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Most Shocking The Walking Dead Character Deaths

We still aren't over these deaths in The Walking Dead.

By Rick Gonzales | Updated

Most Shocking The Walking Dead Character Deaths

We aren’t saying anything that isn’t already known about the 11-season run of AMC’s The Walking Dead when we say that the series is filled with numerous shocking character deaths. Some of these deaths, while shocking, you could prepare for, while others came without warning. 

Let’s take a look at a few of the most shocking character deaths in The Walking Dead. 

7. Andrea Harrison

Andrea’s (Laurie Holden) shocking death comes in The Walking Dead Season 3 finale. Andrea was just coming back into the fold of the original group after making time with one of the series’ most despicable villains, The Governor (David Morrissey). After deciding to save Rick’s group, Andrea is ultimately caught by Philip (aka The Governor) and tied to a chair in a locked room with a dead Milton.

When Milton comes back as a zombie, Andrea fights for her life, and almost succeeds, before being bitten. Knowing her fate, Andrea decides to take her own life, and though we don’t see it, we hear the fatal gunshot.

6. Hershel Greene

As we just mentioned, The Governor (David Morrissey) was one of the most brutal of all The Walking Dead villains, and he proved it here. This one happened in the season 4 mid-season finale, where The Governor decided it was time to show Rick who the real boss was.

Having tied up Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Hershel (Scott Wilson) on their knees in front of him, The Governor used Michonne’s famous katana to slash Hershel’s neck. While Hershel’s daughters, Beth and Maggie, looked on, The Governor then decapitated Hershel.

5. Abraham Ford

We knew it was coming right when The Walking Dead introduced Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). We didn’t know who Negan had chosen to be the victim of “Lucille,” Negan’s famous barb-wired bat. The season 6 finale left viewers with tense anticipation as Negan had lined up a bunch from Rick’s group to play a sick game of “eeny, meany, miney, moe” as he decides which to club.

Then, with the season 7 premiere, audiences got to see the horrific choice. Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) was who Negan chose as he bludgeoned him to death in a sickening fashion. Even more shocking was that Negan was just getting started.

4. Shane Walsh

They started out as best friends, but over the course of the first two seasons, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) ended up far from it. Grimes and Walsh were fellow Sheriffs in the pilot episode of The Walking Dead, looking inseparable. But as the zombie apocalypse descended upon the world and Rick found his way back to his wife and son, Shane’s inability to deal with the new realities became more prevalent.

By the time season 2 was hitting its stride, it was apparent what needed to happen – Shane had to go. In a tense standoff between former best friends, Rick appeared to be putting down his gun when he rises up to stab Shane in the chest. It was a shocking yet necessary, end

3. Lori Grimes

There was plenty of life and death when Rick’s group was holed up in the prison. One of the most shocking came when Rick lost his wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), while she was giving birth to Judith (who happened to be Shane’s child). The tense and shocking Walking Dead episode came in season 3 while the prison was being overrun by zombies.

Rick and his group were trying to protect those inside while at the same time, Lori was in labor. She began to bleed, forcing Maggie to perform an emergency C-section. But it was the loss of blood that eventually took Lori’s life and in an even more heartbreaking moment, her son Carl took on the responsibility of shooting Lori in the head so she wouldn’t return as a zombie.

2. Carl Grimes

Speaking of Carl (Chandler Rigg), his death could easily be the shock of the entire The Walking Dead series. What makes Carl’s death so mind-numbingly shocking is that it came very unexpectedly, as he was a main character throughout the entire Robert Kirkman graphic novel.

You can argue that Hershel was the heart of the series, and his loss was tragic (it was), but truthfully, Carl WAS the heart of the show and was going to be the one to carry the torch… until he wasn’t. Carl suffers an eventually fatal zombie bite in the season 8 midseason finale, and before he can turn into a zombie, he chooses to end his life with a bullet.

1. Glenn Rhee

If we are talking about the ultimate shocking deaths in The Walking Dead, it has to be Glenn Rhee’s (Steven Yeun) unexpected Negan skull smashing. Audiences thought they had seen it all when Negan graphically took Lucille to the head of Abraham Ford, but Negan was not done.

Instead of stopping with one victim, like most fans thought would happen, Negan shocked the world by turning Lucille on Glenn, the absolute fan favorite who cheated death time and again. It was a brutal scene, graphic in every sense, and even more heartbreaking when Glenn was able to spit out, “Maggie, I’ll – I’ll find you,” before Negan beats his head into a bloody pulp.