In season 5 of The Walking Dead, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group were taken to the walled community of Alexandria by a scout named Aaron (Ross Marquand). This is where Denise Cloyd lived, but she wouldn't be introduced until season 6 when she took over as the community's doctor.
Portrayed by actress Merritt Wever, Denise attended medical school before the outbreak, but she shared that her anxiety got the better of her, and her dream of becoming a surgeon was never realized. She then changed her course of study to psychiatry, and the world fell apart.
After Alexandria's doctor, Pete (Corey Brill), kills Reg (Steve Coulter), and Rick kills Pete, the community is minus a doctor, something vital in the apocalypse. Being one of the only people with any medical training, Denise would assume this task. She worked hard to provide quality care for the residents. She is the one who performs the life-saving procedure on Carl (Chandler Riggs) when his eye is shot out by Ron Anderson (Austin Abrams).
While out on a supply run with Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Rosita (Christian Serratos), Denise is killed by a crossbow bolt shot by the Savior named Dwight (Austin Amelio), who later reveals he was aiming for Daryl. She is then taken back to Alexandria and buried by Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride).
Here is a behind the scenes image of Denise with the bolt coming out of her eye socket.
Before starring in The Walking Dead, Emmy Award-winning Wever made a name for herself, portraying Zoey Barkow on all seven seasons of Showtime's Nurse Jackie. She also starred in the Netflix western Godless.
In 2019, she teamed up with Toni Colletti and Kaitlyn Dever in the Netflix true-crime miniseries Unbelievable. The series is based on the news article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong. This series was a heartbreaking tale of the victims of a serial rapist.
Recently, Wever starred in Hulu's Tiny Beautiful Things comedy/drama series with Kathryn Hahn and the movie Memory with Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.
