Carl Grimes

Lore & Background

In the comic book series, Carl is the only son of sheriff Rick Grimes and his wife, Lori Grimes. When the dead rise, Lori takes Carl to a purported safe zone in Atlanta, Georgia, along with Rick's partner, Shane Walsh. Despite being only seven years old, Carl is taught to shoot a pistol. This comes in handy when he saves his mother from an attacking walker. Later, he is forced to kill an unstable Shane in order to protect his father. After the group buries Shane and leaves Atlanta, Carl is shot and wounded by ranch foreman Otis while searching for supplies in the woods. The survivors are brought to the farm of Otis' employer, veterinarian Hershel Greene, who successfully treats Carl. They eventually find an abandoned prison. While there, Carl and the others enjoy the prison's luxuries, such as hot showers and open space. When The Governor and his army attack the prison, Carl managed to escape with Rick. During the journey, while returning to Kentucky with Rick and Abraham Ford, he is nearly raped by a group of rednecks before his father manages to kill all of them. In the aftermath, Carl confesses to killing Shane and being a different person than he was before the apocalypse. Shortly after their return to the main group, Carl witnesses a fellow child survivor murder his brother, and he secretly kills the child when he realizes no one else is willing to do it. He feels deep grief, but does not regret his actions. When they arrive at a gated community in D.C., Carl is unable to fit in with the other children because of his horrific experiences. During a zombie attack, Carl is shot in the face, losing his right eye, and in a coma for weeks. When he wakes up, he shows a much more negative outlook, berating his father for all of the horrible things that have happened in his life. When Rick decides to attack a group of enemy survivors known as the Saviors, they retaliate by killing Glenn Rhee. Carl decides to sneak into one of the Saviors' vans and launch an assault on them, ending with him as Negan's new 'guest'. Negan takes a liking to Carl, although the feeling is not mutual. Not long after, Carl is returned to Rick unharmed. After the roughly four-year time gap, Carl decides that he wants to leave the Safe Zone to journey to The Hilltop and start an apprenticeship with Earl Sutton, the blacksmith. Shortly after arriving there, two boys attack him and Sophia, and Carl fights back with a shovel, nearly killing them. He is temporarily held in a cell where he bonds with Lydia, a survivor from a rival group, the Whisperers. After being let out Carl convinces Maggie to let Lydia out under his watch and they bond further; eventually, Lydia seduces him and they make love. Though Carl and Lydia grow even closer after this Lydia's mother 'Alpha' arrives at the Hilltop's gates demanding Lydia back or she will attack and Maggie is forced to hand her over, a decision that enrages Carl. Later when Sophia goes to check on Carl he is missing and is revealed to have sneaked out after Lydia. In the final comic, Carl is an adult and married to Sophia. After killing a wandering walker belonging to Maggie Greene's son Hershel, he faces criminal charges in a society where the threat of zombies is largely ignored and forgotten, but he is cleared of all charges with Michonne being his judge. He is last seen telling his daughter, Andrea Grimes, the story of his father, Rick, and how his efforts paved the way for a safer world for everyone.

