The Walking Dead established itself pretty early in its first season as a show that is not afraid to kill off major characters. Now that we’re well into the show’s ninth season, and past the 100-episode mark, there have been plenty of character deaths.
It can be tough for the writers to keep these scenes interesting, since the viewers need closure on the characters’ story arcs and yet also need to be shocked when they go. It’s a fine line to walk, so the show has naturally had mixed results with it. Here is every death on The Walking Dead, ranked.
Nicholas
While it was great to see this idiot go, he almost brought down Glenn with him. And that led to the dumpster fake-out, one of the most controversial gimmicks in the show’s history.
Milton
The Governor’s assistant came and went without making much of an impact. His zombification was more a part of Andrea’s death than an event of its own.
Glenn
This was the death that made a lot of viewers tune out after the season 7 premiere. It was so unnecessarily gory and drawn-out, as the poor guy’s eye popped out and he continued talking to Maggie before being delivered the final death blow.
It’s horrifying without also being entertaining.
Ed
This guy’s death wasn’t particularly surprising, because his relentless abuse towards his wife Carol marked him as one who had to go, but it was still satisfying to watch such a monster get eaten alive.
Andrea
If anything, viewers were glad to see Andrea go after her romance with the Governor had made her unbearable. Still, it was a surprise to see that a character with one of the longest arcs in the comics died so early – and that after somehow escaping a zombified Milton, she still died from a bite.
Jessie
What a shame. Just as her romance with Rick was finally starting to blossom, Jessie disappeared into a horde of walkers, because she just couldn’t let her kids go. All she did wrong was love her kids too much.
Deanna
The fierce leader of Alexandria had kind of a quiet end, which was a little disappointing. Plus, even though she’d been bitten, for whatever reason, she was allowed to be in a room alone with the baby. Are they nuts?
Dale
It’s hard to care about a character dying when the events leading up to their death highlight their foolishness.
Dale went out for a walk in the pitch black in the middle of the night and ended up getting bitten by a walker, surprising no one.
Otis
This poor guy was just shot and left for dead by Shane on a supply run. He was a casualty of Shane’s downward spiral into insanity. Before then, he hadn’t made much of an impact, so Shane’s actions were surprising without the character loss being that tragic.
Tyreese
After all the things Tyreese went through, including fending off a crowd of walkers with his bare hands in order to save Judith from a Termite, it was a shame that he had such a low-key death. Plus, it was weird that a whole episode was dedicated to the hallucinations he had as he slowly slipped into the light.
Dr. Edwin Jenner
This CDC doctor had a good point about the futility of living in a world ruled by the undead, but he didn’t have to decide for everyone else whether they wanted to die. Still, his wise final words to Rick have echoed throughout the show ever since.
Beth
This was pretty stupid. What did Beth hope to achieve from stabbing the armed cop who hates her in the shoulder? Her captors were happily releasing her back to Rick’s group before she foolishly got herself killed.
Still, it was a tragic sight to see Daryl carry her limp corpse out of the hospital.
Olivia
Olivia made her name as one of the few characters who wasn’t afraid to stand up to Negan, but as such, she didn’t do herself any favors. It was no surprise, really, when Negan had her killed, but it was still sad. Her only crime was courage.
Sam and Ron
This was a two-for-one deal as both of Jessie’s irritating kids were dispatched in the same episode. Fans had been waiting for these two to go for a long time and it was satisfying more than surprising when it finally happened in the season 6 midseason premiere.
Amy
A lot of people probably don’t remember Amy, Andrea’s sister, because she died way back in season 1. But her death was important, because it told us the show wasn’t afraid to kill off main characters with unresolved story arcs.
Simon
After Simon betrayed Negan, it was only a matter of time before he was eliminated. But we didn’t expect it to be such a dignified end as a fight to the death.
Gareth
Sometimes Rick Grimes takes things too far, but we can sort of understand that, when he and his friends have been held over a trough ready to be bled out and eaten by cannibals, he’d want to deliver some pretty brutal payback if he got the chance.
And that’s just what he did when Terminus head honcho Gareth was presented to him.
Carl
It was surprising that Carl would die at all, since he seemed to be one of those characters like Rick and Daryl who are safe from ever dying. But then the show has proven a bunch of times that it’s not afraid to kill off ‘safe’ characters. The way Carl went out was underwhelming, but the fact it happened at all was surprising enough.
Spencer
Spencer was an arrogant, useless tool from day one. The guy was a total doofus. So, it was satisfying when Negan pulled out a knife and opened up his stomach – and about time, too.
Mika
Just when you thought The Walking Dead’s writers had lost their ability to shock you, they went and had a child murder her own little sister. The zombies are scary, but this is truly horrific.
