Even as The Walking Dead keeps Carl alive as a symbol of hope for the future, it stands to reason Chandler Riggs will eventually leave the series behind. That prospect got more immediate with word Riggs would soon be attending college, for which the Walking Dead star says of the balancing act “It wouldn’t be easy but I think that could be possible.”

It all started with a few now-deleted social media posts from Riggs and his family that pointed out how the actor “completed” his seven-year contract with the series, and would soon attend Auburn University in Alabama. Other cast members have gone on record doubting that the series would kill off Carl to explain Riggs’ limited availability, though the actor himself tells The Hollywood Reporter of the potential to balance both work and school:

You never know how it will go. I really do hope it works out because that would be really cool. I like to be in The Walking Dead and I like to play video games and just hang out with my friends and try to be as normal as possible so going to college would be another really cool, normal experience in my life. I want for it to work out.

Is there a way in which you can be a full-time student as well as a series regular on The Walking Dead?

Yes. Theoretically, I could take one or two classes on campus and maybe an online class. My professors would have to be willing to cooperate. It wouldn’t be easy but I think that could be possible.

Is that something you’re trying to do?

Yes.

That said, Riggs declined to answer if he’d signed a Season 8 contract, perhaps leaving Carl’s fate in limbo as we head toward the second half of Season 7. This past week’s “Sing Me a Song” certainly gave Carl the kind of spotlight that in any other case might telegraph an actor’s exit, but could The Walking Dead ever take so drastic a swing from the comics as write Carl out of the show?

Watch the latest from midseason finale “Hearts Still Beating” in the meantime.

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