First thing’s first: if you’ve never seen an episode of The Walking Dead you’re seriously missing out. It’s the best show on the planet, so you should start watching. You can find seasons 1-5 on Netflix, and you can purchase the first 8 episodes of season 6 on Amazon. If you’re pretty much caught up on the show but need to watch the newest episode, you can do that for free at AMC.
On February 14th, aka Valentine’s Day, The Walking Dead came back with a mid-season premiere for Season 6, and it did not disappoint! Since the show has come so far and only six of the original main characters are left, we are going take a moment to look back on some of the most gut-wrenching main character deaths to this point in the series.
I’m going try not to use any spoilers from this season just incase some of you haven’t caught up with Season 6. So, if you haven’t seen all the way through Season 5 stop reading now! There’s a few deaths in that season that really hit the fans.
I ordered these in order of how emotional I got when they died… so if you don’t agree with the order or think I missed someone, sorry! There’s so many characters that have died on the show, some the fans were happy to see go and some that were unbelievably upsetting.
1.) Beth Greene (Season 5)
Beth joined the show in the second season, but her character didn’t really develop until season 3. When Beth did establish a presence on the show, she was easily one of my favorite characters on the show so her abrupt death in the mid-season finale of Season 5 was shocking. For most of the season she’d been locked up in Grady Memorial Hospital by Officer Dawn Lerner, who ended shooting Beth. Rick and the gang had come back to the hospital to rescue her and Carol – who had also been taken by the hospital. When Beth tried to save Noah by stabbing Dawn, Dawn ended up shooting her instead. Then Daryl killed Dawn. Dramatic episode for sure!
2.) Andrea (Season 3)
One of the main characters from the beginning, Andrea stuck around on the show for the longest. It seemed like nothing could kill this girl, even when she got left behind on her own with hundreds of walkers at the end of Season 2! The Governor trapped her in a room with Milton, who had been stabbed and killed. Milton died and Andrea had to fight her way out of handcuffs, but still ended up being bitten by Milton (who had turned). Rick and the gang got to her soon after, and Rick gave his gun to Andrea so she could shoot herself and die on her own terms instead of turning. Andrea’s death was extremely heartbreaking because of her strong connection with the rest of the group, and the fact that she had really grown to be such an important member of the show. It was sad to let her go.
3.) Lori Grimes (Season 3)
Lori was Rick’s wife and Carl’s mother, which makes her kind of like the “first lady” of the group (which a couple characters have called her). She was pregnant through Seasons 2 and 3, and died during childbirth when an attack happened at the jail the group was living at. The worst part about her death is that her own son, Carl, had to shoot her after she died so she wouldn’t reanimate. Rick was obviously completely heartbroken and decided to take on the herd of walkers in the jail all on his own.
4.) Hershel Greene (Season 4)
Another extremely emotional death. Hershel thought he’d be able to reach an agreement between Rick and The Governor so there wouldn’t have to be a war. The Governor decided to behead him in front of Rick’s entire group instead, which included both of Hershel’s daughters watching. So sad.
5.) Tyreese Williams (Season 5)
In the mid-season premiere, the group goes to Noah’s home to try to find his family. While Tyreese is in Noah’s old house looking at photos, he’s attacked by one of Noah’s younger brothers that’s reanimated. He hallucinates conversations with a lot of the other characters that had died on the show while he bleeds out. The group tries to save him, but it was too late and he lost too much blood.
Alright, those are my top five character deaths, even though there’s so many more. My runner-ups would be Dale (Season 2), T-Dog (Season 3), Lizzie (Season 4), Shane (Season 2), and Merle (Season 3). I’m pretty excited – and a little scared! – to see what happens in Season 6. You can check out The Walking Dead on AMC and 9PM every Sunday night!