Chandler Riggs Reveals This Thoughts On Judith Taking Over Carl’s Role In ‘The Walking Dead’

As Season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead continues, Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) has been seen taking over a storyline that involved her big brother, Carl, in the comic books. It has been a storyline that the actor who plays Negan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, had been relishing when signing up for The Walking Dead, and something he has spoken out about previously. But, what does the actor who played Carl think of the change?

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses both the television adaptation as well as the comic book series of The Walking Dead. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

In the comic books on which AMC’s The Walking Dead is based, Carl Grimes develops a relationship with Negan while he is in jail. In the TV series, there has been a role reversal with Judith, a character who is actually dead in the comic books, filling the position. TV viewers have seen Judith chatting with Negan during his incarceration and forming a bond with the villain.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has previously gone on the record to say that this storyline from the comics was one of the reasons he signed up to play Negan in the television series, according to Comic Book. While he has still gotten to fulfill this role in the TV series, it has been a changed dynamic with the younger Judith filling the part.

In fact, after Carl’s death aired on The Walking Dead, Morgan took to Instagram to discuss the lost possibility of that storyline.

“That storyline was one of my favorites, as I know it was one of yours,” Morgan wrote. “I’ll forever be [disappointed] we only scratched the surface of what could have been.”

But what does the actor who played Carl in AMC’s The Walking Dead think of this change? Recently, Chandler Riggs was asked about Judith fulfilling Carl’s role in the television series.

“I really like the direction they’re going with her character,” Riggs explained while aboard the Walker Stalker Cruise recently.

“It’s super, super cool to see a completely different take on Carl’s interactions with Negan.”

The Walking Dead showrunner, Angela Kang, has also been happy with the way the storyline has developed between Negan and Judith.

“This gave us an opportunity to tell a very different sort of story,” Kang said in a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Because Judith is a different kind of child than Carl.”

Season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead will return to AMC on Sunday, March 17. The show is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. ET. Episode 14 is titled “Scars” and AMC lists the following synopsis.

“An outsider’s arrival forces Alexandria to rehash devastating old wounds; eye-opening secrets from the past are revealed.”