Carl Grimes

Gender Male Hair Color Brown Eye Color Blue Age 23 Occupation Pre-Apocalypse Student at King County Elementary School Post-Apocalypse

Soldier for the Militia Family Lori Grimes - Mother † Rick Grimes - Father (Unnamed) - Maternal Grandmother † (Unnamed) - Paternal Great-Grandfather † Mrs. Grimes - Paternal Grandmother Mr. Grimes - Paternal Grandfather † Evie - Aunt Michonne Grimes - Stepmother Mrs. Hawthorne - Maternal Stepgrandmother † Judith Grimes - Half Sister[1] R.J. Grimes - Half Brother Enid - Girlfriend † Violet - Pet † (Unnamed) - Pet Ethnicity Caucasian-American During the first season, Carl is portrayed as a shy and reserved boy, only striking up a conversation with his parents and members of the group with whom he feels comfortable, such as Shane Walsh, Dale Horvath, and Sophia Peletier. Carl, being relatively young, is shown to often be frightened by the horrors of the world, thus looking to his parents for shelter and comfort. Carl is a kind boy who tries his best to comfort those closest to him when he recognizes that they are in need. In the second season, Carl retains his shyness, but he develops a bolder personality and is seen to be less frightened of the world in response to the many ordeals he has experienced. He attempts to take on a more active role, wanting to help out the group, rather than be known as a liability; he finds the arsenal of knives for the group, and he helps with the search for Sophia. Like most children at his age, he is sometimes disobedient, but he shows shame and guilt when his actions negatively impact the group.

After accidentally being shot by Otis, Carl is stricken with negative thoughts. He develops the desire to fend for himself and also to prove his independence and maturity. This is especially prevalent when he accompanies the adults in gun training. After his friend Sophia is found zombified in the barn, he begins to form a noticeably colder personality, mentioning that he would have put Sophia down himself. In addition, he follows his father into the barn to watch him execute Randall, and he even eggs Rick on to do the act. Carl is occasionally pessimistic and rude. He also insults Carol for speaking of heaven. Despite this, he is not above apologizing and realizes that some of his words and actions are unacceptable. After Carl indirectly causes the death of Dale Horvath, he is overcome with immense guilt, thinking himself a failure and vowing never to touch a gun again; his growing boldness was an attempt to prove himself worthy of standing alongside the adults of he group. It is not until his father talks to him privately in the barn that his confidence is restored, and Dale's death becomes a lesson. After putting down Shane, Carl finally notices that he will have to mature in order to survive in the new world. By the third season, Carl has become battle-hardened from months on the road. His firearm skills have greatly improved, as well as his tactical abilities. He is no longer shy around most of the group, which is assumed to be a result of spending months with them out on the open road. Despite Carl's increase in capability, he does not appear to be completely immune to emotion, and he retains some of his child-like qualities, such as cracking a joke every now and then, as well as developing a child-like crush on Beth Greene.

However, after witnessing Lori's death, delivering his baby sister, and taking it upon himself to put his mother down, his despondent attitude amplifies. Carl goes through a stage of depression, neglecting to speak much unless he feels that it is necessary. He even tells his father to temporarily step down from his leadership position. Despite the traumatic impact that his mother's death has on him, it hardens him immensely. He becomes very brave, frequently helping people and risking his own life to save others; he saves Michonne outside the gates and his father from a hostile Morgan Jones, despite his father's pleading to stay back. Throughout the course of the season, Carl begins to unwind as a result of the brutality of the world with the Governor at the center. Thinking he is doing what is necessary to protect the group, Carl mercilessly kills a young boy as the boy was surrendering, which makes it clear how ruthless he has become. Rick, frightened of what he has allowed his son to become due to being a relatively inactive parent, spends more time with Carl. He encourages him to pursue other endeavors, such as farming.

By the fourth season, Carl has become much more relaxed and accepts the fact that there is more to life than survival. Rick has taken his parental role more seriously and is stricter towards Carl. Although he still yearns for more excitement and is concerned with the possibility of the Governor's survival, Carl understands what his father is trying to do for him and tries to honor his father's wishes by attempting to be a kid again. Of course, he finds this difficult because of the many tragedies he has encountered and all the morbid things he has done. Despite his now more nonchalant personality, he still retains his more serious and realistic viewpoint on the world, such as chastising Lizzie Samuels and the other children for naming the walkers and for falsely believing that they are not so different from the living. Carl's maturity and his worthiness ultimately earn him his gun back, which he accepts honorably. Rick is confident in Carl's ability to use the weapon decisively. Despite Carl being young, he is not hesitant to call out his seniors when he believes that they are doing something illogical. Perhaps the most notable instance is when he tells Hershel Greene that he is not going to allow him to go into the woods alone, and also when he informs Rick that Carol Peletier should be permitted to teach the children of the group how to defend themselves. Throughout the course of the first half of the season, Carl gradually becomes more integrated into the defense of the prison, even fighting beside his father to stop a large horde of walkers, which Carl recognizes was a tough thing for Rick to allow. By the time of the prison's fall, Carl is severely shaken up, most probably due to the loss of the prison, the decapitation of Hershel, and the presumed death of Judith.

