Robert Kirkman has said on several occasions that “no one is safe” on the cast of The Walking Dead, and that includes his lead actor, Andrew Lincoln, and fan favorite Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus.
However, that may not be completely true, as Kirkman revealed at New York Comic Con. There is one character he will not kill off. It’s not Rick, Daryl or even Michonne. In fact, it’s a character that he originally meant to kill off in season three, but not doing so is the best decision that The Walking Dead has ever made.
I speak, of course, of Carol.
“I regret all of [the deaths] and none of them at the same time,” Robert Kirkman told the audience at Comic Con, before adding — according to Vulture — that there’s one character he can’t kill off.
“The Carol that’s in the comic was my attempt to show just how broken an individual can become from the zombie apocalypse. The Carol in the show, which is a much better character let’s be honest, actually is made stronger by all the more horrible things that happen to her in the show. Killing her would definitely not … we can’t do that.”
That is Kirkman’s first ever admission that he could not kill off a character, and given how important Carol has become to the series, it’s not a huge surprise that she is the one who seems to be safe.
Then again, who knows how truthful Robert Kirkman is in these situations. After all, he supposedly spoiled an upcoming major character death on a comedy show last year. Or did he?
Rest assured, however, that when he does kill off a character — even one that other cast members don’t want to see killed off — he doesn’t do so lightly. “If I didn’t have any regrets, if I didn’t still wish that those characters were around, then I feel like I wouldn’t have done my job.”
