At the same time AMC announced it was ending the flagship The Walking Dead series, the network also announced a new spinoff featuring Carol and Daryl would launch following the end of the original series. At that moment, it was open season for shippers who have dreamed of seeing Melissa McBride’s Carol and Norman Reedus’ Daryl finally get together. However, it would be a big mistake for the spinoff to go in that direction, .

Carol first appeared in a minor role in Season 1 of The Walking Dead. An abused wife who learned to stand on her own, Carol eventually became one of the deadliest, most ice-cold survivors in the group. Daryl was a significant player from the show’s beginning, the younger brother of racist redneck Merle Dixon. When his brother disappeared, Daryl followed Rick Grimes, growing into a leader and a hero in his own right. Through it all, Daryl and Carol maintained a very strong, yet platonic, relationship.

The pair are two of the most unpredictable characters on The Walking Dead. This is because there is no one in the show’s comics source material to which they bear any real similarity. Carol was a character in the comics, but she was nothing like the Carol on the AMC zombie series. In the comics, Carol was an insecure woman who could never overcome her abusive past and ended up taking her own life. As a result, the show’s version of Carol has fighting skills that are more reminiscent of the comics’ Andrea, although the show’s Carol and the comics’ Andrea are unlike one another in most other ways. As for Daryl, the character never existed in the comics, and there is no other character in the books like him.

This means the AMC series could do whatever it wants with the two characters and fans would never see it coming. Yet, the show has steered clear of hooking the two up romantically, instead maintaining their status as friends and confidants who keep each other on the right path. Meanwhile they’ve had romantic relationships with others. On The Walking Dead‘s most recent season there have been hints of a romance between Daryl and Connie, even though Daryl’s rejected the possibility. And Carol has had a few relationships on the show, including with King Ezekiel, who she married, although they split up after the Whisperers killed their adopted son, Henry.

Getting Daryl and Carol together on their spinoff would be a betrayal of everything that came before. Their relationship has always been more like that of close siblings, and that is how it should remain, or else it could ruin everything the pair built over the years and lead the spinoff to devolve into melodrama. Not to mention, a romance would create a strange dynamic for these two highly independent characters.

An excellent template for the Carol and Daryl spinoff to follow is Carl’s storyline in the comics. There, the character’s arc ended with the possibility of a relationship with Lydia, but instead Carl married Sophia while maintaining a friendship with Lydia. That’s what Daryl and Carol’s relationship should be when all is said and done — a friendship. The duo should maintain their status as protectors and confidants; a romance would create too much baggage when they set out on their own adventures in the aftermath of the original Walking Dead series.

Airing Sunday, Oct. 4 on AMC, The Walking Dead Season 10 finale stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton and Cooper Andrews.