During the second half of the fourth season, Carl struggles to come to terms with what has happened. Scarred from the battle and subsequent loss of the prison, he is recurrently seen to have outbursts of intense anger and frustration, sometimes resembling meltdowns. Driven by a need to pin his anger on something, he directs his rage toward his injured father. Upon Michonne's return, they accept the fact that Carl is becoming an adult in the new world. At the end of the season, Carl reveals to Michonne that he has dark thoughts in his head that he fears would jeopardize his relationship with his father. he believes that he isn't what Rick thinks he is, and that he is a monster. In the fifth season, Carl's mental state improves significantly. After the escape from Terminus, he begins taking on an adult role in the group. Carl helps with the fortification and defense of the church, as well as taking responsibility for protecting baby Judith. He seems to have cooled down a bit in terms of his emotional and mental stability, as evidenced by his ability to laugh and smile, but is still capable of fearlessness and even a degree of coldness. He shows his fearless disposition when confronted with Gareth and the other surviving cannibals, and tries to teach Father Gabriel Stokes how to use a weapon. This attitude makes him potentially dangerous, as he is able to do what is necessary to survive. However, he seems to remain in control of his emotional state. He also appears as though to have grown more optimistic in the events following the fall of the prison and escape from Terminus; he immediately implores the group, particularly his father, to save Gabriel when he hears his desperate cries for help and expresses his belief that not everyone in the world can be bad, even when Rick is warning him that he is never safe.

After the events at Grady Memorial Hospital, Carl interacts with members of the group with maturity and kindness on the road, including giving a grieving Maggie a gift. The group finds it difficult to survive in the wilderness, and Rick becomes concerned about how Carl is coping, but Glenn assures him that Carl bounces back quicker than any of them. Rick says that kids like Carl are lucky because they can adapt to and inherit the new world. After entering Alexandria, Carl, again, grows fairly sullen, worried that the community will make him weak and dulled to survival. Although he likes the people and enjoys living in large houses, he finds dealing with the other adolescents in the community rather complicated, though he eventually decides that he ought to make friends rather than live in isolation with his outsider group. He becomes fascinated with a withdrawn teenage girl called Enid, who also came in from the outside, and with whom he forms a bond. In the sixth season, Carl continues to mature. He offers Gabriel lessons on how to use weapons and gives him advice on how to reintegrate after his betrayal of the group. Carl did this when few others would have anything to do with Gabriel. Carl often cares for Judith and even helps Enid during the Wolves' attack. He also attempts to help Ron Anderson, another teen of the community, learn how to adapt, but Ron refuses, revealing his hostility toward Carl due to Rick's execution of Pete, his father. In return, Carl becomes more adverse and somewhat insensible toward Ron. During the herd attack on Alexandria, Ron pulls a gun on Carl, telling him that there is no hope and that everyone is already dead. Carl, displaying his now optimistic and more mature state of mind, disagrees and assures Ron that there is still hope. Covered in walker guts, the group steps outside into the herd, and Carl hides Judith underneath his cut-up bed sheet and looks on through the herd, exhibiting his sophistication and bravery.

After Carl gets shot through the eye by Ron and spends the next two months rehabilitating from the incident, Carl seemingly appears to remain normal, showing his usual smile to his loved ones, but it becomes increasingly clear that this is a crudely put-up façade at best and that Carl is absolutely not okay. He presents a noticeably rougher edge when his loved ones aren't around, such as when he's with Enid, and this rough edge has been noticed by his father. He tends to try and avoid conversation with people he'd usually be happy to talk to, such as with Michonne, and he's shown to be rather depressed, even when he's babysitting Judith, something he'd usually be a lot more upbeat about. A comment Carl makes to his father could even hint that he's feeling self-conscious about his own appearance, which is reinforced by Rick's taken-aback reaction of hurt. More important and worrying though, is that Carl appears to be developing a taste for bloodshed. While initially unnoticeable, he shows some worrying traits when he interacts with threats for the first time since suffering his eye injury. Enid suggests that the reason Carl is joining the journey to the Hilltop Colony with an ailing Maggie is because he wants to run into the Saviors to make them suffer, and the reaction Carl gives is all she needed to confirm this suspicion. This is quite different from S3, where, even though he was walking down a darker path, he was still only killing because he thought he had to, not because he wanted to. Even Rick has noticed this and seems quite worried about his son's new attitude.

