THE Walking Dead’s show boss has lifted the lid on Carol’s breakdown after a drug binge and horrific hallucinations.
In the latest episode of season 10, the character – played by Melissa McBride – starts to reveal how much she is struggling with the shock death of her adopted son Henry, not to mention the many other losses she’s felt across the series run.
Viewers will know Henry was one of a number of characters slaughtered by The Whisperers in the last series, and Carol has become reliant on expired caffeine pills which have made her hallucinate and have imaginary conversations.
Speaking about Carol’s current state of mind, showrunner Angela Kang told Entertainment Weekly: “For Carol, the stakes are so high for her because of what happened to her son, and I think in this episode what we’re really seeing — and Melissa McBride just portrays the role so beautifully — it’s just the depth of her grief and pain and how much of it she’s been hiding away from everybody else in the group.
“And that comes bubbling up to the surface in a couple of really key moments, such as when she’s at the border with Alpha.
“When somebody is going through that much pain, and when they have such a burning desire to have revenge, and when she really wants to see Alpha pay for her sins, that’s going to have a big impact on all our people in various ways.
“You’re also seeing the start of some pretty self-destructive behaviours in this episode. So the season builds from there with her story.
“So yeah, it’s a continuing story for us. It has a lot of emotional depth from her character side.”
In the episode, Carol finally came face to face with Alpha, the leader of The Whisperers and the person responsible for Henry’s beheading.
After Alpha taunted her over the killing, Carol took a shot at her, and Angela explained it was all part of Alpha’s plan to mess with the survivors.
She said: “Even when Carol takes the shot, Alpha got to her. She got to Carol. Carol can be a pretty cool cat too.
“And just the fact that she just got right under her skin in the spot that she knows that she can dig and dig and dig and dig at that scar with Henry — the shot is taken and she just stands there, and is like, “Cool, you took a shot.” And that’s all part of the game.”
Carol’s hallucinations have made her fellow survivor’s doubt her when she claims she saw a Whisperer, and while Daryl said he believed her, Angela admits that isn’t the complete truth.
She explained: “I think that Darryl has his doubts, but he’s trying to support his friend there. He sees how she’s struggling.
“He’s doing the nice thing in saying he believes her. I think he wants to believe her, but the evidence is sort of stacked against her in this episode.
“There’s a lot of things that only she really saw and nobody has any proof of anything that happened.”
The Walking Dead airs Mondays on FOX in the UK and is available to stream in the UK.
