‘The Walking Dead’: What’s Next, Post-Carl?

Spoilers for the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead “Honor” past this point!

There are two eras of The Walking Dead: “Before Carl” (BC), and “After Carl” (AC). As of last night’s (February 25) episode, we’re officially in the AC era, and nothing on the show will ever be the same. Not least of which because Carl (Chandler Riggs) is a vitally important character in the show’s source material, the comics by creator Robert Kirkman. So that flailing feeling Game of Thrones fans felt when the HBO show lapped George R.R. Martin’s books? Yeah, TWD fans are suffering an acute case of that this morning.

With that in mind, though, there’s still a fair amount we can pull from the source material, as well as things we can intuit about the rest of the season based on, you know, having watched a television show before. Here’s some burning questions — and answers — about the rest of Walking Dead Season 8:

Is Carl coming back?

Uhhhh… He shot himself in the head rather than turn into a zombie, so you would think the answer was “no.” But given how the show has been playing with time and mixing around scenes this season, I think it’s a fair bet that Mr. Riggs filmed a scene or two that will play out in the season finale, as a reminder of Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) promise to his son to make the world a better place post-war.

So the war will end?

Yep. Rick and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) have been coming to blows for two seasons now when we wrap up Season 8 — three if you include the time before Negan was officially introduced on screen and worked as a behind the scenes puppet master. And one way or another that will all end by the Season 8 finale. Based on the final scene of the midseason premiere, we’ve got a few ideas on how that might all go down.

What about that little kid who killed The Savior? Is he the New Carl?

Similar to New Coke, I’d expect the kid (his name is Henry) will appear and disappear very quickly. The parallel storylines in the episode, focused on Carl and Morgan (Lennie James) aimed to show two sides of the show’s main conflict: can we escape the cycle of violence, once we’ve started? For Carl, the answer was “yes.” But at the same time, while he gave hope to his father in Alexandria, Henry was playing out the same scenario Carl had described just as Morgan wrestled with pulling back from becoming a non-stop killing machine.

So yeah, Henry is a visual metaphor, rather than Carl’s identical cousin Karl who will start goofing around with the gang and get into all sorts of scrapes.

Can Morgan find peace, though?

This is, I’d venture, a big question for the rest of the season. Morgan is leaving Walking Dead to head over to Fear the Walking Dead at the end of Season 8. Confusing matters, Fear — up until now — has taken place about two-three years earlier than TWD; but Season 3 left off with all of the characters potentially dead except one, and the showrunners have stated that Season 4 will play with time. So it’s not as easy as saying, “Yep, Morgan decides to leave after the war and head over to Texas,” because the “Fear” storyline could take place in his past — or even farther in his future.

This is starting to make my brain ache, and not in a zombie plague way, so let’s just say at this point my best guess is that we’re going to see the most straightforward execution of Morgan’s story: the war is over, Morgan needs to get his head straight and leaves Alexandria.

How gross was Morgan pulling that dude’s intestines out, by the way

So gross. I may have screamed a little bit.

Will Rick keep his promise to Carl?

Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes but with complications. There’s no way out of this war without some causalities, and that will weigh on our bearded, sweaty leader. Even though Carl has imparted his vision of a harmonious paradise with his Dad, Rick can’t become a pacifist and let bygones be bygones: Negan killed a lot of people in the most horrible ways possible.

And beyond that, getting to Old Dead Carl’s vision of the future is going to take a lot of work. In the comics, we get a time jump post-War, but I suspect that we’ll be living with the consequences of what Rick does to beat Negan for a long time.

Is Michonne okay? She looked really sad.

Yeah, man. Even more than Rick, Danai Gurira’s reaction to the death of Carl gutted me. In the comics, Michonne jets out of Alexandria after the war and takes time clearing her head as a smuggler (who wouldn’t want to see Pirate Michonne?), so it’s possible — particularly given Gurira’s rising star — that she may stick around with Rick until the end of the War, then hit the high seas. Whatever happens, I really don’t want to watch her crumple in sorrow outside that church again, because ***so many tears***.

How about Ezekiel (Khary Payton)? Is he the king again?

After Morgan and Carol (Melissa McBride) helped him escape and retake The Kingdom, I would say he got his mojo back, yes.

How about Siddiq (Avi Nash)? Is he sticking around?

As much as anyone sticks around in the zombie apocalypse. But as revealed this episode, Siddiq is a paramedic, and having someone with medical knowledge is going to be important going forward. Particularly because one doctor got shot through the eye with an arrow, and Negan threw another one in a furnace.

What’s up with everyone else?

Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) are headed to Oceanside, so we should catch up with them soon. Dwight (Austin Amelio), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and the rest are on the road. Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) is still at the brink of death, though I expect he’ll recover just fine what with Siddiq and all. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Jesus (Tom Payne) are at the Hilltop, and will be rejoining the fight soon, as well.

When are we gonna see that nude zombie?

Before the end of the season, and you’re gross.

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