All fans of The Walking Dead must accept the brutal truth that people are going to die. If the title doesn’t make it clear, then the events of the Season 1 finale certainly do. After six episodes of traveling with the same companions, most of the group disbands towards the finale, with some dying in a fiery inferno. The Walking Dead is not a feel-good series. Over the course of 11 seasons and numerous spin-offs, each series has experienced its share of trauma, and there are deaths that no one will ever forget.

Glenn Rhee, the undisputed best character in the series, dies in the 100th issue of The Walking Dead comic. This moment hits hard because of its brutality and because he was the last person to deserve it. There was no universe where the AMC series could avoid this monumental moment, as painful as it was. But there’s a difference between killing off a character to advance the story and almost ruining the series for shock value. Unfortunately, The Walking Dead the franchise has been guilty of killing off the wrong character at the wrong time.

Carl Grimes was always supposed to be the hero

If there’s one character that fans generally agree on, it’s that Carl Grimes’ death is one of the biggest missteps in the story. The Walking Dead history. The TV series made its mark by deviating from the comics, but Carl was sacred territory that should not be touched. Carl appears throughout the comic, eventually becoming the main character of the story. The Walking Dead the TV series fumbles this storyline, instead making Carl’s death a plot device. At this point, Rick is still immersed in his conflict with Negan, the leader of the Saviors. Full of rage following Glenn’s death, Rick sees no way out without violence. Carl’s death is used as a brutal way to get Rick to defeat Negan without further bloodshed.

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Carl Grimes’ death on The Walking Dead, explained

Carl Grimes is an important character in The Walking Dead, both on the show and in the comics, but why did he die on the show?

After being bitten while saving a new survivor, Carl implores his father in a letter to choose forgiveness over revenge. This awkward scenario is made even worse with the knowledge of what’s going on behind the scenes. Chandler Riggs, who played Carl for eight years, was unceremoniously fired from the show, coinciding with his 18th birthday. The Walking Dead. While correlation does not equate to causation, many have drawn the line between Riggs demanding adult pay if he were to continue on the show and being paid as an adult. child actor. Carl’s death was a disaster through and through. The main crux of the matter ultimately boils down to the fact that Carl was always supposed to take up the mantle from his father after Rick could no longer carry on. Iconic scenes featuring the fan-favorite character could never be used again from that point on, and other characters had to pick up those storylines.

Beth’s death was too cold, even for The Walking Dead

To settle one thing, Emily Kinney wanted to leave The Walking Dead. Arguably more musician than actress, the performer who played Beth chose to end her time on the show. Despite this, her goodbye was emotionally traumatic for everyone who knew her. First introduced in Season 2, Beth Greene was one of the big departures from the comics. Hershel’s invented additional daughter, Beth was one of the most interesting survivors, not least because no one expected her to last as long as he did. Beth had a soft heart and never showed any particular talent for fighting, but she still survived. She tells Daryl when they escape the prison together. He saw another girl dead because she was the last person anyone thought would live this long.

Thus begins one of the most touching romances that has ever existed. The Walking Deadwhich makes Beth’s death a brutal stab. Beth is the only person Daryl really opens up to at this point, falling in love with Beth’s strength of spirit and inherent goodness. Darly has been hurt his whole life and Beth is someone who helps heal those wounds. In turn, he teaches Beth the ways to survive. The two make an odd couple, but in their few episodes together, they clearly share affection for each other. Of course, as soon as someone opens the doors to Daryl’s heart, it has to close. Beth is taken away by a group of mercenary cops before being unceremoniously shot in the head. To add salt to the injury, Dawn shooting Beth is an accident, making her death even more meaningless and one of the most hated storylines in history. The Walking Dead. Daryl is there for the event and immediately shoots Dawn in retaliation before carrying her out of the hospital. Where Glenn’s death had a narrative purpose, Beth’s is simply dark. With this moment, The Walking Dead seems to say that there is no point in caring about anyone and that the best of humanity always dies.

