It goes without saying that the characters from the Walking Dead franchise have been through a lot over the course of the zombie apocalypse. Since those early days when Rick Grimes awoke to find that the world had gone to hell (or even further back to when Madison and Travis Clark attempted to get their family out of Los Angeles when it all kicked off) to the heartfelt reunion that Rick and Michonne had in spinoff The Ones Who Live, it has taken everything that they all have had to survive the harsh realities of the zombie apocalypse.
The TWD Universe lives on in spinoffs Daryl Dixon and Dead City, with the hopes that more stories will come from this franchise in the next decade and a half as well. No doubt, there will be more fights for the likes of Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, Maggie, Negan, and the rest of the TWD crew in the future .
But today was all about reflecting on the past as it was an important day in Walking Dead lore.
January 19 is the date that the survivors first met Bob Stookey in The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead calendar is full of important dates as it stretched across two decades, dramatizing the highs and lows of the hellish world that the survivors found themselves in. One of those dates is January 19, 2012. According to The Walking Dead Wiki, this is the in-world date in which the survivors first crossed paths with Bob Stookey, who would go on to become an important part of the original series.
Identified as Day 513 of the apocalypse, it was Daryl Dixon and Glenn Rhee who first came across Bob in the episode "Alone" (which aired on AMC on March 9, 2014). Dealing with his own struggles, Bob was asked the typical questions that our survivors always asked anyone who they came across. Accepting Bob's answers, they then took him to their camp - which was the prison at the time. This was part of a flashback sequence which allowed us to see how Bob actually joined the group (as he was already an established part of it at the start of season 4).
Played by Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Bob made quite the impression on viewers and became a regular part of the show throughout the fourth season. A former army medic struggling with alcoholism, he eventually found a new sense of optimism when he fell for Sasha. However, he was bitten by a walker just as he was kidnapped by the cannibals at Terminus. When he awoke to see that they had eaten his leg, he laughed at them and told them they were eating tainted meat.
Bob then died surrounded by loved ones before Tyreese kindly ensured that he wouldn't be reanimated as a walker. Sasha was understandably broken by Bob's death, which ended up informing her character arc through the next season. Terminus, meanwhile, were dealt with in a brutal way, as Carol returned to the survivors' group with a vengeance, destroying the compound and saving so many of her friends. Rick and the gang then dealt with Garrett and any remaining survivors.
Although Bob didn't spend many years in The Walking Dead, he made a major impact on the show. He overcame his own demons and lived a better life, inspiring others around him and making friends along the way. It would have been interesting to see what the show would have looked like if Bob survived for a bit longer, but there is no denying that he was a joyful character who made an impact on viewers for a long time to come.