EPISODE UPDATE: Welp, the early spoilers about Carl Grimes were right. The midseason finale ended with Carl appearing to have been bitten, with his death held over for the midseason premiere in 2018.

Apparently killing off Carl was not actor Chandler Riggs' idea, and he told THR he and his family were shocked and devastated by the decision.

Other than CORAL dying soon, there were only minor deaths in the midseason finale -- a couple of Saviors, including one shot point-blank by Maggie in reply to Simon killing one of our guys named Neil.

Original post:

Even the spoiler sites refuse to spoil this one. Unless they already did?

"The Walking Dead" Season 8's final episode of 2017 airs this Sunday, Dec. 10. The midseason finale Episode 8, "How It's Gotta Be," is extended from 9 to 10:28 p.m., with this synopsis:

"Every story and battle from the first half of the season comes crashing together in this action-packed, emotional mid-season finale."

Emotional. Midseason finales tend to be big, deadly cliffhangers. That's not to guarantee that this one will follow suit, but it's looking that way. It's possible -- speculation hat on now -- that someone dies or appears to die in the midseason finale and their death is held over as a cliffhanger until the 2018 midseason premiere. Perhaps that will even happen to the main character everyone has been talking about. (See spoiler section below).

Here's a vague tease on the drama ahead, from Katelyn Nacon (Enid) to The Independent:

The Independent: Are there some Glenn-style awful moments ahead fans need to brace themselves for?

Katelyn Nacon: Do you know what show we're on? There is going to be some tough stuff to come but I feel like it will come with a silver lining because there are a lot of horrifying things to come, but also a lot of beautiful things that comes with it, comes because of it. It's a big win-lose situation because it is a tough show to get through - it can punch you back - but I would say that a lot of beauty comes from the horror. We have to wait and see what's going to come after and how it's going to affect the show.

Usually, The Spoiling Dead Fans would release a Q&A with their source, spoiling details from the next episode. They've done that every week, and they're accurate. Earlier this year they did share an unconfirmed midseason finale spoiler (read about that beneath the spoiler warning below), but this week all they did was post a thread saying they would not be sharing a fall finale spoiler Q&A:

"Now that we have your attention, buttercups... After careful consideration we have decided that we will not be providing a Q&A or any spoilery bits this week.

AMC has been hyping a very shocking moment that will occur in this episode. I think most of us know this almost certainly means death. We invite you to draw your own conclusions on what will happen. Review the spoiler journal, filming and discussion threads, and take what bits you can and try to put the pieces together.

We have our reasons for doing this which we'll share after the episode. No, it has nothing to do with any legal matters. We will not be answering any questions about episode 8 from this point on. Sorry buttercups, but bribes of liquor and pancakes will not change our minds. We know this is disappointing for thousands of people that depend on us, and we fully expect some backlash. We're ready to take the heat.

For now, this is How It's Gotta Be.

-ShinyFirefly & NinjaPancake"

However, since they did invite fans to review the previous spoilers, here's what they posted a while back...

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

Now, bear in mind that these are not the usual confirmed spoilers from TSDF. They may just throw everyone off the real scent:

"We have some sad news to report today. First, we want to say up front that this is UNCONFIRMED INFORMATION. Repeat...UNCONFIRMED. This is something we are tracking right now and should not be taken as hard fact. Normally we wouldn't even post, but the fandom is already talking about it and in light of the premiere we felt we needed to share what we knew.

It seems as though we will be losing our favorite hat wearing, pudding eating, can't stay in the house beloved Carl during the mid-season finale. Yes, it may be time to say goodbye to the one-eyed wunderkind. Now, before you start writing us nasty messages, let us tell you how we came to this conclusion.

We get lots of information from everywhere, all the time. Most often they are just bits that don't add up to something. Sometimes it's even people trying to feed us false info to discredit us. But every now and then (remember Beth? Bob?) we get pieces of info that start to add up and form something true. It's that thing where a couple pieces of the puzzle mean nothing, but start to piece them together and they form a picture. We believe that's happening here.

We received various pieces of information from separate sources beginning way back in early September telling us they believe Carl will die in the mid-season finale. We know the MSF will involve a huge battle at Alexandria with multiple fires, explosions and gunfire. There is plenty of photo evidence and eyewitness accounts of this. Separate sources also tell us that they believe Carl's death was shot at the studio with corresponding scenes being shot at Alexandria near the gates. It is believed that he dies in the MSF with possibly his body being discovered and/or the aftermath of his death occurring in episode 9.

So far there has been no corroboration in exactly how he dies; however, more than once we were told that he struggles with someone and is possibly stabbed. So what do we do with this? We go back and check the filming information and match it against what we're being told."

If it's true and Carl Grimes does die, that's a huge change from the comic book. Comic writer Robert Kirkman has said Carl Grimes could take over if/when Rick Grimes dies. But that's in his comic. In the comic, Judith is dead too. So is Carol. So are many others. In real life, actor Chandler Riggs just turned 18 in June and he may be ready to start college or transition out of the TWD world. Sometimes real life > TV life.

These CORAL IS GUNNA DAH rumors are not new, though, as Chandler Riggs mocked just last month:


So will Carl die this Sunday? Will someone else? Will he and someone else die, or appear dead as a cliffhanger to hold fans over until a February 2018 return? Watch and see. "The Walking Dead" Season 8 midseason finale Episode 8 airs Sunday, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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