‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8: Fans Petition To Have Scott Gimple Fired
Spoiler Alert: This article may contain The Walking Dead Season 8 midseason finale spoilers.
The Walking Dead Season 8’s midseason finale certainly didn’t make millions of fans happy upon seeing one of their favorite characters get bitten by a walker. As a result, an online petition was launched to have showrunner Scott Gimple fired from his job.
Anyone who’s seen the midseason finale of The Walking Dead Season 8 knows that Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) is good as dead once the show returns next year. Riggs’ character was bitten by a walker while fighting a horde and that means he’s beyond saving. Although Carl’s death was not really shown at the end of the finale, it’s already assumed that he won’t make it. More importantly, Riggs has already confirmed that he will be making an exit from the series after playing the role for seven years.
Naturally, fans didn’t take Scott Gimple’s decision to kill off Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) son, considering Carl is not only popular and a favorite among viewers, but he is very much alive in the source material. In addition, Carl is seen as a rising leader who could take over Rick and even become the last person to survive the zombie apocalypse.
For this, a fan named Tyler Sigmon launched a petition on Change.org asking AMC to have Gimple fired. Sigmon writes that Gimple should be axed from The Walking Dead team because he treats Riggs unfairly for killing off his character. The petition has a goal of getting 50,000 signatures and as of this writing, it has already amassed over 40,000 signatures.
It has been revealed that Riggs didn’t choose to leave The Walking Dead after Season 8. He had plans to pursue his education but that wasn’t the reason why he had to make his exit. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the young actor shared how Carl’s death is necessary for the story.
“I’m taking a gap year right now to focus on acting for a while. Leaving Walking Dead wasn’t my decision. It was all story related. It made sense story-wise for it to happen for Rick and Michonne and all the other characters.”
Could the petition be strong enough for AMC to get rid of Gimple? According to Uproxx, it’s unlikely for the online petition to result in Gimple leaving his job as The Walking Dead’s showrunner since all episodes of Season 8 have already been filmed. The remaining episodes, which should return starting Feb. 2018, could either make fans like Gimple or hate him even more. In addition, the news outlet states that Carl’s death could be good for the overall story in the long run.
