesome being on the show but now I get to go and do a lot of other stuff that I haven't gotten to do before. Scott wanted to meet in person because it was such a big deal. We had just finished rehearsing for a scene in episode six and he wanted to meet with me and my mom and dad and talk about what's going to happen.
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your reaction when you first found out about this happening to Carl?
ANDREW LINCOLN: [Showrunner] Scott Gimple always makes a phone call to everybody, and he said to me, “You’re going to hate this one.” And I mentioned four names. None of them were right, and he had to tell me that it was the kid. I was so shocked that he said three times, “Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?” I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say.
I never saw it coming because I always thought that the kid would be the future, and that was the whole point of this — that I was going to hand over the revolver and let him walk off into the distance, you know? So it was incredibly shocking. Everybody was reeling from it and continue to reel from it.
ANDREW LINCOLN: [Showrunner] Scott Gimple always makes a phone call to everybody, and he said to me, “You’re going to hate this one.” And I mentioned four names. None of them were right, and he had to tell me that it was the kid. I was so shocked that he said three times, “Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?” I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say.
I never saw it coming because I always thought that the kid would be the future, and that was the whole point of this — that I was going to hand over the revolver and let him walk off into the distance, you know? So it was incredibly shocking. Everybody was reeling from it and continue to reel from it.
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The showrunner also praised the work of Chandler Riggs in playing this heartbreaking arc. “The work he does in this episode, in the premiere, in the next episode that you’ll see, is definitely the finest work we’ve seen on the show. I’m not saying the finest work by Chandler, I’m saying the finest work by any actor on the show.”
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