2025 was a frustrating year for Walking Dead fans. New seasons of The Walking Dead: Dead City and Daryl Dixon were welcome and explored deeper into the world of post-apocalyptic New York City and Spain, but they also had some character development issues.
While key players such as Daryl, Negan, and Maggie remained faithful, even exhibiting some pretty profound and emotional scenes, others were downright disappointments. We've selected 5 characters from both spin-offs for our list and the reasons as to why.
1. Hershel
Maggie's son, Hershel easily earns the top spot on our list for continuing to upset audiences in back-to-back seasons of The Walking Dead: Dead City. While his upbringing was rough from the start, it's been hinted that he had a close-knit bond with his mother, Maggie.
That is, until The Dama sunk her claws into him. While one can argue that his age, combined with Dama's manipulation while he was kidnapped in season 1 are the reason he's been insufferable, we can't seem to agree.
Hershel's distress seemed to ease between seasons 1 and 2; however, his return to Manhattan undid all the progress Maggie had made. But through his random outbursts, suspicious activity, and confession as to what happened to him, it did look like Dama's hold on him had finally broken.
That is, until the season finale, when Hershel literally ran back to her, leading his own mother into a trap. Hershel's false reality, where Maggie views her revenge for Negan as more important than her son, is completely ridiculous.
2. Fede
Next is Fede, short for Federico, the leader of a small community in Spain in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3. Perhaps it is the veteran The Walking Dead fan in us that any new character raises suspicion, especially when they are good-intentioned.
Fede, however, won us over without saying a word. His disposition exudes trust, loyalty, and honesty. We had very high hopes that he would not become another evil leader trope, but alas, the tropes are alive and well.
We couldn't fault him for wanting to protect his niece, Justina; however, his means of doing so regarding the Ofrenda and her boyfriend, Roberto, are two totally different things. For reasons that aren't explained, Fede seemed to have loved Roberto's deceased mother, who married Roberto's father Antonio, instead.
This age-old feud seems to be the reason both he and Antonio forbid Justina and Roberto from being together. However, once things escalate with Guillermo, a man who works on behalf of the King of Spain, Fede's actions become downright cruel.
He attempts to kill Roberto multiple times, resulting in the death of his family cat, even leading to his fight with Daryl and the group as they prepare to leave via a repaired boat. Fede's reputation is destroyed by his own niece, who unveils the truth to the people, and in an act of desperation, he would admit defeat if he took others with him.
3. The Croat
The Croat was never a good guy, but his levels of disappointment hit new lows in season 2 of The Walking Dead: Dead City. For his credit, he does eventually leave The Dama for dead, finally having enough of her abuse.
But until that point, he had been the reason so many innocent people were killed because he could not accept that he was unneeded and useless. It was his fault that Negan's only friend, an innocent musician, was brutally killed by The Dama.
It was equally his fault that Cristo and his group were mercilessly killed right as Negan finally managed to make an alliance with the man, promising him safety and security. The Croat had us screaming at the television screen, praying he'd get killed off as to stop ruining everything.
4. Ginny
Ginny's character downgrade was a big upset for fans. During The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, her quest to kill Negan made her reckless and infuriating, to the point that she got herself killed.
In order to stop Ginny from following him into danger, Negan, lied, we believe, at the end of season 1 by telling her he killed her father. Ginny does leave Manhattan, but has wanted revenge ever since.
This leads her to follow Maggie and Hershel back to New York City, where she continually makes bad decision after bad decision, allowing the real villains to manipulate her. Even though she stays loyal to Maggie, she still acts on impulse.
Her refusal to reveal her injury to Maggie or anyone is ultimately what kills her in the end. And for what?
She knew deep down that Negan probably didn't kill her father. Even when she finally had him at gunpoint, she never pulled the trigger before fainting.
Now her death will weigh heavily on Negan, who had already suffered so much. Seriously, Ginny.
5. Roberto
Last on our list is Roberto from The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, season 3. He shares similar problems to others on our list, mostly due to his reckless behavior that irked us to no end.
Young love is a powerful thing, but we became easily frustrated by how irrational Roberto acted in comparison to his girlfriend, Justina. She proved herself to be the logical one, with compassion and a knack for strategy.
While we can't blame Roberto for wanting to save her from Guillermo, an actual plan would have helped. While we can't blame him for disliking Fede since he is keeping Justina apart from him, perhaps a public outburst isn't the way to go?
No wonder Daryl was the one to actually rescue Justina and several other women in Barcelona. Even if Roberto wasn't ill back home from Fede's poisoning attempt, he wouldn't be able to compare to Daryl or Paz.
Stream The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon on AMC and AMC+.