Chandler Riggs Talks About His THE WALKING DEAD Finale Cameo You Probably Missed

Actor Chandler Riggs will always be known as the young son of Rick Grimes from the series The Walking Dead. The actor started on the series from the beginning, and lasted eight seasons on the show before his untimely demise, which was one of the more heartbreaking deaths for fans. While his character wasn’t able to participate in this week’s finale as his character, Carl Grimes, he did actually return as a background character that you probably didn’t even notice.

The actor was in town during the final shooting dates, and he decided he wanted to visit his old friends on the set and see the show out on its final day. He told EW about the experience, explaining how it came to be:

Well, I heard they were shooting the last episode, and I thought, "I feel like I should be there. It'd be so great to see all the old crew and the old cast and new cast that are all there." And basically, I felt like I should just be there for it. So I texted executive producer Denise Huth and was just like, "Hey, can you let me know the final day of filming? I'd love to be there for it. I'll be in Georgia, and it'd be great to come by." And so she sent me the dates, and I made the trek down to Senoia, Georgia.

He went on:

And apparently Denise hadn't told anybody that I was coming, and I didn't realize that. [Laughs] So I showed up, and Denise told the rest of the cast, "So I told you guys I had a surprise for you on the last day. Here it is!" And I'm just like, "Hey, guys!" And it was so just wholesome.

When asked about the day, he explained:

I had showed up early when they started filming because I didn't have anything else to do that day. So I figured, "Well, I'll just head on down, and I'll be there for the whole day." And so, I was just hanging out in Video Village.

He didn’t plan on being in a scene, but the show’s director and long-time effects creator Greg Nicotero told him to jump in!

It was for one of their wide shots, and they were like, "Let's get you in there. Here!" I was just in this shirt and jeans that I came down there in. They grabbed a hat from wardrobe. It was like Father Gabriel's hat! And they gave me a hoe and said, "Be a part of the background for one of the last shots." And they just tossed me back there, and I just did some hoeing in the ground in the background. [Laughs] It was a lot of fun. It was just a quick thing before the rest of the filming for the day, so it was pretty cool.

Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl in the series, said of Riggs’ return:

"It was great. They're trying to hide him in the scene, and I kept trying to move my head like I'm looking at him to sort draw the audience's attention to, 'Hey, there's Chandler over there!' Which I don't think anybody really wanted me to do, but I thought it was funny so I kept trying to do it."

I haven’t caught up on the final season yet, so I haven’t watched the finale, but I’m glad to know to look for Riggs when I watch! I think it’s awesome that he got to be a part of it. I’m sure it made the feelings on set even more special that day.

Have you watched the finale? Did you notice Riggs in the background?