Chandler Riggs Asked 'The Walking Dead' Spoiler Site Not to Confirm Death & They Agreed
SPOILERS AHEAD from "The Walking Dead" Season 8 midseason finale.
"The Walking Dead" star Chandler Riggs wrote a passionate plea to The Spoiling Dead Fans, requesting they not confirm the death of his character in the Season 8 midseason finale. They complied. In return, the Carl Grimes star wrote a kind, thoughtful note to TSDF's members.
All told, it sounds like peace is possible in the All Out War between TV shows and spoilers.
Months earlier, after the summer filming of the midseason finale, TSDF did post "unconfirmed" spoilers suggesting Carl Grimes might be killed. That was from their usual boots-on-the-ground reporting from sources in the Atlanta, Georgia area. But in December, the week before Episode 8 aired, they didn't do what they usually do and post a Q&A from their source, revealing what would happen in the next episode. They instead wrote a note saying there would be no Q&A and spoilery bits, and that they'd reveal why after the midseason finale.
Well, Carl Grimes did die/prepare to die in the midseason finale -- and apparently it was a surprise for the actor as well that they'd be willing to kill off this OG main character.
After the episode, TSDF leaders "NinjaPancake" and "ShinyFirefly" did as promised and revealed why they never confirmed Carl's death scene -- because Chandler Riggs asked them, nicely, not to.
Here's a screen shot of the message Riggs sent to them, posted on their forum:
TSDF realized they had a choice, as they wrote:
"We could ignore the request and continue to do what we do by confirming Carl's death (which means we would have had to confirm how), or, we could honor Chandler, the young man who we watched grow up on our television screens for the past eight years. We could give him the biggest send-off we possibly could simply by shutting our mouths. We chose to honor Chandler."
TSDF asked Chandler if he would write a message to the spoiler community -- usually the bane of TV producers, directors, and stars -- and he wrote this respectful note, posted on the forum:
dear tsdf:
i don't really know how to start this other than saying thank you. though we (cast & crew) have kinda always been super frustrated with this community, seeing how dedicated you all are to the show over the last few weeks really gives me a new appreciation for you all. up until 701, i hated seeing our hard work getting leaked-but once 701 aired with a large chunk of the fanbase knowing what would happen, it made me realize that knowing what happens doesn't always take away the integrity of the show. though many people knew who was going to die, they still cried and shook in terror seeing the characters they loved getting killed.
that being said, i reached out to ninja a few weeks ago asking to not reveal the end of 808, since a lot of my performance relied on how the episode ends. ninja & shiny knew that they would take a lot of heat from this decision, but them caring more about how i felt towards this episode than their reputation gave me a massive new level of respect and appreciation towards them.
and seeing how dedicated and consistently excited you all are about the show despite the drastic decrease in twd's ratings made me the most excited about this episode than i've been in years. though i don't necessarily approve of the spoiler content being released on this forum, fans like you are the reason that i've had a job for the last 8 years. people like you have given me the chance to live my dream, and have given me the opportunity to go on to do bigger and more exciting things than twd. you all have let me make you shake in nervousness in fear of your most beloved character in danger, yell in excitement at a victory for "the group", scream at your television in frustration of carl "not staying in the house" (also please stop yelling that at me at conventions lmao), and cry out of empathy when your favorite character suffers a grave loss. and now, i invite you to be excited to see how carl's story ends, and how my story continues to unfold both musically & theatrically.
thank you again for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. i won't let you down.
–chandler
Beautiful. And see? World peace is totally possible.
Carl Grimes will be back in "The Walking Dead" Season 8, Episode 9 midseason premiere, which will air Sunday, February 25, 2018 on AMC.
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