Henry was a bridge too far for Carol

Carol is another inspired change from The Walking Dead comics. The character initially dies at the beginning of the story, driven mad by the world in which she is forced to reside. In contrast, Carol in the series has a moving character arc as the apocalypse turns her to steel. This change causes a butterfly effect of other changes in the series, mainly the revolving door of Carol’s children. By the time her third attempt at raising a child dies painfully, it’s all too much. Carol has suffered losses that no parent should experience, and she does it three times.

His biological daughter, Sophia, dies in season 2, revealed late in the season as one of Hershel’s barn walkers. This hardens Carol to the point that when Lizzie and Misha need a mother figure, she has a hard time with her. But as soon as she opens her heart, everything implodes, leading Carol to make the devastating choice to kill one of her daughters. Henry was supposed to be the child who survives, but he dies during the Whisperers arc. His death threatens the tenuous suspension of disbelief already present in the series. There’s only so much a woman can take, and killing her third surrogate child is too much, even for her. The Walking Dead.

Fear that Walking Dead may have wasted Nick’s potential

In another example of an actor wanting to leave the show, Nick was killed off in season 4 of Fear the undead. But no matter how ready this actor was to move on to greener pastures, it doesn’t change the unfortunate side effect of the character’s death. Nick Clark is a main character in Fear the undead from the first episode. He begins as a drug addict forced to change in the wake of the zombie apocalypse. Throughout the series, he demonstrated meteoric growth, which was cruelly cut short after a confluence of events. When Nick and his family take in an abandoned girl, Charlie, they eventually learn that she is a spy for the antagonistic group, the Vultures. Nick has an altercation with one of the vultures, Ennis, with whom Charlie has a connection. He is forced to kill Ennis and Charlie kills Nick in revenge.

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Nick’s death is another senseless act in a series filled with harrowing scenes. Not only does Nick’s death devastate his sister, Alicia, to the point where she is barely recovering, but it brings an end to a fascinating character. It’s only after the end of the world that Nick truly learns to live again. Not held back by drug addiction, Nick becomes a leader. His death cuts short a character who should have continued until the end.

Isabelle’s death is disrespectful to Daryl Dixon

There is a recurring and unfortunate theme in The Walking Dead spin-offs: cancellation of new and interesting characters who were not part of the flagship series. Isabelle in Daryl Dixon is the best example of this. The beauty of the Daryl spinoff series is that it has nothing to do with The Walking Dead. Cinematography-wise, Daryl Dixon is a nice change of pace, focused on finding optimism in the world. With that in mind, killing off one of these optimistic characters is just plain cruel.

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Daryl meets Isabelle while on the French coast. Although initially reluctant, he learns to love this community and protect it at the cost of his life. Isabelle is a rare character that Daryl shows romantic interest in, so of course she has to die. It’s a repeat of Beth’s death in The Walking Deadbut worse because Daryl has already lost so much. Isabelle’s death in season 2 is also an uncomfortable trope of killing off female characters to advance the plot. In her final words, Isabelle urges Daryl to take care of his nephew Laurent and ensure that he leaves France safely. This death is made even more senseless by the fact that Daryl was already protecting Laurent and needed no motivation to continue. Isabelle was a refreshing new character on the show but was removed as soon as Daryl found Carol.

Those who live don’t let Michonne have nice things

Another unfortunate death in a Walking death the spin-off is Nat in Those who live. The spin-off finally reunites lovers Rick and Michonne after years of absence, but it comes at a cost. On her journey to find her missing husband, Michonne encounters a group, including the fleshed-out character Nat. Learning to survive in the zombie apocalypse through his talent for pyrotechnics, Nat would have been a well-respected addition to Alexandria. But like many of these spin-off characters, he is killed off as soon as the original characters reunite.

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After shooting down Rick’s CRM helicopter, one of the soldiers kills Nat. Once again, Nat’s death is used as a plot device to keep key characters alive despite her intriguing addition. It is only used for Michonne’s development. Once it reaches CRM, the series turns into another season of The Walking Deadwhich spin-offs should actively work against. Nat should have survived, especially since the rest of his original group had already taken the path of the sword.

