You don't kill off as many beloved characters as The Walking Dead did in its 11-season run without ruffling a few feathers along the way. Most of those character deaths served a purpose and raised the stakes, but to me, there are a handful of questionable deaths that should have played out way differently.
For me, most of those big deaths are main or original characters who simply deserved better. Looking back, The Walking Dead made choices for shock value over substance. While that works on occasion, it's harder to defend when it happens to characters who have been on the show for three-plus seasons with arcs that continue in the comics.
In other instances, The Walking Dead was shortsighted in thinking that it could just plug in new characters for fans to care about. It doesn't always work that way.
Let's get the list started with an early fan-favorite character, and dare I say villain, Shane Walsh, played by Jon Bernthal.
Shane Walsh
- Played by Jon Bernthal
- Killed off: "Better Angels" (season 2, episode 12)
In the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, Shane Walsh, played by Bernthal, is one of the key characters. He stands opposite Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) at times in decisions about what's best for the group. Shane is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his group safe, as he demonstrates by taking out the barn full of walkers, killing Otis, and more.
Ultimately, Shane is killed at Rick's hand after Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and others grow concerned about Shane's erratic behavior near the end of the show's second season. I understand why the show decided to kill off Shane and pave the way for Rick's reign, so to speak, but I think the show should have allowed Shane to walk away from the group. Maybe he could have been separated from the group during the attack on the farm. Maybe he could have left as he tried to do when Sophie went missing. He even packed up a car.
I just think Shane was such a good character, and it would have been great if he left Hershel's farm alive. It would have opened up Bernthal to go explore other projects, but it also could have given him an opportunity to return, too. Imagine if Rick and Shane connected down the line. Imagine he came back looking for his child. There are so many possibilities, and we were robbed of that by an ending that was too final.
Andrea Harrison
- Played by Laurie Holden
- Killed off: "Welcome to the Tombs" (season 3, episode 16)
For an original Walking Dead legend, Laurie Holden deserved a much better sendoff than she was given for Andrea Harrison in The Walking Dead season 3 finale.
Andrea's death came as a shock for a few reasons, and it definitely should have played out differently. Andrea was killed by Milton, who died and turned into a walker after the Governor landed a killing blow. Andrea was tied up, and while she nearly escaped, she was bitten and infected before she turned the gun on herself, not wanting to reanimate as a walker. It's one of the most brutal deaths in the first few seasons of the series.
There's no doubt killing Andrea like this was a mistake. It's not just that Andrea's death was frustrating because she had so much more story left from the comics. Andrea would have survived all the way through the Whisperers! That's so many more seasons fans were robbed of with Andrea as a central figure.
Like Shane, if the writers had run out of rope with Andrea's story, it would have made more sense to send her off on a different journey with the option to return at some point in the future. Killing off the character this way was just cruel for fans.
Glenn Rhee
- Played by Steven Yeun
- Killed off: "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" (season 7, episode 1)
I debated even adding Glenn Rhee to this list because it's so obvious that his death was the most mishandled death in The Walking Dead's history. I don't believe Glenn should have died at all. This is the character that should have had a spinoff built around him and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and they decided to throw that all away for a little shock value.
The show paid the price of this mistake. More viewers stopped watching The Walking Dead after Glenn's death in the season 7 premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," than at any point in the entire series.
If there's one character outside the group of survivors from the original Walking Dead crew, it's obviously Glenn! I know that Glenn's dynamic of always being the good guy, so to speak, got a little bit boring over the years, but the show could have easily tweaked that instead of having Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bash his head in with a baseball bat.
Even after all these years, I still get mad about the hand Glenn was dealt. Fans were definitely robbed of an incredible future that was thrown away for basically nothing. Even if you agree that it was okay to kill Glenn, which is fine because this is The Walking Dead after all, I don't think anyone agrees that his death should have happened how it did. There were a million other more impactful ways that Glenn could have gone out.
Carl Grimes
- Played by Chandler Riggs
- Killed off: "Honor" (season 8, episode 9)
Speaking of characters who went out in a bad way, Carl Grimes is right behind Glenn at the top of the list. Carl survives all the way through the events of the comics, so fans were shocked when Carl died after getting bitten by a walker in season 8's "Honor."
Carl doesn't die immediately. Instead, it's almost worse as he tries to say his farewells to his family, friends, and community.
While I think it makes sense to kill off Shane, Andrea, and even Glenn eventually, ultimately, I just don't think Carl should have died in The Walking Dead. Clearly, the show should have been handed over to him at some point. I don't know why that wasn't in the plans to keep Carl's story going well beyond season 8. He could have easily come back in a spinoff to continue the Grimes legacy.
And, like these other characters, why didn't they just write Carl off by sending him to a new community, venturing out on his own, and then bringing him bac at some point. That just makes so much more sense than what happened.
There are many rumors about why the powers that be made the decision to get rid of Carl, and none of them are good.
I'm sure there are many other deaths in the series that fans aren't, well, big fans of, but these are the four characters who deserved their deaths to play out very differently in The Walking Dead.
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