SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "No Way Out," the last episode of "The Walking Dead."
"The Walking Dead" season six returned to AMC with an explosive midseason premiere, where --- in addition to Jesse's death -- Carl lost his eye. Next week's episode, "The Next World," will see Rick teaming back up with none other than Daryl Dixon, and Robert Kirkman weighed in on what that will be like and why the story of Carl's injury ended up being "much cooler" than the comic book version during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"I can say that it's possibly the most fun episode that we've had, just seeing those two guys together," he said of "The Next World." "It's almost like a 'Lethal Weapon' episode. It's a lot of fun... There's some trauma involved and some tragedy, but seeing those two guys together is a lot of fun. It's a very fun episode."
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"We're full steam ahead in the Saviors territory at this point," he added. "So, yeah, you know, those guys that blew up, definitely not the sum total of Negan's crew, and we'll definitely be seeing more of them moving forward. As to when, I can't say, but very soon."
As to Carl's comic book-inspired injuries, he said, "That moment where Carl gets shot in his eye was just awesome, and startling, and heartbreaking, and all those things in the comic. But seeing it move, and seeing Chandler's performance and how it all came together was just extremely gratifying and was everything that I could've wanted it to be, and so I'm really excited when I feel that way because I kind of feel that the fans are going to feel the same way about it."
He also weighed in on why the show had Ron, not Douglas Monroe, be the one to shoot Carl. "Having it be Ron, having it be this heightened thing that has been building for the entire season -- this revenge thing that he's got going on with both Rick and Carl -- to me is just a great example of how [showrunner Scott M. Gimple] and the writers, and myself to a lesser extent, are able to heighten things and really kind of dovetail cool storylines into things that feel that much cooler," he explained.
Based on the Image Comics series of the same name and created by Robert Kirkman, "The Walking Dead" will return Sunday, February 14 at 9 pm EST on AMC.