John was the best part of Fear the Walking Dead

After Nick’s death, Fear the undead had to reinvent himself, and he did so spectacularly with John Dorie, the ex-gun cop who’s on the path to true love. When relationships occur in The Walking Deadit is rarely a romantic endeavor. But John is pure of heart and all he wants is to find the love of his life. Before meeting Morgan, John lived an isolated life in his cabin. One day he saves a woman’s life and the two fall in love. She later leaves him alone at the cabin for fear of emotional attachment. By chance, the two reunite and John learns that her name is June.

The rest of John’s time on the show is devoted to this love story and his inspiring attempts to always do the right thing. Garret Dillahunt is another actor who chose to leave the show, but the result was tragic. After encouraging John to find his love again and seeing their marriage together was a shining light of the series. His subsequent downward spiral and eventual transformation into a zombie is another event that makes it difficult for anyone to root in this universe.

The Whisperers have killed off too many iconic characters

The Walking Dead never ceases to surprise book readers with how it deviates from the source material. One of the major expected events was the horrific attack of the Whisperers. In the comics, they put many beloved heads on spikes, including Ezekiel and Rosita. In the series, these characters are spared, but those who are chosen are just as heartbreaking. Henry’s death retraumatizes Carol, but the deaths of Tara and Enid take away a lot of hope from the season. One of their deaths would have been enough to justify the storyline, but killing them both had huge repercussions. Perhaps the saddest is Enid, who has endured too much to die this way.

His mantra was JSS: “Survive somehow.” She endures the death of Carl, with whom she had grown close, to find love with Alden, only to be killed by one of the most reprehensible. The Walking Dead villains with no redeeming qualities. Enid had gained medical experience and was instrumental in the series. Ezekiel and Rosita were spared, but the price to pay was too high.

Sylvie was another tragic victim of Daryl Dixon

In season 2 of Daryl DixonSylvie was another beloved original character in the series who was quickly dispatched whenever it was convenient. When she realizes that the religious faction, the Union of Hope, plans to test Laurent’s abilities as Messiah, she acts quickly. She is one of the few characters around Laurent who truly cares about him, not just his status as savior of the world. Losang thinks he’s supposed to save them from the zombie apocalypse and to test this theory, he tries to put Laurent in front of a zombie as lunch meat. Although Daryl and his henchmen storm the scene, it is too late.

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Union of Hope throws Sylvie off a balcony to a truly disrespectful death. Even if his intentions were heroic, his death was not. It seems that as soon as plans were put in place to reunite Carol and Daryl during the season, the creatives quickly got to work getting rid of all the interesting side characters introduced throughout the seasons. Sylvie was an altruistic character who seemed superfluous to the story.

Maybe someone had to die, but it didn’t have to be Rosita

When The Walking Dead Officially finished, it had to go out with a bang. There is no way to end the series without someone dying. Rosita dies heroically after being bitten while saving her child from a horde of walkers. But just like Carl, many characters have had worse to survive the show’s trajectory. Rosita dies peacefully in bed, surrounded by the people she loves, but it’s not comforting.

Rosita survives her comical fate of being a head on a spike to give birth to Coco, survive the death of Coco’s father Sadiq, and form a family with Gabriel. Rosita is capable and successful in The Walking Dead while others, like Eugene, would have been dead long ago without her. Coco must now live without her mother, regardless of the good cause she died for. The Walking Dead was already coming to an end with Rosita’s death, but it’s a depressing coda to the long-running series.

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The Walking Dead

Survivors of a zombie apocalypse fight to stay alive under the near-constant threat of attacks from the undead, commonly known as “walkers.”

Created by

Robert Kirkman

First episode broadcast date

October 31, 2010

Where to stream

Pluto TV, A, SlingTV, Netflix

Cast

Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Laurie Holden, Scott Wilson

Character(s)

Rick Grimes, Negan Smith, Daryl Dixon, Michonne, Glenn Rhee, Carol Peletier

Video games

The Walking Dead The Game, The Walking Dead: Our World, The Walking Dead: Onslaught, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land

Comic

The Walking Dead

Comic release date

October 8, 2003

Develop