Unlike his father and the majority of the group, Carl was completely unshaken by the Saviors' attempts to antagonize him, zoning out in a trance a couple of times, and glaring wordlessly at Negan when face to face, impressing Negan who refers to Carl as a future serial killer. This and Enid's comments suggest that Carl could be developing a more sadistic side. However, when he was alone with Negan in Negan's room in the Sanctuary, and after being forced to take off his bandage and show his exposed eye socket, Carl was shown to be visibly afraid when forced to sing while Negan swung Lucille around. This shows how self-conscious Carl has become about his appearance, as well as the fact that he is actually afraid of Negan and the Saviors. After noticing this, Negan expresses genuine remorse for his treatment of Carl. During the preparation for the war against Negan and the Saviors, Carl continued to show his more mature side, no longer going against his father's wishes. He showed his bravery and willingness to fight when he was the first one to fight the Scavengers when they held Alexandria at gunpoint and were distracted by Negan being attacked. Carl was even put in charge of safeguarding Alexandria while the Militia wages war with the Saviors, despite the presence of natural-born leaders such as Michonne and Rosita, a responsibility he took extremely seriously and achieved when he orchestrated Alexandria's evacuation during the Saviors' bombardment on the community. While everyone else during the war focuses on the present battles and bloodshed, Carl develops a more progressive way of thinking when contemplating the aftermath of the war and the future.

Carl was born in 1998 and grew up in King County, where he experienced an average childhood raised by his father, Rick Grimes (a sheriff deputy) alongside his mother Lori (a housewife). The three lived together as a typical family in a single-story house in King County, Georgia. He also befriended his father's closest friend, Shane Walsh. When Carl was 3 years old, Rick took him on a walk to Ross' farm, where Carl became grateful for the safety and happiness his father provided him. When Carl was in the third grade, he had a best friend who was allergic to dairy products and thus brought in soy-based meals for lunchtime; one day, Carl tasted his friend's milk and almost vomited (which became a humorous memory for him). As he grew, he developed a keen interest in playing video games and reading comic books. Over time, however, his parents' marriage became increasingly strained due to their marital issues, and Carl was often in the presence of his parents' quarrels, where one day, he witnessed Lori questioning if Rick truly cared about his family, an incident which affected Carl to a degree.

In a camp outside the city, a group of survivors, among them Carl, Lori, and Shane, receive Rick's transmission. However, Carl doesn't recognize Rick's voice over the garbled transmission. Amy runs to the CB, but can't get a reply. By the time Shane takes over the CB controls and introduces himself, Rick has left the emergency broadcast channel. Lori voices that she's been saying for a week that they should put signs up on the highway warning people away from the city, and volunteers to go on her own, but Dale and Shane argue that venturing out is too risky. Lori walks off, and Shane goes after her, telling Carl that everything is fine. Inside her tent, Shane tells Lori that she needs to keep it together for Carl, who has lost so much already. Lori agrees and they kiss passionately, before Carl interrupts them, not seeing them kissing. Lori promises him she's not going anywhere and tells her son to go finish his chores, prompting him to run off smiling. In the camp, Carl is playing with cars in the dirt when Lori tells him to stay where Dale can see him as she goes into the forest to pick up mushrooms. Shane is teaching Carl how to tie knots. Suddenly, the radio crackles and squeaks, and T-Dog's garbled transmission comes through, explaining that they're trapped in the department store, surrounded by hundreds of walkers. Carl follows his mother and Shane, running closer as Dale responds to the transmission, but only radio silence follows. He stays quiet, letting the grown-ups talk, but looks worried. He then watches his mother follow after Amy to comfort her. Shane walks over to him and ruffles his hair.

