The actor who played Carl on for eight seasons was on screen for the finale.
Did you spot him?
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers on the series finale ofThe Walking Dead.
Chandler Riggs on ‘The Walking Dead’.Jace Downs/AMC
(Read ourdeep dive on that final montagewith tons of intel from producers.)
But one original actor went even further than that.
There’s a lot out here to find out about.
Chandler Riggs on ‘The Walking Dead’.Gene Page/AMC
And I think it’s time we did."
But those were not the only old-schoolWalking Deadactors milling about Hilltop for that scene.
“Chandler was in the scene at Hilltop,” says Cohan.
Chandler Riggs as Carl on ‘The Walking Dead’.Gene Page/AMC
“He was in the background as a Hilltopper farming.”
That’s right, the prodigal son returned!
But how did it happen?
Go get in the back.'"
“And I looked at him and I went, ‘Hey, you.
Take that, go stand in the back of that shot.’
It wasn’t planned.
I don’t even think we put wardrobe on him.
I think he was just wearing whatever he wore when he came to set.
We’re just like, ‘Throw him in the background.’
I think we gave him a hat to disguise him a little bit.”
Indeed, they did, as the photo above proves.
“It was great,” says Reedus of the impromptu background cameo.
“God, it was great to see him,” says Nicotero.
“And we were so grateful that he came down.”
Says Cohan, “Chandler is such an amazing guy.
He’s just really lovely.
It was a class act for him to come that day.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, how did you end up back on set?
And basically, I felt like I should just be there for it.
I’d love to be there for it.
I’ll be in Georgia, and it’d be great to come by."
And so she sent me the dates, and I made the trek down to Senoia, Georgia.
And apparently Denise hadn’t told anybody that I was coming, and I didn’t realize that.
Here it is!"
And I’m just like, “Hey, guys!”
And it was so just wholesome.
What did it feel like to be back?
It was really incredible.
And so, I was just hanging out in Video Village.
So how did you end up on screen?
I was just in this shirt and jeans that I came down there in.
They grabbed a hat from wardrobe.
It was like Father Gabriel’s hat!
[Laughs]It was a lot of fun.
Was this your first time back on set since Carl’s death back in season 8?
Yeah, it was my first time.
But that was my first time back since I was working there.
And it was so cool to see how welcomed the new cast was, to be honest.
I think that was the thing that stood out to me the most.
