On Sunday December 10th, The Walking Dead Season eight mid-season finale premiered. After episode seven ended, promos told viewers they would not want to miss the live show because of the “shocking moment” everyone would be talking about, and oh was it shocking. So if you haven’t watched episode eight yet, stop reading because major spoilers are ahead.

Many fans were in dismay at the reveal that Carl Grimes, who is the son of main character Rick Grimes and has been in the show since the very first episode, had been bit two episodes prior while helping a new character Siddiq. There was rumors going around earlier in the season that Carl was going to die during the finale, but it was never confirmed. More so, fans never saw this major death coming.

In the comics, which are about 70 or so issues ahead of the TV show story line, Carl is slowly becoming the main character, and creator Robert Kirkman plans for him to eventually take over after Rick. Throughout the seasons, the show has closely stuck to the comics with minor changes; however, Carl’s death will be such a drastic change to the future of the show. Will The Walking Dead be able to recover from this?

Chandler Riggs, the actor who plays Carl, did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on his departure from the show. He basically confirms that yes: he is going to die. There is no going back. He claimed, “Leaving Walking Dead wasn’t my decision. It was all story-related.” He also said that he “didn’t expect Carl to ever get killed off.” There has been a big backlash to show runner, Scott M. Gimple, who is the person who decided to kill off Carl. There was behind the scenes drama released by his dad, that has since been deleted, just hours after the episode that Chandler was actually fired a few weeks before his 18th birthday. No one knows why, but hopefully more information will be released in the future.

The death of Carl is certainly a shock that may boost ratings and talk about the show for the short term, but is it really going to help in the long term? This is the biggest deviation from the comic story line thus far, but was it really the best choice? The only way to know is to wait it out.

The finale definitely reminded everyone that anyone can die in this zombie filled world. People may think that a bite death is a fake out or the easy way out, but it certainly confirms that the “walkers” remain a big threat. If you are going to kill Carl, perhaps this was the best way to do it for closure purposes. Being such a detrimental character for the story, fans will want to hear some final words from him. Riggs also stated “There’s still a little more left in Carl’s story – in episode nine – and that impacts Rick, Michonne, and everyone. Although Carl’s story is coming to an end, it’s not over yet.”