I wasn't around when The Walking Dead first premiered 16 years ago, but I started watching a few years later, in season 3. I still remember binge-watching the first two seasons on Netflix and watching season 3 on the AMC website whenever it came out, and I was hooked.
With the 16th anniversary of The Walking Dead's premiere happening on Oct. 31, 2026, I've been reminiscing about that time a lot lately. There were several key characters back then, but many didn't make it out of the first few seasons. The rest became fan favorites, who the fanbase rallied behind, and then became bigger than ever.
Of that small group of characters, the one I never thought would last the entire franchise is Carol (Melissa McBride).
Carol’s story in the comics is dim in comparison to TV Carol
The thing with Carol is that, in the Walking Dead comics, she doesn't have a great arc. She’s a survivor, but she loses so much in her life that she essentially dies by suicide, letting a walker bite her neck. In the comics, she does this because she’s extremely lonely. She was cheated on and turned away, and she felt no one really loved her.
Yes, this is very different from the television version of her that we met. Sophia is even alive in the comics, whereas Sophia (Madison Lintz) dies in the TV show. Her story plays out much differently.
But then again, the Carol we meet in season 1 — who is subdued and worried about a lot thanks to her abusive husband — isn’t who we know now, years later. That Carol aligned more with the Carol from the comics, and at first it felt like we might be moving in that direction.
That is, until Daryl (Norman Reedus) entered into her life.
Daryl and Carol’s unlikely friendship changed the game
Before Daryl became such a big part of the show, he was just a hillbilly with a bike who wanted to find Carol’s daughter after she got lost in the woods. Daryl, who also came from abuse, felt some kinship with her and knew that Sophia had most likely suffered a lot of pain from Carol’s abusive husband as well. He wanted to change things, to break the wheel.
We all know how that turned out, but despite Sophia’s death, these two became thick as thieves. Sure, it did spawn an entire shipping community called Caryl, which I must admit I wasn’t a huge fan of. I always saw these two as platonic soulmates rather than actual soulmates. Still, their bond grew over the years.
Daryl's behavior clearly rubs off on Carol over time, and he teaches her a lot. As the world falls apart, she has to evolve with it. But thanks to her friendship with Carol and how she slowly becomes a steady part of the group instead of what she was in the comics, she becomes an extremely valuable member.
Season 4 changed her forever
The biggest moment that changed Carol was her entire season 4 arc. If you remember, Carol changed a lot in season 4, and she started doing things that a lot of fans — including me — weren't prepared for. Not only was she willingly teaching kids how to hold weapons, but she was burning bodies without asking to stop the spread of a sickness in the prison—live bodies.
Then, of course, there was the harrowing episode, “The Grove,” where Carol reluctantly kills Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) after she shows signs of declining mental wellness. Lizzie saw the walkers as people, not monsters, and she killed her sister Mika (Kyla Kennedy) to prove it. Carol takes matters into her own hands when she realizes that baby Judith’s life would be in danger, since they were on the road after the prison fell.
This was a huge moment for Carol, and it made many people fans because she was willing to make incredibly hard decisions that many others couldn't. And it only grew from there.
Carol became as much of The Walking Dead as Rick, Daryl, and the others
Carol basically is the series now, alongside Daryl in their Walking Dead spinoff. But back then, she was only beginning her reign. And what a reign it was. Carol in seasons 5–10 was on another level, from blowing up Terminus to willingly killing people to working with Negan, of all humans, to take Alpha down. She became a master.
Over that stretch, she became one of the most beloved characters on the show, a complete 180 from who she is in the comics. That’s a great example of taking a character and turning her into something that means the world to the fans. And now, we have this beautiful friendship between her and Daryl that I genuinely cannot picture this series without. I’ll always be thankful for that.
I’m hoping that with the 2027 finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon coming soon, their friendship will get the proper closeout it deserves. Until then, I’ll enjoy rewatching her rise.
You can watch all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix.
Add us as a preferred source on Google