Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for "The Walking Dead" mid-season finale.
"The Walking Dead" surprised fans during its big 90-minute mid-season finale Sunday night when Carl revealed he was nursing a big old zombie bite.
Actor Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl on the show, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter his character will be killed off the show.
While a lot of fans were caught off guard, many more started asking the most logical question: When did this happen?
If you're thinking that Carl wasn't really in danger from any walkers while limping around Alexandria playing dodge the grenade, you're right. He wasn't. Carl has had that bite for a few episodes now.
"The Walking Dead" showrunner Scott M. Gimple confirmed as much on the series' aftershow, "Talking Dead."
"It's been on screen," Gimple said on the end of Sunday's "Talking Dead.""The aftermath is very much on screen. If you watch a certain episode and see Carl's face, Chandler did it. I will say, a few of us were pretty sure that everybody knew, that everybody knew right afterwards. We were really surprised that folks didn't."
Gimple neglected to say which episode the bite occurs in. But if you're a pretty avid fan of the show, it's not too tough to find the moment.
We're pretty confident the bite occurs on the season's sixth episode when Carl is fighting off zombies with his new pal, Siddiq. Riggs told THR he found out he would be leaving the show back in June when he was rehearsing for the season's sixth episode.
This should have been a simple task, but the episode spent time lingering on Carl getting overtaken by a few walkers.
It's because he was getting bit.
If you're able to go back and watch the episode, the bite happens about half an hour into the episode. Carl is wrestling on the ground with two zombies.
There are two brief moments where you see Carl react in shock. Presumably, the bite happens when Carl gives a shocked face for a second on screen.
There's also another moment when there's a walker near his side and Carl grimaces before shooting both zombies dead.
Watching the scene over again with that knowledge makes it play out a lot differently. Carl gets up off the ground a bit slower and the entire right side of his shirt, where he was bit, is soaked in blood.
If you're not convinced, even Riggs himself tried to tell fans weeks before the mid-season finale's reveal.
The day after the season's sixth episode aired, he tweeted out two stills of Carl's shocked face, presumably while he was being bitten.
when ur craving chickfila but when you get there it’s closed because it’s SUNDAY pic.twitter.com/5t4KIAWUKG
— chandler riggs (@chandlerriggs) November 27, 2017
Though a few people tweeted at the actor asking if he was bit, no one really questioned it. Riggs is big on being a jokester on social media. Plus, he tweeted out the images with an unsuspicious joke about Chick-fil-A. At the time, it didn't seem unusual for Riggs.
The first time I watched the episode, I paused at Carl's reaction. But when he got up and said he was unharmed, I didn't think twice about it. "The Walking Dead" is good at getting you nervous in the moment from time to time, but usually it doesn't amount to anything.
Still, Carl was covered in an awful mess of blood and it looked like there may have been some fresh blood on his hands.
Now we know why.
You can watch the moment Carl reveals his bite to Michonne and Rick below. "The Walking Dead" returns to AMC February 25 at 9 p.m. You can follow along with our show coverage here.
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