From killing zombies to mending hearts. Chandler Riggs, who is best known as Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead and was killed off the show during season 8, is returning to TV. He is set to appear in multiple episodes of ABC’s A Million Little Things, Us Weekly confirms.
Riggs will play PJ, a young man Rome (Romany Malco) meets. Much like Rome, PJ has had some dark times and while they don’t realize it at the time, their encounter proves extremely meaningful to both of them. TVLine was the first to report the news.
On Monday, January 21, the 19-year-old actor revealed he had a new job, but not what it was. “Four days ago, I was almost unemployed for a full year. Right now I’m sitting on the set of season one of an incredible tv show for my first day of work,” he tweeted. “Life changes really drastically really quickly.”
Riggs, who’s also a DJ who goes by the name Eclipse, was shocked to learn he was being killed off The Walking Dead – his character was bitten by a zombie but instead of turn into a walker, his life ended with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“It was very bittersweet leaving the show, because it sucked having to leave. There’s all these great friends that I had gotten and this life that I had with the show was so awesome and it was great just going to work every day and actually having a job, so having to leave it definitely sucked,” Riggs told DenofGeek in September, admitting that for about two weeks after he revealed the news, he “wasn’t too happy,” but knew it would be better in the long run. He had been on the show since he was 10 years old.
“I realized that it definitely was the best for my life. I get to focus more on music and I can also focus more on auditions and improve my craft, so the next time I’m in something big, I really get to show off what I can do,” he said at the time. “It’s really, really exciting having so many opportunities and so many open doors.”
A Million Little Things airs on ABC Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
