"The Walking Dead" season 8 shook fans to the core with what happened to Chandler Riggs' Carl before the show went into winter hiatus. One of the handful of original characters still alive, Carl was revealed to be dying of a zombie bite during the midseason premiere. While the AMC drama has yet to show his actual death, series creator Robert Kirkman has offered words in defense of their decision to kill off such a major figure.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he revealed they have been mulling over the idea since a year ago when fellow showrunner Scott M. Gimple brought it up. "At first, I was kind of like, 'Well, that's a big one, you know?' I might have had a little bit of trepidation," Kirkman said. "But once he laid out to me exactly what his long-term plans were, and the things that come out of it, and the things that it leads to, it was something I got on board with."

Kirkman knows fans are pissed, and he says they were expecting this kind of reaction. As he explained, "that's by design. We're not supposed to be happy when these characters die. We are supposed to be worried about what comes next, and anticipating what comes next, and stressing about what comes next." Now, the team's job is to "prove that this was a decision worth making."

Carl will meet his end when "The Walking Dead" season 8 returns for the second half next month. It remains to be seen how his death would affect the show's reception and viewership, but fans should not worry about Riggs getting short shrift on that fateful episode. Elsewhere in the interview, Kirkman promised the midseason premiere makes for a great send-off for both the character and the actor, further teasing that Riggs is about to deliver one of his best performances so far.

For the actor's part, Riggs revealed the news of Carl getting killed off came as a huge shocker as his comic book counterpart is still very much alive. He admitted it devastated him and his family, but he believes it serves a good purpose in the story.

"The Walking Dead" season 8 returns from its winter break on Sunday, Feb. 25, on AMC at 9 p.m. EST.