Photo: Gene Page/AMC

The Walking Dead’s executive producer Glen Mazzara says two major issues arose in the show’s writers’ room this year: (1) do zombies climb ladders? (Consensus: no.) And (2), will people blame Carl for Dale’s death? “We had a debate,” Mazarra tells the L.A. Times. “Everyone wants to know why Carl’s not in the house” — indeed! — “[and it’s because] it’s boring to sit in a house. And he’s a little boy and he wants to mix it up and stuff,” Mazzara says. But one of Carl’s bored-busting excursions involved him antagonizing a mud-trapped zombie, who later escaped and killed Dale. Mazzara says he and the writers worried that “because Dale is a beloved character and if this other character is involved and responsible for that death, is the audience going to now hate Carl?” Attention, Glen Mazzara: Everyone already hated Carl! No worries on the Dale front.