Carl is first seen with his mother and is fussing as she gives him a haircut. Shane bonds with Carl and playfully tells him: "You think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings. That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts. I'll tell you what: you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special. I will teach you to catch frogs." Carl laughs. As Carl and the rest of the group hear the roaring alarm of a car that Glenn Rhee is driving towards the camp from Atlanta, they all approach it with caution. Morales, another member of the group on the Atlanta run, is reunited with his family, while Carl begins to cry under the realization that he'll never see his father again, and Lori comforts him. As it happens, Rick was rescued in Atlanta by the group; when he exits the van, Carl sees him and runs toward him in tears. Rick picks him up, embracing him. Later that night, Carl is seen around the campfire with everybody else as Rick shares his story. The next day, Carl is heard screaming out for his parents shortly after encountering a walker eating a deer in the woods. Shortly after, Carl nods in understanding after being told that his father needs to go back for Merle Dixon, whom Rick left handcuffed on a rooftop. Later that day, Lori tries to comfort Carl, and she tells him that Rick will be fine, despite her being worried herself about him, to which Carl responds: "Think about it, Mom. Everything that's happened to him so far-- nothing's killed him yet." Toward the end of the episode, Carl is seen playing with Shane as Shane teaches him how to catch frogs. Shortly after, Lori tells Carl to stay away from Shane and tells Carl that it does not matter what Shane says, for Shane told her that Rick had died.

Carl is seen around the survivors' camp talking to some of the other camp members. He asks Amy and Andrea if they could teach him to fish, after having been impressed by the amount they were able to catch. He later joins the group to learn why Jim is digging holes. Lori tells Jim that he is scaring Carl and Sophia. Jim brings up an uncomfortable topic to Carl, as he asks him about Rick. At the end of the same day, he joins the group for dinner around the campfire. The walkers suddenly attack the camp and kill many of the survivors. Carl survives the attack, and Rick then returns to camp with the bag of guns. Carl embraces his father, crying. Carl is welcomed into the CDC by the only remaining scientist, Dr. Edwin Jenner, along with the rest of the group. He takes a blood test shortly before he is seen with the others laughing and enjoying a fine meal. The others entreat Carl to taste the wine, and he cringes in disgust after taking a sip. He later plays checkers with Sophia and then heads to bed. Toward the end of the episode, Jenner informs them that the building's energy has run out and that the building will explode. Carl is seen crying, as he does not want to die. When Dr. Jenner lets the group free, Carl flees with the others to Dale's RV and watches as the CDC burns in flames. They then head toward Fort Benning.

Carl is first seen in the car with Lori, Rick, Sophia, and Carol. Lori touches on some of their past and explains to Carl that when he was a baby, he and his parents took a trip to the Grand Canyon. They playfully joke and laugh when they tell him that he threw up a lot. Carl expresses how he would like to go see the Grand Canyon one day. Carl is later seen gathering supplies with his fellow survivors. When a herd of walkers approach, they hide underneath the cars. Carl appears very frightened, but Rick, who is just a few feet away, attempts to calm him down. Sophia is then chased by a duo of walkers and gets lost. Later, after the herd passes by, Carl finds a Gerber bag of tools, which he is ordered by Shane to give to Dale. Carl and the others then go out to look for Sophia. When they reach a church, they decide to split. Daryl Dixon leads the group back to the interstate, and Rick and Shane continue to look for Sophia. Carl asks his father to let him help with the search, and Rick complies. Later, Carl, Shane, and Rick see a buck in the woods. Shane is about to shoot it, but Rick stops him, and the two watch Carl approach it slowly. However, the peace is abruptly interrupted by a loud gunshot. Both Carl and the buck fall to the ground as the bullet passes through the buck, hitting Carl in the stomach. He is then seen lying on the ground unconscious. Rick rushes to his son. During a flashback, Carl is seen leaving his school. As he approaches his mother, he is told that his father has been shot and is in critical condition at the hospital. He begins to cry and hugs his mother as Shane looks on. Back in the present, Otis, the man who accidentally shoots Carl, tells Rick that the farmhouse in which he has been staying is nearby and that the owner, Hershel, is able to help Carl. Rick then hurries Carl toward Hershel Greene's farm. After a lengthy run, Rick arrives at the farm with Carl in his arms and hurries inside the house. Rick places Carl on the bed, and Hershel

During a flashback, Carl is seen leaving his school. As he approaches his mother, he is told that his father has been shot and is in critical condition at the hospital. He begins to cry and hugs his mother as Shane looks on. Back in the present, Otis, the man who accidentally shoots Carl, tells Rick that the farmhouse in which he has been staying is nearby and that the owner, Hershel, is able to help Carl. Rick then hurries Carl toward Hershel Greene's farm. After a lengthy run, Rick arrives at the farm with Carl in his arms and hurries inside the house. Rick places Carl on the bed, and Hershel checks his pulse, telling Rick that he is alive. Carl is unconscious due to trauma and blood loss. Unfortunately, Carl awakens while Hershel is performing surgery because of the pain. He screams in agony, and Rick tells Hershel to stop since he's killing him, but eventually Carl passes out from the pain. Rick then gives blood to Carl as they are of the same blood type. Hershel confronts Rick about Carl's condition: "He's out of danger for the moment, but I need to remove the remaining fragments. I need to go deeper to get the others. There's more. His belly's distended, his pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there. I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breath on his own. Same bad results." Later, Shane and Otis head towards a former FEMA evacuation center which used to be a high school for medical supplies to operate on Carl.

