"The Walking Dead" series has had a lot of controversial deaths, but it seems that nothing is more controversial than Carl's (Chandler Riggs), when it was revealed in the midseason finale aired last week that his character was bitten by a walker, leading to his impending death.
Fans of the show were incredibly outraged, to the extent that they have made a Change.org petition that would fire showrunner Scott Gimple. According to the instigators of the petition, Carl Grime's death is not supposed to happen, as he is one of the key characters of the whole series.
"Carl is still alive in the comic series and has gone on to play a pivotal [sic] role in every major conflict the group has faced. Some fans even speculated that he would do this in the TV show, being the last survivor of the apocalypse," read the petition.
"A lot of fans have taken to social media to express their disagreement [sic] with Gimples [sic] decision. Others have also expressed their feelings toward his decision calling for his immediate resignation. This petition is meant to bring AMC TV into the spotlight and fire The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple for his actions and unfair treatment of actor Chandler Riggs."
The petition has already amassed more than 50,000 signatures. It appears that most fans were driven by sympathy as the actor pointed out that he did not really want to leave the show.
The petition also stated that Riggs has been postponing going to college because of "The Walking Dead," and that his family has recently bought a house in Georgia because he was apparently promised by Gimple that he is still entitled to another three years on the show. More has been touting that Riggs was more or less fired for being written off, just because of the plot's "story."
Riggs' father was also angry about his son's fate. In a Facebook post which he then deleted, he stated how devastating it was for Chandler to be fired from the show — two weeks before his birthday. He also said that he did not really trust AMC and Gimple, but Chandler did, therefore he can empathize with his son's heartache over the show's decision.
If the backlash continues, AMC and "The Walking Dead" may lose a significant number of fans and supporters. Gimple and AMC have yet to comment on the whole controversy.
