12 Years Ago, 1 of the Stars of Brad Pitt's F1 Movie Appeared in a Tragic 4-Episode Arc in The Walking Dead (& You Probably Forgot)

Kerry Condon has become one of the most prominent Irish actors in the last decade thanks to her works, such as The Banshees of Inisherin (in which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Better Call Saul and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. Most recently, she starred alongside Brad Pitt and Damson Idris in Joseph Kosinski's feature film F1. But many years ago, Condon played a small but very impactful part in AMC's The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead was no stranger to having big guest stars in its most critically-acclaimed seasons, so it's no surprise that someone like Condon, with her filmography, would even have a small role in the series. Noah Emmerich, Merritt Weaver, Alicia Witt and Tyler James Williams are just a few big names whose characters didn't live very long. Condon's character, Clara, was another name on the list, but she set the tone for what would soon be a dark Season 4. And with her eight final words, she taught Rick a valuable lesson that he regrettably had to learn the hard way later on.

Who Was Clara on The Walking Dead?

Kerry Condon Portrayed a Lone Survivor in Season 4

Condon only appears in four episodes of The Walking Dead, but three of those are as a walker. She's first introduced in the Season 4 premiere, "30 Days Without an Accident," when Rick goes outside the prison's perimeters to check animal traps. It's there he meets Clara, whose sickly appearance takes him aback. Her face is covered in dirt, her clothes are battered and worn out, and her posture makes her look tiny. Her complexion is so ghastly that she was almost mistaken for a walker. Condon is so unrecognizable as Clara that many people don't realize she was ever on the show in the first place. But the moment she speaks with her notable Irish accent, any cinephile knows who she is.

With his guard up, Clara leads Rick back to her camp where she says her husband, Eddie, is at. She explains that she and her husband got stuck in America on their honeymoon when the apocalypse began and have since survived on their own. Although she explains that they've had to do horrible things to survive — leaving people behind, eating rotten food, and hiding from those who need their help — Rick is considering letting them join the prison. She wonders if people are capable of coming back from the things they've done, to which Rick assures her that they can.

However, Clara lures Rick back with the intention of feeding him to her zombified husband. Rick gets the upper hand on her, but she stabs herself to death in order to be with her husband, to Rick's horror. In their final moments together, Rick asks her the three questions every survivor who joins the prison must answer:

Rick: "How many walkers have you killed?"

Clara: "Eddie... Eddie killed... killed them all. Until..."

Rick: "How many people have you killed?"

Clara: "Just me. Just me."

Rick: "Why?"

Clara: "You don't... you don't get to come back. You don't get to come back from things. You don't..."

Honoring her wish, Rick allows her to turn into a walker. After the prison is destroyed in the fight against the Governor's forces, a zombified Clara is seen in three different episodes of Season 4, Episode 8, "Too Far Gone," Episode 9, "After," and Episode 10, "Inmates."

Clara Taught Rick About the Hard Truth of Survival

Clara Was Only the Beginning of What Rick Had to Endure in The Walking Dead Season 4

Not many guest stars reappear multiple times as a walker after their death episode, making Clara a special case on The Walking Dead. But she was a warning of the themes and conflicts that were to come in Season 4. For one, Clara was a rude awakening to Rick that the world was still very ugly and people were driven to delusion because of it. The prison was a safe bubble that protected Rick and the others from the outside world, but Clara's frail mental state was the reality that most survivors lived. She appeared "crazy" to Rick, but she was deeply traumatized by the death of her husband and was actively denying the truth to cope with it. He was so deeply affected by her death because if he didn't have the support system of the group, he would've become just like her after Lori's death.

Clara also existed to reveal that Rick's three-question was flawed. They were very general questions that people could easily lie about and weren't an accurate assessment of someone's character. This point was later supported by Carol lying about Karen and David's murder without apology. The constant obstacles to reaching his perfect sanctuary started to weigh on Rick. He couldn't go back to the way things were before, no matter how hard he tried. Clara's last words, "You don't get to come back from things," sealed Rick into a fate where he had to be the bad guy sometimes. In the Season 4 finale, Rick accepted this when he ripped out Joe's throat to protect Carl and admitted the act was true to himself.

Clara's final words can also be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the Governor going up against Rick again, which was the last straw for Rick to abandon his self-sacrificing act. Rick abandoned his own feelings about the Governor to invite him to the prison for the good of everyone, and the Governor killed Hershel in retaliation. The Governor became proof that some people can't come back from the things they've done. The zombified Clara, appearing in the prison yard among other walkers, was basically a giant "I told you so" to Rick, giving him more reason to turn into the morally ambiguous father he needed to be for his son.