Carl is still unconscious and is losing too much blood due to internal bleeding. Rick is unable to donate any more blood since his blood levels are critically low as well. Later, Rick is talking to Lori, telling her Carl is going to be okay and that he's in this world now, to which Lori responds: "Maybe he shouldn't be. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. Why do we want Carl to live in this world? To have this life? So he can see more people torn apart in front of him? So that he can be hungry and scared for however long he has before he... - so he can run and run and run and run and then even if he survives, he ends up... he ends up just another animal who doesn't know anything except survival? If he... if he dies tonight, it ends for him. Tell me why it would be better another way." Carl does wake up briefly in pain, to which his parents quickly rush to his side. Carl tells Lori, "You should have seen it. The deer. It was so pretty, Mom. It was so close. I... I've never been..." shortly before his eyes glaze over and he goes limp. He has a horrifying seizure, and his parents are forced to watch him convulse on the bed.

Hershel informs Rick and Lori that if Shane and Otis do not arrive in time with the needed medical supplies, they have to make a choice on whether to allow Hershel to perform the surgery, knowing the risks of what could happen to Carl. Rick and Lori tell him to go ahead with the surgery. Before Hershel makes an incision, however, Shane makes it back to the farm with the supplies, but sadly without Otis. Later that night, Rick and Lori are waiting outside for the news on whether Carl has survived or not, and it turns out that he has indeed survived. Rick thanks Hershel, as Lori goes to Carl, relieved and crying. The rest of the group finds out that the surgery was successful and they sigh in relief. Carl wakes up for the first time, and his parents are instantly at his side, calming him down from everything he's processing. He asks Rick if they found Sophia yet. Rick lies and tells Carl that she's fine. Carl is told the truth later by Lori since at the time, they didn't want Carl to worry and wanted him to recover. Later, he and Rick talk for a bit, and Rick takes his badge off his hat and gives Carl the hat to wear. In a flashback, Carl is seen on the highway with Lori, Shane, Carol, her husband Ed, and Sophia. Carl, Lori, and Shane have just evacuated their town and met the Peletiers, and are stuck in a traffic jam. Carl asks Sophia and her mother for food, but Ed shuns his wife for wanting to give out food to strangers. Carol consents but still sneaks food for Carl. Lori and Shane, meanwhile, are off watching the military bomb Atlanta. Sophia tells Carl that she likes his dad (as she thinks that Shane is his father), but Carl responds with "Shane's not my dad.... My dad is dead." Carl is seen later in the present day still lying in bed sleeping and recovering from being shot by Otis.

Carl is finally seen walking after recovering from being shot. He is feeding the chickens with his mother at the beginning of the episode. He states that the mother of the chicks was probably eaten, stating "Everything's food for something else." Carl is seen in the back when the group are talking about gun training. Shane approaches him and Carl wants to learn too. He asks if Shane can teach him how to shoot a gun and Shane tells him that that's up to his parents. Before Carl leaves, however, he is caught with a gun on him and Shane informs Carl's parents about it immediately. His mother is furious, but his father says that he does need to know how to handle a gun, for his own protection. Carl then apologizes to his mother, telling her he wants to help look for Sophia and defend the camp. He goes on and says he can't do that without a gun. He goes to shooting practice, along with Rick, Shane, Andrea, and T-Dog. He continues to care about and wants to help with the search for Sophia. Carl tells Shane that he doesn't want to give up on the search despite Shane's arguments and wanting to move on: "I know you think Sophia's dead and that we should stop looking for her. But that's... that's bullshit. We're going to stay here until we find her." Shane decides to support Carl until the end of the episode, where the group of survivors shoots all of the walkers that were in the barn. Carl is saddened to see that Sophia was in fact a walker and clutches to Lori for comfort, weeping uncontrollably, as Rick shoots Sophia.

