Carol does not die at the end of The Walking Dead, she actually stays to help the Commonwealth after Daryl leaves for his road trip.
The Walking Dead finale was an imperfect but suitable end to a story that had been told over 11 seasons.
This means that beloved characters like Carol did not simply die in The Walking Dead series finale episode, but they actually got satisfying conclusions to their stories that showed the growth in their characters along the way.
About The Walking Dead’s series finale
After 11 seasons, The Walking Dead’s series finale aired simultaneously on AMC and AMC+ on 20 November 2022.
Although the show had seen a slight decline in its viewership in its last few years, this series finale episode saw the show reinstated as the second most popular cable drama in the 18-25 year demographic.
About 3.1 million viewers tuned in to watch this final episode and it was generally regarded as a suitable farewell to the show and its characters.
Does Carol die in The Walking Dead?
Often times, the only thing more difficult than keeping a television show on the air for almost 12 years, is being one of the characters that survives in a post-apocalyptic world on the show for 11 seasons.
Carol Peletier is one such character that has managed to make it all the way to the final season of The Walking Dead, despite all of the obstacles and hardships that she faced along the way.
Carol was first introduced on The Walking Dead in the third episode of the first season of the show. To this day, Carol is a fan-favourite character on account of how much she has grown throughout the course of the show.
While she started off as a meek housewife in an abusive relationship, Carol continually adapted to the changing world around her and eventually became instrumental in the takedown of Pamela Milton, the former governor of the Commonwealth, by the end of the show.
She also managed to form close friendships with some of the other survivors like Ezekiel and Daryl Dixon along the way.
Fortunately, Carol does not die in the final episode of The Walking Dead, instead, she ends up taking over Lance’s old job after the Commonwealth government is overthrown.
She also gets a chance to say an emotional goodbye to her long-time friend, Daryl, and after the one-year time jump, it was confirmed that Carol ended up living a happy life after the events of the finale.
What happened to Carol in the comics?
Carol may have been one of the only survivors at the end of the series, but in the comic books, she was not as lucky.
In the original comic book story, Carol ended up sacrificing herself to a walker fairly early on in the narrative instead of facing their new, apocalyptic world.
In fact, Carol’s character in the comic books is wholly different from her character on the show. In the comics, she is written as being increasingly unstable and irrational instead of the stern and calculating character that fans of the show have grown to love.
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Will fans be able to see Carol in the spin-offs?
Although many fans were saddened to hear that The Walking Dead would be coming to an end, they were also excited to hear about several possible spin-off that were in the works to expand the franchise.
One of the most anticipated of these was the planned spin-off that would focus on Carol and Daryl as they explored what was left of the world.
However, Melissa McBride, who plays Carol on the show, has since exited the show due to logistical issues. Hence, unfortunately, fans will now no longer be able to see more of the character in this spin-off.
Why was Carol such an important character in the finale?
Many people were afraid that Carol would be killed off in The Walking Dead series finale after she withdrew from the spin-off project.
However, the producers knew how popular Carol had become among fans of the show and decided that they would make her an integral part of the finale instead.
In the end, Carol is one of only three people who survived from the original Atlanta camp and the only female character on the show to appear in every season. This is likely why the show’s creators chose such a satisfying ending for the character.
While she had spent most of season 10 and 11 running away, her final decision to stay and help the Commonwealth shows how far she has come and her determination to stay and face this new world.