(Southern or not, young adult, optimistic, yet very unpredictable voice, and could change tone quite dramatically to a more darker persona) Carl Grimes is the overarching character that the series spends time to build to the very end of the series. He becomes his own leading man as the series goes on, from a young boy to a hardened survivor, who might at a few occasions kill before thinking. Carl is the son of Rick and Lori Grimes.