In Their Own Story

In the television series, Carl is Lori and Rick Grimes' son and Judith's elder half-brother (or brother, depending on whether Judith's father is Rick or Shane). Upon learning of his father's shooting days before the outbreak, he is devastated, even wanting to give a blood transfusion to help which his mother talks him out of. When the outbreak begins, Shane Walsh and Lori take him to the supposed safe zone in Atlanta. On the way there, he is told that his father is dead, and he gradually began to accept it but had little time to mourn. On the way to Atlanta when traffic is backed up Carl, Lori and Shane meet Carol, Ed and their daughter Sophia who Carl quickly becomes friends with. They set up camp with other survivors on the outskirts of Atlanta, Carl begins to look at Shane as a father figure, as he does various activities with him such as fishing and learns some survival skills from him, but appeared to be oblivious to Shane and Lori's ongoing sexual relationship. Carl and Rick are both ambidextrous. In Season 1, Carl along with Lori and Shane are part of the survivor group camping in a quarry outside of Atlanta, and has made friends with Sophia, Carol's daughter. When Rick is found and brought back to the camp, Carl is overjoyed to see his father alive, and Lori instructs him to distance himself from Shane. The group is forced to abandon the camp and leave Atlanta. In Season 2, as Rick's group heads to Fort Benning, they are forced to hide themselves from a horde of walkers amid a jam-up of cars on a highway, during which Sophia goes missing. The group splits up to search for her, and Carl joins Rick and Shane. They spot a deer, but as Carl approaches it, he is accidentally shot by Otis, a farmhand from Hershel Greene's farm nearby. They race Carl to Hershel who operates to remove the bullet fragments. The operation is successful, but Carl is bedridden for several days, leading Hershel to allow Rick's group to stay on the farm while he heals. Once Carl heals, he helps out around the farm and the survivor's camp, but Lori notices he has a colder demeanor. Carl becomes more distant from the group. Shane starts to go crazy and opens a locked barn then the group finds that Sophia has become a walker and was herded among other walkers of Hershel's family and friends into his barn, believing they can be cured. Rick's group is forced to put down all of the walkers, including Sophia. Later, Carl heads into the woods alone, finding a walker stuck in a mud pit. He aims a gun to dispatch it but instead tries to taunt it, and the walker lurches forward, freeing itself. Carl runs back to camp but fails to mention the walker. Later that day, Dale is attacked by the same walker, and the group is forced to euthanize him, Carl feels regret for not having killed the walker when he had the chance. Carl learns that Lori is pregnant, but she is unsure if it is Shane's or Rick's child; Glenn and Rick head out to the bar to find Hershel to save Beth after she attempts to kill herself. After their arrival, two 'trusted' people from another group draw on them resulting in Rick, Glenn, and Hershel shooting and killing them. As the night continues, more people from their group come looking for them. They leave Randall impaled on a fence in pain as walkers build up. Hershel pulls Randall's leg off to save him. Daryl beats him to gain information about his group of 30 people. Shane decided to lead Randall into the woods snapping his neck and lying to the group by scraping his nose on tree bark saying Randall 'hit him and ran off.' As Rick and Shane arrive back at the farm, Rick calls him out. Shane draws on Rick, then he stabs Shane to death. Shane shoots a gun attracting a large group of walkers as Carl watches.

Reader's Guide

Carl Grimes serves as the emotional heartbeat of the early apocalypse narrative, personifying the loss of innocence and the crushing burden of growing up too fast. His arc transforms him from a dependent child seeking protection into an autonomous leader who defines his own code of ethics. Unlike peers who hardened into killers, Carl matured into a diplomat and visionary, consistently challenging Rick's instinct for immediate violence in favor of long-term community building. His prowess lies not in brute strength but in sharpshooting precision, tactical awareness, and the rare ability to navigate complex social dynamics within fractured groups. Defining moments include his decision to spare a young boy during the prison siege, his fierce defense of Alexandria against Negan's forces while simultaneously advocating for peace, and his ultimate sacrifice—a catalyst that fundamentally altered Rick Grimes' philosophy. Carl's legacy is one of defiant hope; he proved that even in a world overrun by death, it was possible to choose life. His journey underscores the series' core message: survival without humanity is meaningless, and his final words remain a guiding principle for survivors still walking the road.

Did You Know?

• Carl debuted in The Walking Dead #2 in 2003, created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore.
• In the comic book series, Carl is only seven years old when he is taught to shoot a pistol and later saves his mother from an attacking walker.
• Chandler Riggs won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Television Series in 2014 and 2016 for his portrayal of Carl.
• In the television series, Carl and Rick are both ambidextrous.
• In the final comic, Carl is an adult married to Sophia and has a daughter named Andrea Grimes.