Photo: AMC

Last week, the crew of The Walking Dead launched a pre-emptive strike on what they thought was the home base of Negan, and though they exterminated most of the men there, it seems they may have kicked a hornet’s nest.

The episode ended with a voice on a radio implying they were being spied on by more of Negan’s people from afar, and it’s revealed that they’ve actually taken both Maggie and Carol prisoner, who were staying behind as perimeter guards.

Now, the question is, are either of the characters in any actual danger? Would the show dare to kill them?

Sorry, but I’m not going to believe for a second that The Walking Dead is going to kill a pregnant Maggie. Not just because the character has a long, long road ahead of her that eventually will make her leader of the Hilltop, and an almost Rick-like figure in her own right, but just because the show isn’t going to kill a pregnant Maggie. Just…no.

Carol, on the other hand, I’m starting to get a little worried about.

Photo: AMC

That’s kind of weird, considering I’ve written previously about how Carol is effectively the show’s only immortal character, based on the words of Robert Kirkman himself. Here’s what he said at NYCC last year:

“The Carol that’s in the comic was my attempt to show just how broken an individual can become from the zombie apocalypse. 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. Killing her would definitely not … we can’t do that.”

Comic fans will know that the badass, hardened Carol we see today is a far cry from the loopy, loony Carol who once tried to marry Rick and Lori in the comics, and was killed off at the height of her craziness.

But while this is the only time Kirkman has said that he would specifically not kill a show character, I am not sure, however, that his word is gospel.

Carol is one of the “holy five,” the five characters who have survived since season one. The others are pretty easy to identify, Rick, Carl, Glenn and Daryl. And now, with Negan showing up, it seems more than a little likely that the show is going to have to sacrifice one of the five to him.

Rick and Carl are out. I’m sorry, but there’s just no way that the show departs that drastically from the comics. Glenn is the one killed the comics, but after a bunch of near-death/fake-death plotlines this season, it’s hard to believe that once again they’d put him on the chopping block, this time for good. But it would be the most “loyal” to the source material.

Photo: AMC

That leaves Daryl and Carol. I have personally suspected that it may actually be Daryl who Negan kills, as what better way to get everyone to hate the new villain for all eternity than to kill the most beloved character on the show? Daryl is free from comic strings, as a character that doesn’t even exist in the source material, so he could save Glenn by taking the bat for him.

But what about Carol? She is also free from the comics, having survived her own death and transforming into an entirely different character as time has gone on. And lately, the show is putting extra focus on her.

The Carol we know over the past few seasons has been the “do whatever it takes” badass of the group, willing to go above and beyond even what we might see Rick do, which is really saying something. She killed Lizzie. She destroyed Terminus. She dismantled the Wolves. But lately, we see her reflecting on her murderous rampage. She’s made a count of all the people she’s killed (18) and it seems to weigh on her heavily.

This was inspired by her recent killing of the escaped Wolf prisoner when she was trying to “save” the doctor from his clutches. But she realizes that he was actually trying to save her as well, as he tackles zombies in his dying moments and tells her to run. After that, Carol seems to be considering Morgan’s “people can be redeemed” philosophy. It’s why she didn’t want to go into Negan’s base and kill a bunch more people herself, even though we know she’s more than capable of doing so. It’s why we see her baking cookies and getting close with a new, kind man, despite not needing a harmless “cover” in Alexandria anymore.

So, what greater cosmic justice would there be than a newly reformed Carol being killed by the ultimate manifestation of the murderous marauder, Negan himself? She’s killed and killed and killed, and ultimately, it catches up with her when she meets someone who she could have become, had she continued down that path.

Photo: Image

We are only four episodes away from the finale. Logic says that Negan will show up in the finale to do his killing, but it could be the penultimate episode instead, as that sometimes happens. And with Carol captured, she could stay captured, potentially, during that window. After Rick’s group just killed at least a dozen of Negan’s men, plus Daryl nuking the motorcycle group, I don’t think they’re leaving without at least one death. Abraham is supposed to die soon, so we’ll see if that happens. But Carol? Could they really do it, despite her alleged immortality?

Ultimately, I don’t think so. If we’re ranking the probability in which non-Grimes characters will die by the end of the season, I’d say it’s 1) Abraham, 2) Glenn, 3) Daryl, 4) Carol, at worst. I agree with Kirkman that she’s the best-developed character the show has produced (better than Rick, even, I’d say) and it would be a shame to lose her. I can envision a scenario in which it would make sense for her arc, but I hope it doesn’t happen all the same.

The more likely scenario? To save pregnant Maggie, Carol shoves away her doubts and becomes the God of War killing machine we know and love, murdering Negan’s crew and getting them both out alive. Let’s wait and see.