The Walking Dead Characters That Fans Think Were Unjustly Axed From The Show
"The Walking Dead" certainly isn't shy about getting rid of characters, and one could almost say that they have the world's easiest mechanism in which to do so — considering that the world of the show is populated by both human-eating zombies and brutal groups of survivors, death comes easy and often. In fact as Insider notes, there have already been well over 75 character deaths on the show. That should come to no surprise to longtime fans of the series, who know that no character is truly safe on the show, and that there is no such thing as plot armor (well, unless a character is already confirmed for a future spin-off).
Considering how long "The Walking Dead" has been on, several actors may have some conflicted feelings about their tenure on the show. Some may have asked to be taken off of the popular show because of a reduced role, while others may not have wanted to leave at all. Being on a show for any span of time has got to start feeling like a second home at some point, but as established earlier, nobody is really safe on a show like "The Walking Dead," and the plot often requires surprising deaths for both antagonists and protagonists. When it comes to viewers, though, there are two specific characters whom fans feel got the short end of the stick.
Fans think Carl and Beth both got shafted
On Reddit, u/Alarmed-Flamingo2743 started the conversation by first stating that they just finished watching "The Walking Dead" for the first time ever, and that they have missed the real time discussion of characters. They then mentioned that they had heard that Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl Grimes, was caught in a bit of a predicament after buying a house and being written off of the show. They then asked, "did anything similar happen to any other characters on the show? Or did anyone else leave/get kicked from the show for 'juicy' reasons? Please fill me in on any drama I missed by watching this show so long after it aired!!"
The first comment came from u/Jlpeaks who said, "Emily Kinney didn't want to go.. she was in full on tears on Talking Dead." u/willrobster16 also brought up that, from a narrative standpoint, Emily Kinney's character, Beth, shouldn't have been let go either, considering that Hershel (Scott Wilson) was just killed, and that they were preparing to kill Glenn (Steven Yeun) as well. u/LittlePumpkin_121 added that they thought Beth's death was well done, but didn't think it fit into the story, and that her death could have waited.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Kinney was asked if she thought the character of Beth had more story left to tell, to which she replied, "There were so many sparks of other things that hadn't been explored. But what's cool about the show is that it is unexpected and doesn't make a lot of sense always."
Fans think Carl shouldn't have died, particularly
Besides Emily Kinney's character of Beth, it seems like fans also took exception with the unexpected exit of Chandler Riggs' Carl Grimes, and the debacle surrounding his departure from the show.
Back in 2017, Riggs spoke about what it was like to leave the show to The Hollywood Reporter, and said, "It was devastating for me and my family because the show has been such a huge part of my life for so long. For a few days, we didn't know what to do; I just bought a house in Senoia. That was a big deal that I wouldn't be on anymore. I decided that I wanted to not go to college for at least a year and move to L.A. and focus on acting and music." That said, as shocking as his character's death had been, he seemed to be okay with it, in retrospect. As Riggs described it, "It ended up being a great thing because now I get to do all kinds of other stuff that I haven't been able to do in the last eight years."
Back when it happened, though, fans were just as shocked as Riggs, with u/Mooredock saying, "I'd say the firing of Chandler Riggs was even nastier, with the rest of the cast being very upset about it, the audience being very confused by it, and the narrative suffering horribly because of it." Critics were just as dismayed, with outlets like Comic Book Resources calling Carl's death the show's all-time "BIGGEST mistake." Paul Tassi of Forbes, meanwhile, wrote that the show did make this twist work by using it to elevate Carl's little sister, Judith (Cailey Fleming), who has gone on to become a fan-favorite character.