After months of speculation, and hints from the show, that big moment from "The Walking Dead" comics actually happened in the midseason premiere: Carl Grimes was shot in the eye.
And now the character will never be the same.
In the comics, Carl has memory loss and his personality becomes darker after being shot. The Huffington Post asked Carl himself, actor Chandler Riggs, how the character will be moving forward, and it seems the old Carl is effectively dead.
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"It was a lot different, definitely a lot different. I was trying to in some way, some physical way, change Carl tomake him different," Riggs said. "I was really excited because some of my best work is in the second half of the season, in my opinion. I'm really excited for that."
"I think it's perfect because the eye, and losing it, has made me into a much better actor, because acting with one eye is hard. You have to do things a lot different," he added.
Riggs opened up to HuffPost about how that scene actually went down, teased shocking moments ahead and promised no more fake deaths in the second-half of Season 6.
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Congratulations! It finally happened. How does it feel to get your eye shot out?
It was really cool. I was so excited when [showrunner] Scott Gimple told me that was going to happen. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time. I didn't know if it was actually going to get carried out because the whole thing with Rick's hand didn't happen like it did in the comics. [Note: In the comics, Rick Grimes' hand gets cut off.] I was so excited.
What was it like filming that scene?
That night was rough. There was a lot of screaming and a lot of blood -- the blood was cool -- and a lot of crying. It was really fun shooting the actual eye being gone because everything you saw was visual effects. They put some blood around my eye. They didn’t really put any prosthetics around my eye until I was being carried to the infirmary.
It was so much fun filming that scene, it was fun for the whole sequence. Even though it was a really sad thing, it was still enjoyable to film because its right out of the comics, the whole thing, except for the Ron shooting.
How is it filming with one eye?
It's been kind of hard to manage it. You get used to it after a while, but the hardest thing is losing depth perception, just 'cause I can't tell if a bug is like right next to my face or all the way across the room. But it's definitely manageable, and it helps me with my character because obviously the character can't see with one eye, so I can't see.
A photo posted by chandler riggs (@chandlerriggs5) on
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So are you going to rock an eye-patch, Governor style?
I think the wound is too big for an eye patch. I think for a while we’re going to stick to the bandage.
What can we expect for the rest of the season?
It's going to be a lot different. Episode 10 is definitely interesting. It was really weird reading the script. It's so different from Episode 9. I'm excited for you guys to see it.
Like in the comic, it's very frightening. He's a huge annoyance to everyone because he’ll just take all your stuff. I feel like it's going to be the same way for the show. He's just going to be annoying because there's nothing you can do to stop him, and he'll gladly kill anyone.
The Glenn death-scare was one of the most talked about moments ever in "The Walking Dead," how do the big moments in the second-half compare to that?
There's not going to be another fake-out, like you believe a character is dead and they come back. And it’s like, "Just kidding!" That’s not going to happen again. No way. I do think there are some big and exciting moments, and they're going to shock a lot of people.
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No more fake deaths? What do you have to say about that, Nicholas?
"The Walking Dead" airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on AMC.
Also on HuffPost:
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