The Walking Dead season 8 episode 8: Who dies in the midseason finale?

*We repeat - major spoilers follow for The Walking Dead season 8 episode 8 - read our review here*

The midseason 8 finale of The Walking Dead dealt out the tragedy like only a Walking Dead mid-season finale knows how to culminating in what is the show's biggest loss since Glenn (Steven Yeun) got bludgeoned to death by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in the season 7 premiere.

Having had the walkers lured away from the Sanctuary (your days are numbered, Eugene), this episode saw Negan and his Saviours head to Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom to unleash hell on Rick's army.

The nighttime-set episode largely cut between these three encounters with Simon dealing with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) while Gavin's at the Kingdom searching for Ezekiel (Khary Payton) - but it's Alexandria where the episode's most traumatic instances were reserved for.

As Negan arrives unheralded demanding an apology for the war they waged against his people, Carl (Chandler Riggs) jumps into action taking leadership in the absence of his father. He hatches an escape plan which everyone - including Michonne, Daryl, Rosita and Tara - follow: with Carl serving as a decoy - offering Negan his life in exchange for the safety of his friends ad family - Daryl leads a convoy of vehicles away from Alexandria where they're later assisted by Dwight (Austin Amelio) who kills five of his people point blank.

The moment Negan figures our what's happening, he orders his people to fire on blowing every Alexandria building sky high and unleashing walkers into the former Safe-Zone in the process. Carl, fending for himself, injures himself as he attempts to dodge the exploding houses. As The Saviours approach, he hides for cover in the sewers where he's been keeping Siddiq (Avi Nash).

Soon after, Rick arrives and - after a fight with Negan - escapes unscathed. He's taken to the sewers by Michonne where they find all the Alexandrians that Carl led to safety. Carl himself is there too - but to the duo's distress, they discover he doesn't have long left - he was bitten during a scuffle with some walkers a few episodes back (re-watch that moment here) and is on the verge of death.

Riggs himself confirmed Carl's impending death in an interview following the episode's debut confirming when fans can expect his death to occur.

The Walking Dead season eight returns in the US on AMC February 2018 with the UK premiere arriving on FOX. It will also return on NOWTV

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