With The Walking Dead coming to an end in 2022, many are wondering whether one fan-favorite character, Carol Peletier, might be meeting her end in the final episodes. In September 2020, season 11 of The Walking Dead, an extra long 24-episode season, was officially revealed to be the show's last, with its final episodes set to air between October and November 2022. However, this isn't truly the end for The Walking Dead, as several spin-off shows have been confirmed alongside the already established Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond - but this has done little to dampen speculation regarding which characters will actually survive the final episodes.
The Walking Dead debuted on AMC and Fox in October 2010 and although viewership has declined in recent years, the show has overall been met with widespread positive acclaim. The series first focused on Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes, who wakes up weeks after the start of a devastating zombie apocalypse, finds a group of survivors, and quickly becomes acclimatized to the new world. Over time though, The Walking Dead has expanded to develop each character in their own right, with the likes of Daryl (Norman Reedus), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Carol (Melissa McBride) becoming fan favorites over the years.
Initially, Reedus and McBride were set to appear in a TWD spin-off together as their relationship had been one of the most developed throughout The Walking Dead's main run. However, in April 2022, it was revealed that the series would be retooled to focus solely on Daryl, with Melissa McBride leaving the project due to an inability to travel to Europe, where filming would take place. This revelation has brought with it speculation that Carol might be meeting her end at some point during the final eight episodes of The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead Isn’t Really Ending After Season 11
The Walking Dead might be coming to an end, but this is by no means the last time viewers will get to see the franchise's walker-ridden world. Aside from the show's first spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, which premiered in 2015 and gave viewers insight into the beginning of the apocalypse, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a 2020-21 two-season limited series that focused on the first generation of children growing up in the apocalypse, several other spin-offs have been confirmed which are set to air both in 2022 and 2023. It can be assumed more announcements will follow, meaning The Walking Dead isn't really ending after the main show's final season.
As a result, Tales of the Walking Dead will be the first new spin-off to be released. The six-episode anthology series will focus on new and established characters, telling the story of the world's end from different and unexpected perspectives. Meanwhile, Isle of the Dead will subsequently feature the returns of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in a New York City setting. Originally, Rick Grimes' story was set to continue in a trilogy of AMC-Original films, but this has since been remodeled into a six-part series featuring Lincoln and Gurira. Daryl's Walking Dead spin-off was at first set to develop the relationship between him and Carol even further, but with McBride's departure from the project, it seems all eyes will be on the crossbow-wielding hero instead.
How Carol Is The Most Developed TWD Character
Carol is one of two remaining characters in The Walking Dead who have been in the show since the very beginning, along with Daryl. During the initial outbreak, Carol evacuated from Atlanta along with her abusive husband, Ed, and their daughter, Sophia, joining the survivors at the Atlanta camp that Rick would eventually find. Starting as a character that quite easily faded into the background, Carol quickly built up an inner strength after both Ed and Sophia were bitten and killed, learning how to use weapons and gaining medical experience from farm patriarch Hershel (Scott Wilson).
Carol is perhaps one of the most developed characters on The Walking Dead, going from meek victim to unstoppable force to something like a villain in recent seasons. Carol's approach to life in the apocalypse was often one that viewers related to; she is a deeply flawed character who always does things with the best of intentions - whether that be putting down the dangerous Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino), frightening Sam (Major Dodson) to remain in Alexandria, or siding with Negan to take down Alpha (Samantha Morton). Carol is one of the most respected members of the survivors' society, but since The Walking Dead has never shied away from killing off main characters, her absence from any spin-offs calls to question her fate in the show's final episodes.
Could Carol Die In The Final Episodes Of The Walking Dead
It's already known that Rick and Michonne have survived The Walking Dead leading into their 2023 series, but it can also be assumed that Daryl, Maggie, and Negan will survive the final episodes since their spin-offs are presumably following the events of the main show. This was at first also the case for Carol, but since McBride has had to depart from the Daryl and Carol spin-off, it seems likely that she could become an unfortunate victim of the main series' end. Carol dying in the final episodes of The Walking Dead would surely provide a hugely emotional punch to the remaining survivors, especially Daryl, since their bond is so strong.
It would undoubtedly be a massive loss to the shared universe of The Walking Dead if Carol were to meet her demise in the final episodes, but the impact of this loss would create some great moments of emotion for Daryl in his upcoming spin-off. This would also be the first time in a while that a long-running character has died in the show, something which will probably become a theme throughout the last part of the season as TWD looks to end with a bang. The Walking Dead season 11, episode 17 is set to air on October 2nd, 2022, so whatever lies in store for Carol and the other survivors in The Walking Dead, viewers don't have to wait too long for all to be revealed.