For the past twelve years, The Walking Dead has been dominating television and ruling AMC, the channel it premiers on. Based on the comic that came out in 2003 by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, it quickly became a phenomenon for horror and doomsday fans, gaining millions of viewers every Sunday night, as they tuned in to watch the zombie-apocalypse-based show. However, it is more than just a show about zombies, and over the twelve years it’s been running, this show has gained a strong fan base that has formed connections with the characters.
The show started with Rick Grimes as the main protagonist, and followed his journey through the end of the world, but after eleven successful seasons, the show has grown and has strayed from the initial plot. Characters have come and gone, locations change all the time, and according to The Daily Mail, Twitter is always full of outrage from fans, and even celebrities, when a main protagonist is killed off. That being said, if you’re not up-to-date with The Walking Dead, this list is going to be full of spoilers. There are plenty of emotional moments in this show, so here are the top five.
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5 Rick Reuniting with Carl and Lori
AMC
In season one, Rick Grimes awoke from a coma to find out that the entire world is turned upside down, and a zombie apocalypse is occurring outside the hospital. He manages to make it out alive, and meets up with a kind father and son duo, Morgan and Duane, who nurse him back to health before Grimes heads to Atlanta, in search of his family. Things go wrong in the city, which is completely overrun with the dead, and he’s taken in by a group, saved by Glenn Rhee. When they make it back to their camp, Rick isn’t expecting to be immediately accepted, but everything changes when his son, Carl, notices him. The young boy races to his dad, who doesn’t believe it’s real, until he swoops down and crushes Carl into a much-needed hug. His wife, Lori, soon joins in on the pile-up and the family is reunited once again.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
4 Tyreese’s Death
In season five, the shocking death of beloved character Tyreese Williams, confused and upset fans as they tuned into the ninth episode of that already sad season. Tyreese was a reliable character, who wasn’t accepted by Rick at first, but quickly proved to be needed the longer he stuck around. When the prison was destroyed at the end of season four, Tyreese is separated from the group and sticks with three kids, one of which is Judith, Rick’s youngest child, and a baby at the time. After he is bitten in the arm by a zombie, Tyreese is plagued with hallucinations from people he’s lost throughout the apocalypse, and ultimately dies from bleeding out from a botched amputation. Tyreese was selfless throughout the show and a big brother to the character Sasha, who was incredibly impacted by his death. Robert Kirkman even admitted at a convention that he would want to bring back Tyreese if he could, says ComicBook.
3 The Group Finds Sofia
In the beginning of season two, Sophia, the child of Carol and Ed Peletier, is separated from the group when a hoard suddenly comes upon them. Rick Grimes is blamed as she was nowhere to be found when they go back as a group to find her in the woods, Carol is distraught since that is her only child, at the time. They spend several episodes searching for her, until they reach Hershel Green’s farm, where it’s soon revealed that he’s storing the dead in his barn, that only his immediate family has access to. During the mid-season premiere, Shane Walsh reaches his breaking point and opens the barn doors, letting out the zombies that have been kept inside. The last one to emerge is Sophia, Carol’s daughter, and it’s brought to their attention that they have spent all that time searching for her, for nothing. Carol breaks down in Daryl Dixon’s arms as Rick shoots the young girl, ending that chapter in Carol’s life.
2 The Death of Carl Grimes
Carl Grimes lost his mother as a child, his eye as a teenager, and for a moment, his humanity as he grappled with killing people. He was the only son of Rick and Lori Grimes, and for eight seasons he was one of the toughest characters, even at a young age. One of the worst villains of the show, Negan, felt drawn to Carl and often was “nice” to him, even while threatening his entire family. He was not a character to mess with or underestimate. That’s why his death was so impactful in the middle of season eight, after he was bitten in the stomach by a zombie, after him and Siddiq, a character he saved, were overrun by a hoard of the dead. He managed to keep it a secret and had one last good day in preparation for fighting the Saviors, writing letters to the people he loved the most.
1 Glenn Rhee Murdered by Negan
It was the most-talked-about death; the most controversial thing The Walking Dead did, and fans are still talking about it. In the season six finale, “Last Day on Earth”, in the last final seconds of the show, Negan is shown brutally murdering someone from the group, but viewers wouldn’t find out who it was until six months later. There was a bunch of speculation online about whom it could be, worried that it could possibly be Glenn, or another beloved character. When it was revealed that Glenn was in fact the one Negan chose, along with Abraham, the internet seemed to blow up. Glenn was murdered in front of his group and his wife Maggie by Negan’s baseball bat, wrapped in barbed wire, which he calls “Lucille”. Maggie was pregnant with their only child, and fans refused to believe that he was now dead. Glenn Rhee was the last of the Atlanta group, and his death truly changed the course of The Walking Dead’s further seasons.
