The Walking Dead: Who counts as part of 'The Group'?

“Guess what, Rick? They’re ALL ‘your people’. They ARE.” — Deanna Monroe, The Walking Dead, Episode 6×08, “Start to Finish”

Rick’s group has consisted of a lot of people since The Walking Dead started, frankly, too many to list here, though, I’ll give it a bit of a go: Amy, Jim, Shane, Lori, T-Dog, Merle, Andrea, Hershel, Bob, Tyreese, Beth…well, you get the picture. Did I miss any? I did? …Huh. Which ones? Otis? Morales? Ed? You see, in talking with people about The Walking Dead, I’ve come to realize that who, exactly, is counted as part of “The Group” varies depending on who you ask: Someone that one person may think is part of The Group, another person may think is DEFINITELY NOT part of the group; the criteria one person may have for who qualifies as a member of the group might seem ridiculous to somebody else! …It makes you wonder if any two people can agree on it…

…Which brings me to my point: Who do YOU count as “The Group”? I’ve been sitting here talking to people and thinking about it and coming with a lot of different definitions for what Rick’s Group entails. Whether all the ones I’ll address here match your definition or whether the ones I address are even the tip of the iceberg of all the ways to define The Group, honestly, I don’t know, but, I’ll be damned if I don’t try. So, let us begin…

(Front Row) Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Laurie Holden as Andrea Harrison, Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath, Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh (Back Row) Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Iron E. Singleton as Theodore ‘T-Dog’ Douglas, Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon /

The Core Group

Any good discussion of who is or isn’t part of Rick’s Group has to start with the Core Group…of course, how that is defined is, in and of itself, somewhat ambiguous: I mean, who exactly fits into that? The original Atlanta survivors? Does that include Hershel, Maggie, and Beth? What about Oscar and Axel? What abou– …You see how this can start to snowball? So, for the benefit of simplicity, I will define the “Core” group as everyone who left the original Atlanta camp for the CDC (Including Jim), Hershel, Maggie, and Beth, Judith, Michonne, Merle, Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, and Noah. Now, while this isn’t what I consider “The Group” it is what I think the Core Group is, which may be what people define as Rick’s Group, as all the characters named here were members of the group when Rick became leader and most were fairly significant members of the group, often leaving lasting impressions on the rest of the group after they died. While probably the most efficient definition of the group, and focuses on mostly the characters we’ve been following through the show, it leaves out a lot of people who were, in some way, part of the group, even if that part was small.

Everyone BUT The Prison Refugees

Probably the most likely sub-group of people on The Walking Dead to be excluded from “The Group” would be the prison refugees from Season 4. While certainly under the care of Rick and company, the vast majority of the prison refugees died, in some way or another, rather quickly as a result of the flu sweeping through the prison in the first half of that season, with all but a few exceptions (Zach, Patrick, Karen, Lizzie, Mika, Dr. S, and Bob) not getting much focus, and, among those who did, only Bob made it to the next season. With the exception of Bob, I’d imagine that it’s very easy for many fans to overlook the prison refugees as actual members of Rick’s group, considering how little interaction most of them had with more recognized members of the group, the relatively little focus they received, and how quickly so many got killed off within the first half of Season 4, I think a lot of people see them as just random civilians taken in by the group, but not actually in it. While it’s true that many of the refugees weren’t major characters, the fact remains, they were taken in by Rick and looked to definite members of the group for leadership; considering those factors, I, personally, find it tough to exclude them.

Tovah Feldshuh as Deanna Monroe, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter, Mandi Christine Kerr as Barbara, Alexandra Breckenridge as Jessie Anderson, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Dahlia Legault as Francine /

Everyone BUT The Alexandrians

I’d hazard to guess that people who adhere to this classification do so because, unlike the prison refugees, who were taken in by the group starting from the end of Season 3 (When Rick took in the Woodbury civilians) and going through until The Prison fell at the mid-season finale of Season 4, the Alexandrians were the ones who took The Group in. Of course, this is likely not the only reason; on a number of occasions, it’s been made clear that, more often than not, Rick’s Group and the Alexandrians do not necessarily see each other as one group, but rather, two groups with, apparently, the same interest, and even then, there are those (Particularly amongst the Alexandrians) who don’t seem to believe it. On several occasions, most notably, Carter, Barnes, and even Heath, the Alexandrians have expressed disbelief as to whether The Group is, in fact, looking out for them or that they really trust them, and Rick sees them as such separate entities, that he barked at Tara for risking her life to help Spencer! With it being so evident that the two groups don’t unanimously see each other as one, it should come as no surprise that some of us don’t, either…though, with Deanna’s death (As well as the wisdom she imparted to Rick), the idea of The Group and the Alexandrians seeing each other as separate and distinct may soon die with her. If so, who are any of us to say they aren’t one group?

Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel Stokes, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Austin Abrams as Ron Anderson, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Tovah Feldshuh as Deanna Monroe, Danai Gurira as Michonne, The Walking Dead — AMC /

Everyone with Rick

This happens to be a viewpoint I hold, though, I don’t think I’m alone in doing so, and, I realize “everyone” might be little ambiguous, so, allow me to elaborate: When I say “everyone”, I mean everyone who has survived alongside Rick and has been, generally, not hostile to him or the rest of the group. The complete roster for this vision of the The Group includes everyone mentioned as part of the “Core” group, Ed, Morales, His wife and children (Miranda, Louis, Eliza), Amy, Dr. Jenner, Otis, Jimmy, Patricia, Big Tiny, Oscar, Axel, the Prison refugees, Father Gabriel (Yes, him. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him doing right by Rick, not by a long shot), and the Alexandrians, even Barnes (Blames-Rick-For-Everything Guy), Carter, and Nicholas. Why all of these people? Because, while many are not terribly significant to The Group, and some, like Ed, are complete scumbags, all of those mentioned were not outright hostile (It’s partly for this reason that I, reluctantly, can’t include Allen) and all survived in a group with Rick. For me, that last part is crucial; while Rick may not always be leading groups which include all of these people, since Rick’s our main character, any group that includes Rick is (From our perspective, anyways), Rick’s Group precisely because he’s in it and anyone who is peacefully surviving alongside him, even if only briefly, is still a part of that group. In the end, I find this to be the only way to nail down The Group without having any bias towards one subgroup or another; by including everyone.

With all of these myriad ways of defining the group (Of which I honestly think, these are but the tip of the iceberg), I doubt there’s any one definition that will satisfy everyone. I’m sure some will say one is too exclusive, another too inclusive, one might say one person’s definition leaves out a character they like, while some might say another person’s definition includes someone they hate, however, all of this brings me back to where we started: Who do you count as “The Group”?

The Walking Dead: Who counts as part of ‘The Group’?

By Liam O'Leary | Dec 12, 2015

“Guess what, Rick? They’re ALL ‘your people’. They ARE.” — Deanna Monroe, The Walking Dead, Episode 6×08, “Start to Finish”

The Core Group

Everyone BUT The Prison Refugees

Everyone BUT The Alexandrians

Everyone with Rick