There’s a little over a week left before The Walking Dead returns with new episodes to AMC. The internet has been all a flutter with zombie-centric rumors in recent days as the addition of “Jesus” has been confirmed leaving open the inevitable appearance of big bad Negan, who looks to be showing up at the end of Season 6. While there is an ongoing will they/won’t they regarding the possible conflict between Rick and Morgan that has been alluded to since last year’s finale, a rather bloody plot point from the comic books has now been brought up for discussion.
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It’s very common, in Robert Kirkman’s comic, for main characters to lose appendages. Not too far into the story, Rick loses his hand and during the Alexandria storyline, Carl Grimes ends up dealing with a gaping wound in his head. When the safe haven is overrun by a giant gaggle of the undead, young Mr. Grimes gets shot right in the face. While an injury like this may leave some looking like an Arseface (sorry, had to), Carl ends up dealing with a barrage of his own health issues after the injury.
Entertainment Weekly recently brought up this specific event from the comics to showrunner Scott Gimple who stated, “We don’t know if anybody’s losing their eye. This is not A Christmas Story.” Gimple also addressed the healthy state of Rick’s hand in the series by comparing that comic book detail to that of Game of Thrones’ own Jaime Lannister:
“There are some things we can’t do that were in the comic,” says Gimple. “Rick losing his hand — there’s also another big TV show that did it recently.”
One of the great things about AMC’s The Walking Dead is that they consistently keep the audience guessing by straying away from some of the key plot details in the books, while meeting them square on where it truly matters. Which brings into question the importance of Carl’s cranial health. Gimple commented on the concept, alluding to Grimes keeping both of his eyes, but also teased a bigger storyline that may be in the boy’s future:
There are other things we can and will do. There is a balance to be struck. If it is stuff that’s really important to serve the character, we need to try and do it. It’s also just if we can pull it off on a consistent basis in a great way. There’s stuff we can do, there’s stuff we can’t do. I would never tell you what it is.
For the past five years, Carl Grimes has been the point of many fans’ contention. Whether you think he should’ve stayed in the house or not, it rings true that his character’s personal narrative has been a bit unfocused. We’ve watched Chandler Riggs grow into this character throughout the series thus far and it may finally be time to give this character more to do aside from carrying the guilt of his mother’s death around with him while mostly following Rick’s orders. Sure, we caught a glimpse of a possible love interest for Grimes last season, but who knows where that will take him.
If it’s not his eye, Carl may be dealt a different sort of injury. Speculatively speaking, a jarring event like this could help push Grimes into adulthood, and further set him apart from the other young people in town. The real question is how it would serve the story and is Riggs really up to the challenge. We’ll see how it all pans out, gaping face wound or not, as The Walking Dead premieres it’s sixth season on AMC next Sunday, October 11th.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
