The Walking Dead’s Five Most Shocking Deaths

Although The Walking Dead spared most of its core characters throughout its sixth season, the series was once one of the most ruthless, unforgiving, and shocking shows on television.

Through its first few seasons, The Walking Dead killed main characters left and right. Some of that even trickled into later seasons but for the most part, characters who were brutally or suddenly offed were relatively new and hadn’t been with the group since Atlanta.

On the following slides, we’re going to take a look at the five most shocking deaths on The Walking Dead which means two things: spoilers for all seasons to date are fair game and we have to make some honorable mentions beforehand.

Not on the list are Noah, Sophia, and Beth. Each of their deaths were pretty shocking but for the most part unimportant in the grand scheme of the series. Sophia may have impacted Carol and molded her into the warrior she became but we’re still bitter about the season two pacing as a result of the search for her.

Also not on the list are Dave, Tony, and Sam. Remember Dave and Tony, the guys from Philadelphia? When Rick gunned them down in the bar, it was clear the tone of the show was revamped. They weren’t very important so their deaths weren’t the emotion invoking moment as much as Rick’s decision to kill them was but it was shocking nonetheless. Sam, though, was brutally slain at Terminus. The poor blondie was just trying to survive with his girlfriend and he had his skull cracked and throat slit just before Carol came to everybody’s rescue.

As a matter of fact, we have to throw Otis on this honorable mention list, too. It’s another case of an action being more shocking than the death itself, which is why it doesn’t make the top five, but Shane’s choice to take the big guy out in an effort to save himself and Carl was ruthless.

Let’s look at those who did make the list…

Lizzie

We all thought The Walking Dead wouldn’t kill kids on television when Judith survived the Governor’s prison raid, contradicting the events of the comics, but the series proved doubters wrong with Lizzie and Mika.

Lizzie was slowly went over the deep end and when she got there, she had to go.

The young girl killed her own sister to prove some sort of weird belief of hers with walkers and was clearly willing to do the same to anyone else. As a result, our jaws hit the floor when Carol told Lizzie to “look at the flowers,” and put a bullet in the back of her head.

Dale

Fun fact: in the comics, it was Dale who delivered the “tainted meat!” line to cannibals as they chowed down on his leg.

Yes, that means Dale lived much longer in the comics.

Following some fallout with the production of the series, Jeffrey DeMunn asked for an early exit from the series after his good friend Frank Darabont was removed from his showrunner position. What resulted was Dale’s shocking, out-of-nowhere death on Hershel’s farm to ultimately be put down by Daryl.

It wasn’t easy to stomach.

Hershel

Another comic switch came as the Governor raided the prison in season four. In the comics, the Governor sliced Tyreese’s head from his shoulders but on television, he hacked Hershel’s neck until his head was severed.

Hershel, the moral compass of the show at the time, was a fan-favorite character from the time of his introduction. His remaining daughters looked on in horror as their father was taken from the group.

The worst part… His head re-animated as a walker. At least it was clear, in that moment, that he had gotten his message of humanity through to Rick (which has since been forgotten…) and he went out with a warm smile.

Lori

Personally, Lori’s death was spoiled for me as I attended my first ever NFL game and I’ll never forget it. That said, The Walking Dead managed to shock everyone else when they killed Lori off during childbirth.

Earlier in the same episode, season one group member T-Dog was killed off in an effort to save Carol from a zombie attack. The audience thought the major deaths were done for the day. They were wrong.

As Lori brought baby Judith into the world, she bowed out. That wasn’t the worst part. Her own son, Carl, had to be the one who stopped her from re-animating by putting a bullet in her head. We all felt Rick’s pain as Andrew Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable and devastating moments outside of the prison and Carl’s innocence was lost.

In the comics, Lori was killed during the Governor’s raid on the prison when a bullet pierced through her stomach and baby Judith. It was two Grimes in one shot.

Shane

Season two was where audiences learned that The Walking Dead will kill off just about anybody. Sure, there was a ton of conflict between Rick and Shane, but did everyone actually expect them to kill one of the two main characters off?

At the time, Shane definitely had to go. He had gone crazy, right? Looking back, he probably just adapted to the world faster than everyone else (and had a thing for his best friend’s wife). When he lead Rick out into the woods with the intention of killing him, many suspected that only one would return. Seeing Rick drive a knife into Shane’s heart was still a heartbreaking moment, though.

Of course, it didn’t end there. Shane quickly re-animated and Carl had to put him down.

It was the moment where the audience started to wonder two things: “Is anybody safe?” and “Why do the dead come back if they’re not bit?”