The Walking Dead had no issues killing off a fan-favorite or a tenured character that anchored the show. By the final season, the number of survivors from the first season of The Walking Dead can be counted on one hand. Those who were able to stay alive did so through their bonds with other characters, leadership, and willingness to be morally ambiguous in a chaotic world.
4 Carol Peletier Abandons Weakness for Survival
Like any of the survivors in The Walking Dead, Carol Peletier has one of the saddest starts. Carol feels trapped in an abusive relationship while she does all the work caring for her daughter Sophia. Her family bands together with Rick and others for the sake of survival, but Ed Peletier isn't any less miserable or abusive. After her husband is killed in a zombie attack, Carol vents her frustration at his corpse, smashing it to bits. When Carol's daughter goes missing, it becomes everyone's mission to try to find Sophia, with Daryl leading the charge. When her daughter is finally found, Sofia has already turned into a walker, shocking everyone.
Frank Darabont offered Melissa McBride the role of Carol Peletier without an audition after seeing how talented she was in his film The Mist.
3 Morgan Jones Takes Time to Come Back to Reality After Losing Everything
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Morgan Jones |
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First Appearance |
Season 1, Episode 3, "Tell It to the Frogs" |
Morgan Jones is one of the first characters that Rick meets in a world overrun by walkers. When Morgan and his son are out killing zombies, his son mistakes Rick for a walker and hits him in the face with a shovel. They briefly aid Rick, getting him up to speed about the apocalypse, but Rick doesn't linger with them for very long. Rick tells Morgan that he'll be in contact with him through their walkie-talkies, but Morgan never answers.
Morgan was the first person to refer to zombies as "Walkers" in The Walking Dead.
Morgan Jones is also featured in the spin-off show Fear the Walking Dead, joining the show in its fourth season. Morgan works to overcome his past, finally leaving his blinding rage behind him. In the show, his point of view was represented by a hazy red, where he would kill anything in his path. This stemmed from losing all of his family. Morgan takes on an adoptive daughter and later reunites with Madison Clark, one of the main protagonists in the show. In the end, he leaves for Alexandria with his adoptive daughter in the hopes of finally linking back up with Rick Grimes after years. Morgan's story is given a good send-off in the end, where he comes to terms with his past, accepts death in some ways, and looks to the future for once.
2 Daryl Dixon Loses a Brother but Builds the Most Trust Alongside Rick
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Daryl Dixon |
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First Appearance |
Season 1, Episode 3, "Tell It to the Frogs" |
When Rick loses his wife, Lori, Daryl acts as a leader to the best of his ability, helping take care of Rick's newborn daughter. When the colony is attacked by the Saviors, leading to a war, they defeat them and Daryl is briefly the new leader of the Saviors, taking them toward a different way of life. After the presumed passing of Rick after a bridge explosion, Daryl takes refuge in the woods looking for Rick's body.
Norman Reedus initially auditioned for the role of Merle Dixon. Although the producers didn't give him that role, they kept him in mind because of his impressive audition and created the role of Daryl especially for him.
1 Rick Grimes Always Tries to Keep Things Together
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Rick Grimes |
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First Appearance |
Season 1, Episode 1, "Days Gone By" |
Rick was the first member of the group to learn that anyone infected with the zombie virus would reanimate after death, no matter what, unless the brain was destroyed.