Carl talks to Lori, his mother, about Sophia, stating that he wanted to be the one to find her alive, but thinks that Rick did the right thing in shooting Sophia. He states that he would have done the same thing had he been in his father's place. Lori appears shocked that he would say such a thing, and is worried that he's getting too cold. Carl attends Sophia, Annette Greene, and Shawn's funeral with Lori and Rick. After Lori is brought back to Hershel's farm by Shane, Shane reveals to everyone, including Carl, that Lori is pregnant. Carl is furious that his mother didn't tell him she was pregnant. He later asks questions about the baby, and his mother informs everyone that they never had "the talk." He turns to Dale, expecting him to fill him in, but Dale says that that job is for his father. Carl speaks with Shane about Randall, who had been brought back to the farm after his former group members abandoned him, but Shane tells him that Randall's fate is the adults' business. He later sneaks into the barn where Randall is being held prisoner, but Shane discovers him and tells him to stay away from Randall. They bicker back and forth until eventually Carl backs down and nods in understanding. Carl is seen at Sophia's grave, mourning, shortly before insulting Carol for believing that Sophia is in a better place, stating that Heaven does not exist and that she is an idiot for believing in it.

Rick later tells him that he must keep his act together and to consider the fact that Carol has just lost her daughter. He states that if she wants to believe that she's in a better place for comfort, he should not insult her for thinking that. Rick goes on his lecture, saying "Don't talk. Think." Carl later steals a gun from Daryl's motorcycle and goes to the woods. He finds a walker trapped in the mud and decides to taunt it. He stares at it for a while and then begins to throw rocks at the walker, intimidating it. Carl then steps onto the mud and holds up the gun, ready to shoot it. He takes too long, however, and one of the walker's legs breaks free. Carl falls back, terrified, and loses the gun in the mud. The walker manages to grabs onto Carl's feet, trying to pull him closer so he can eat him. After a struggle, Carl manages to get loose and he runs back to the house, where he is forbidden to speak of Randall's fate. Later, he sneaks to Randall's execution and tells his father to kill him while he is watching. Shane takes him away, and Rick spares Randall. Later, Dale is attacked by a walker that mortally wounds him. Carl arrives at the scene and sees that the walker that attacked Dale is the same one that he taunted in the swamp. Horrified and feeling guilty, he goes to cry in Lori's lap as Daryl kills Dale out of mercy.

When the group trapped inside the train car hears explosions and gunfire, they begin to fear what happened to the four members of their group who were taken. Carl comes out of the shadows on the opposite end of the car, reassuring the group that his father and the others will return, and that they'll need to be prepared when they do. Carl is seen escaping through the woods after the group makes it over the exterior fence around Terminus. When the group bumps into Carol, she leads them to Tyreese, who is holding a safe and sound baby Judith. Rick and Carl run to Judith and embrace her. Carl is seen with the expanded group as they continue their journey. As the group is walking through a forest, a cry for help is heard. It is Carl who insists the group go to the stranger's aid. Once the person calling for help, revealed to be Father Gabriel Stokes, has been saved from walkers, Carl offers him pecans to which he gratefully receives. Carl watches Rick's interrogation of Gabriel closely and joins the group when they take refuge in Gabriel's church. Carl is later seen in the church looking after Judith by feeding her with a bottle. When Rick decides to leave on a supply run with Gabriel, Michonne, Bob, and Sasha, he talks to Carl first. Rick confesses to not trusting Gabriel, to which Carl states that 'everyone can't be bad.' Rick warns Carl to not be fooled into a false sense of security and that he is not safe. Anyone could try to rape and possibly kill him at any time. Although he is clearly shaken, Carl promises to be careful, and Rick departs.

When Rick later returns, he is directed to the back of the church, where he is told Carl is. Carl reveals he has been trying to figure out what Gabriel is hiding and has found scratch marks on the windows. He also shows Rick the words, 'You'll burn for this', engraved in the side of the church. Carl notes this doesn't mean Gabriel is bad, although he confirms he is hiding something. Carl is later seen eating at the group's celebration. Carl listens in shock to Gabriel's story about locking his congregation out in the early days of the outbreak. He then gathers around the injured Bob after he has been brought into the church. When Judith starts to cry, Carl carries her into the back, gently shushing her to soothe her. Later, when Rick leads a group to the elementary school to find the Hunters, Carl is left to defend the church as the Hunters begin their attack. Gareth enters the church and taunts each of the remaining group into revealing their location. Gareth mentions Carl's name, knowing he is there. Carl keeps his gun trained on the door of the room the group is hiding in. When Judith's cries give away their location, the Hunters attempt to enter the room, only to be deterred and killed by Rick's group. Carl is present as the group is saying their goodbyes to Bob. When Bob requests a word with Rick, Carl attempts to take Judith from his father, until Bob states that he is fine with Judith being present. Carl leaves the room. He is finally seen at the front of the church, saying goodbye to Abraham's group as they depart for D.C

