“Major Changes” Are Coming to The Walking Dead

So far a lot of changes have already come to The Walking Dead throughout its seven and a half seasons. But major changes are just on the horizon as the show gets set to unveil the back half of season 8 and deliver a whole new list of shocking developments. So it might be true that we’ve all groaned and moaned to see some of our favorite characters get turned into walkers or taken out by others in the most brutal of ways. But what’s coming next is going to make some of those seem paltry by comparison. If you thought it was bad already, then you haven’t seen that eventual pitfall coming at all.

Carl is going to be taken out, and if you’ve watched everything up until now you already know he’s been bitten, which is a death sentence in and of itself. No one gets bitten and survives, even if they happen to be a favorite character. It’s not often that a character from season 1 gets offed this far into any series, but Carl has had a good run and, contrary to the comics, he’s going to be saying his final goodbyes soon. The shocking death came as a surprise to everyone, but even Chandler Riggs, the actor playing Carl, agrees that it’s going to take the series in a new direction and create a conflict within Rick that will end up redirecting him yet again. After having survived so much and been through so many different dangerous situations in which he’s been outmatched and unable to be much help, Carl finally turned out to be one of the toughest members of the group. His loss is going to be a hammer blow to the group, and especially to his father.

Morgan is going to be leaving as well, though his story is going to follow that he’s making  the transition to Fear The Walking Dead as he makes his way towards Texas. It seems like a smart move even though he’s so badly needed where he is. Morgan has been a conflicted character since season 1, always trying to follow a moral code of some sort but always finding himself dragged back into the mire of humanity he so badly wants to avoid. It could be that he might be the link that finally connects FTWD to TWD as has been discussed during past seasons. It also seems that way since he and Rick seem  bonded in a way that’s hard to get rid of and seems a pity to just up and disintegrate. It could be that we’ll see Morgan again on TWD.

Losing Maggie would be another big hit to the show but it might come to pass since there have been no contract negotiations with Lauren Cohan just yet. She’s been such a big part of the effort to take down Negan and the Saviors that losing her would create a huge gap in the ranks. The showrunners are still hopeful that she’ll come back in season 9, but so far nothing is set in stone.