Ok, so by now most people should have been fully caught up on the show.

SPOILER WARNING IF YOU AREN'T CAUGHT UP OR HAVEN'T WATCHED THE SHOW BUT PLAN ON DOING SO (also some comic spoilers but nothing absolutely insane)

Ok, now that I've done that.

We all know Carl's a goner 😭 there is no way he's going to survive, no matter what fans do to try and get him to come back. It's time we accept it and move on. (Don't worry, it's gonna be just as hard, if not harder for me to do that because he was my favorite character.)

But, what does this mean for the future of the show?

The comics are already quite a ways passed All Out War with Negan and the Saviors, and Carl is still alive and well in them and has a major part to play in the Whisperer story arc which comes after All Out War.

I have a few theories that could be very possible, and that I would be ok with having happen. Because, unless the show goes a completely different route from the comics (which is unlikely) it will be doing the Whisperer arc in season 9.

A huge part of the Whisperer arc involves Carl and a girl by the name of Lydia, who is the daughter of the leader of the new big bad group, the Whisperers.

My first and second theories both have to do with Enid, and they're virtually the same except for a minor difference.

First, Enid will take Carl's comic book part for the Whisperer arc. They will do a gender swap and Lydia will be replaced by a male character with a similar name, something like Landon or Lucas maybe.

I mean think about it, they've done gender swaps before, a major one was Deanna being a gender swap of a man named Douglas. So it's very possible they could do this again, only this time for Lydia.

Second, Enid will still take Carl's comic book part for the Whisperer arc. But they won't even bother with a gender swap, and they will give the LGBT community more representation on the show by having Enid be bisexual (seeing as we already know she's attracted to guys since she was with Ron and Carl she'd have to be bi if they were going to do this).

This is definitely less likely than the first one I think, just because of society being the way it is this (unfortunately) might not go over super well with viewers who are against LGBT. But I do think it's a possibility.

Now, time for my third and final theory. I personally believe this one is most likely of the three for a few reasons, and I think it could be really cool to watch.

Henry will take Carl's comic book part for the Whisperer arc. Now, hear me out, because I have three reasons why I think this.
1. Henry is a lot closer to the age Carl (from the comics) is during the Whisperer arc than Carl (from the show) is, which isn't a huge thing, but it's definitely something.
2. Carl (from the comics) wants to fight and kill all the Saviors, Carl (from the show) has gone down a totally different path from his comic book counterpart, and wants to show them mercy and make peace with them eventually. We've already seen that Henry wants to go fight and kill the Saviors as revenge for his brother, Benjamin, being killed by them.

Here's the scene if you don't remember it or thought it was unimportant.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

It happens to be in the same episode where Carl gets bit (though we don't see it happen this is the episode when it does). I don't know if that means anything, but it might be a slight, very hard to catch hint that Henry will be replacing Carl in the future.

3. Let's admit this, there really isn't a purpose for his character at the moment, other than to exist and interact with Carol and Ezekiel. This could very easily be a way for the show writers to make him have a much more important purpose.

Ok, that's it for now.

What do you think about my theories?

Which one do you think is most likely to be true (if any of them)?

Which one would you want to be true (if any of them)?

Do you have any different theories of your own about how they will replace Carl's storyline (from the comics) on the show?