Carl appears when Rick shows up at the house to check on Carl. Carl asks his dad what his plan is, but Rick instead tells Carl to stay at home. Carl asks if this was "home", to which Rick answers "yes". Later, while Rick was ranting about the future at the meeting, Carl appears at the house holding Judith. In a flashback, it is revealed that Negan had selected Abraham to be executed by being beaten to death. Carl watches the execution in tears. He is further shocked and depressed when Negan kills Glenn in the same manner with his baseball bat Lucille as punishment for Daryl attacking him moments after Abraham's death. Carl then watches helplessly as his father is dragged by Negan into the RV to take him on a "trip", leaving him behind with the remaining survivors. When Rick and Negan return later in the day, Negan calls Carl over to put his belt on his left arm to act as a tourniquet so that Rick can amputate his arm. Carl complies and lies on the ground. Rick wails in his unwillingness to do so, but Carl calmly tells his father that it is okay. Impatient, Negan counts down to pressure Rick into complying unless everyone in his group is executed. Just as Rick is about to go through with it, Negan stops him, believing him to now be submissive. Negan then declares Rick to be in control of his group. Carl is then left with the other survivors as the Saviors leave with Daryl taken hostage, looking down at the ground despondently. He comforts a sobbing Maggie by hugging her and then assists the remaining survivors by carrying Glenn's body away.

Carl pulls a gun on a Savior called David who was about to take all of Alexandria's medical supplies. Rick and Negan arrive at the house, and Carl threatens Negan, but the leader of the Saviors doesn't see Carl as a threat and is amused by his show of opposition. Negan threatens Carl that he will prove a point again if Carl shoots David. Carl understands and lowers his gun. Carl watches David in anger while he taunts Enid about the balloons that Glenn and she had used to get Maggie's attention, and looks at Rick after David gives Enid her balloons back. Carl is playing darts while arguing with Rick about him going away too long on the supply run with Aaron before the Saviors come back for their supply pick up, and then argues with Michonne about her not going with Rick and Aaron to look for supplies. After Michonne, Rick, and Aaron leave for the supply run, he spots Enid walking towards the walls and goes to see why. Enid admits she is walking to the Hilltop to visit Maggie and says that Carl went with Rick, Maggie, Sasha, Abraham, Eugene and Aaron to the Hilltop and made it back alive and says she is sorry that Carl had to see Glenn and Abraham get killed but he replies "I'm not" and Enid climbs over the wall. As Enid is leaving Alexandria, she gets attacked by a walker, until Carl appears and rams the walker with a car. Enid asks him what he is doing, and he replies, "I like to drive". Carl and Enid are walking to the Hilltop, and Carl says he wanted to see Glenn and Abraham die so he could remember it as a motive to kill Negan. Carl and Enid continue their journey to the Hilltop, and Carl finds two pairs of roller blades and Enid and Carl continue their journey to the Hilltop in their rollerblades, and the two hold hands.

Carl and Enid are right outside the Hilltop, and Enid says Carl lied about him taking a drive when he was going to get her. Carl tells Enid to come with him to the Sanctuary to kill Negan, but she declines and asks how he would escape, to which he replies, "It wouldn't matter." But Enid said it would to her, Carl then kisses her on the forehead, which leads to them kissing on the lips. Enid offers Carl to come with her to the Hilltop, but he declines, and Enid walks inside. Later on, Jesus jumps on the back of the Savior's truck and drinks the scotch that Simon stole from Gregory. Carl is happy to see him and says "hi" to him. Carl and Jesus emerge from their hiding spots in the back of the cargo truck. Jesus proposes they jump out and follow on foot. Carl is hesitant and asks Jesus to show him how. Once Jesus leaps out, Carl waves goodbye and continues. He picks up a machine gun as the truck slows to a stop. As a Savior begins to unload the supplies, he spots Carl, who immediately shoots him. He emerges and tells the Saviors he wants Negan, who appears and tells him he looks “adorable.” Carl shoots another Savior before Dwight tackles him to the ground. Negan tells Dwight to back off and offers to show Carl around the compound. Despite his initial refusal, Carl allows Negan to help him up and follows him inside the Sanctuary. Negan takes Carl to a nicely appointed room and introduces him to his "harem." Noticing that Carl is impressed, he tells him he can look at the women as much as he likes.

