One of the most iconic moments from The Walking Dead comic book was finally realized onscreen with the episode titled, “Sing Me a Song.” After sneaking into the Savior’s home, the Sanctuary, Negan forced Carl to remove his bandages.
Negan reacts in revulsion, and Carl, normaly strong, is reduced to tears. It’s a tough scene to watch and it was likely a difficult scene to film. Actor Chandler Riggs, says Carl’s reaction came naturally to him.
Never Show Your Weaknesses
Image Credit: AMC
“Well, I’ve known that Carl is very ashamed of how he looks with his eye and everything,” says Riggs. “He doesn’t see it as a cool thing at all. He sees it as really gross and disgusting, and he sees it as a weakness for him because it has hindered his ability to survive by a lot, because from experience, it takes away a good 70 degrees of your vision, only having one eye. It’s tough.
That’s a weakness for Carl, and he doesn’t want people to see that. Negan being the first person to see that — other than when he was in the infirmary after he got shot — is super embarrassing for him. He doesn’t really know how to react because no one has seen it before. He didn’t expect anyone to react like that.”
It’s easy to think that Carl’s shame lies purely in the vanity of his disfigurement. The revelation that Carl is actually more ashamed of his weakness is a bit of a surprise.
An Impressive (Eye) Sight
Negan’s reaction was one of repulsion. The impressive sight of Carl’s missing eye seemed to emotionally connect with viewers as well — thanks to an amazing makeup job.
“It took about an hour each time,” says Riggs. “I think the first time it was like three to four hours, but that was during the tests and all that stuff. We actually had a couple of different variants of the eye, but Kerrin Jackson, she did all the makeup for my eye and she did such an amazing job.
It was really, really cool seeing it kind of come alive in the mirror as she would be painting the prosthetic and gluing everything on.”
The results were definitely eye-catching.
When Negan forced Carl to remove the bandage, did you turn away, or lean closer for a better look?
