Warning: The following contains possible spoilers for AMC's "The Walking Dead."
"The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman has said numerous times that no character on AMC's hit TV show is truly safe. In order to properly establish dramatic stakes, everyone has to be at risk - yes, even in the face of the online fan community whose slogan is "If Daryl dies, we riot." However, Kirkman recently said that there is one character who is more vital than Daryl or main protagonist Rick: Carol.
Kirkman told Uproxx that Melissa McBride's character is too popular and important to kill off, especially given the double life she's been leading in the Alexandria safe zone.
"The Carol that's in the comic was my attempt to show just how broken an individual can become from the zombie apocalypse," Kirkman said. "The Carol in the show, which is a much better character, let's be honest, actually is made stronger by all the more horrible things that happen to her in the show. Killer her would definitely not...we can't do that."
We can't do that? This coming from the guy whose biggest professional success involves reanimated corpses eating human beings alive? It's a surprise to say Kirkman officially say a character is off limits.
Unless...What if Kirkman is just playing fans, trying to build Carol up as indispensable only for her death to be that much more of a gut punch? It wouldn't be the first time that cast and crew involved with "The Walking Dead" have deliberately offered misdirection and disinformation to throw curious fans of the trail.
Carol has gone from a battered (both physically and emotionally) housewife to a steeled and hardened survivor willing to do whatever it takes in this post-apocalyptic world. In some ways, her character arc is the most resonant and real. There's no denying her popularity among fans or her importance to Rick's group (she did save them from Terminus, after all). But it's hard to believe Kirkman when he says she's off-limits.
It's "The Walking Dead," no one is off limits no matter how hard they try to convince us otherwise or how much "bigger and more outrageous" season six is going to be.