Negan takes Carl to his apartment; he orders Carl to sit across from him and remove his hat and eye bandage. After seeing Carl's scarred eye socket, Negan makes several distasteful comments on how gross it looks. Humiliated, Carl starts crying. Negan apologizes for hurting his feelings. He tells Carl that his eye is "rad as hell" and advises him to leave the bandage off so nobody will mess with him. He orders Carl to sing him a song. Carl reluctantly starts singing "You Are My Sunshine" while Negan practices swinging Lucille. He asks if Carl's mother used to sing that to him, and correctly guesses she is dead. Carl explains that he shot her to prevent her from turning. They then go to the factory. Negan orders Carl to hold Lucille as the Saviors gather around a furnace on the factory floor. Carl watches as Negan burns a Saviors' face with a hot iron as punishment for sleeping with one of Negan's wives, and he and Daryl exchange glances. Back in Negan's apartment, Carl asks if he can wrap his head back up, but Negan refuses. He taunts Negan for being unable to kill him, Rick, or Daryl, and tells him he should jump out of the window to save him from killing him. Negan suggests they take a car ride. Carl and Negan prepare to leave in the cargo truck. On their way out, Daryl warns Negan against hurting Carl. Negan tells Dwight to put Daryl back in his cell and drives off. Carl and Negan arrive back in Alexandria, and Olivia lets them inside. Carl assures her that Enid is safe. He watches as Negan takes a tour of Rick's house. Carl tries to keep him away from Judith's bedroom, but Negan opens the door and discovers her nursery. He watches anxiously as he lifts Judith out of her crib.

Carl and Negan sit on the front porch, and Negan rocks Judith in his lap. He contemplates killing Rick and Carl, maybe even settling in the suburbs. In the kitchen, Carl rolls out dough as Negan cooks spaghetti. He sets the table, and Negan tells him to place a setting for Rick. Along with Olivia and Judith, they wait for Rick to return. Negan eventually grows tired and asks Carl to pass the bread rolls. Later, Carl watches with Olivia from the porch as Negan and Spencer play pool in the street. He watches in shock as Negan disembowels Spencer, and is horrified when Arat turns, before shooting and killing Olivia. Carl, with a new bandage to cover his eye, accompanies the group to the Hilltop, where they reunite with the others. He and Enid smile at each other. Together, they all stride towards the mansion. Carl is present when Rick tries to convince Gregory to fight against the Saviors. After they leave his office, Enid leads the group to the courtyard, where some of the Hilltop residents offer to join the fight against the Saviors. Carl smiles at her proudly. Jesus then tells the group it's time they met King Ezekiel. Carl accompanies the group to the Kingdom, where he hands his gun over to Richard. They are reunited with Morgan and meet Ezekiel. They leave the next morning when Ezekiel refuses to fight. On their way back to Alexandria, they encounter a blockade of cars on the highway set up by the Saviors. Carl recalls the Saviors talking about a tripwire trap for a large herd of walkers. He helps to dismantle the explosives so they can take the dynamite and RPGs with them. Carl works with Tara and Rosita to block the on ramp, and they are soon surrounded by the herd. Once they are rejoined by Rick and Michonne, they head back to Alexandria.

Carl is preparing to join the others on their trip to Oceanside. Enid asks if he ever thinks about the people he's killed; Carl says he does. Carl holds the Oceanside residents hostage as Rick explains he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Carl helps the group defeat the incoming herd of walkers. As Carl and Enid gather the guns, he tells Enid he also thinks about the people he didn’t kill. Carl is first shown when a Scavenger alerts everyone in Alexandria to the Saviors' arrival. Rick assumes his position at the front gate, with Jadis crouching by his feet, hidden from view. Negan's caravan arrives. Eugene steps out and tries to convince Rick to surrender. Rick hesitates, stricken by Eugene’s betrayal, and asks where Negan is. "I'm Negan," Eugene replies. Rick then gives Rosita the signal to detonate the explosives. Rosita pushes the detonator, but there is no explosion. Before Rick can reach for his gun, Jadis leaps up and aims her gun at Rick. Simultaneously, the Scavengers all turn their guns on the Alexandrians, including Carl. Negan emerges from a truck and taunts Rick as his Saviors open the truck that holds the explosives. Brion opens the gates for the Saviors. Watching the situation unfold, Michonne tries to leave her balcony post to help Rick, but Farron stops her, holding her at gunpoint.