AMC's The Walking Dead just delivered the biggest shocker in its 100-episode-plus history when,during Sunday's season eight midseason finale, the zombie drama set the stage for the unimaginable death of one of its most untouchable characters.

Revealing that he had been bitten on the ribs a few episodes prior, Carl Grimes — Rick's teenage son, who has been played by Chandler Riggs since the show's pilot — is on death's door. "Yes, Carl is going to die," Riggs tells The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive①exclusive英 [ɪk'skluːsɪv; ek-] 美 [ɪk'sklusɪv] adj. 独有的；排外的；专一的n. 独家新闻；独家经营的项目；排外者interview. "There's no way he can get back from that. His story is defi nitely②defi nitely 英 ['defɪnɪtlɪ] 美 ['dɛfɪnətli] adv. 清楚地，当然；明确地，肯定地coming to an end."

To put the events of the episode in context,Riggs — who was cast at age 11 and is now 18 and taking a gap year before starting college — and Andrew Lincoln (Rick) are the only original series regulars who have been with The Walking Dead since the pilot.

Carl was widely seen as the future of the post apocalyptic③world: Rick, a former sheriff④, has been grooming⑤grooming 美 ['grʊmɪŋ] n. 修饰him to take over as the leader of the survivors. The version of Carl in creator Robert Kirkman's comic series continues to be a force to be reckoned⑥reckon 英 ['rek(ə)n] 美 ['rɛkən] vt. 测算，估计；认为；计算vi. 估计；计算；猜想，料想with and the future of the new world,as the source material is roughly 75 issues beyond where the AMC adaptation sits. Outside of killing off leading man Lincoln, this would be the biggest departure from the source material ever.

But before viewers scream for Carl, it's worth noting that Riggs still has one episode left — episode 809, the 2018 midseason premiere⑦premiere 英 ['premɪeə] 美 [prɪ'mɪr] adj. 首位的；初次的；女主角的vi. 初次公演；首次露面vt. 初次公演；初次上演n. 初次的演出；女主角(airing Feb. 25),when Rick, Michonne (DanaiGurira) and the rest of the core Alexandrians will watch as the young man dies before them in what can only be described as their biggest loss to date.