The Walking Dead Characters (SPOILERS)
A student guide to how Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Carl, Glenn and Maggie had changed by the end of season five.
In this article there will be descriptions about the characters. Beware, there will be some spoilers from the most recent season.
Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln): Rick in the beginning of the first season was a sheriff who wouldn’t hurt anyone and felt sorry that things happened. As the seasons went on Rick started to evolve into what the world was like. He would kill to save his family and he does exactly that in the fourth season. Now he is a person who will kill the living to keep the group safe.
Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus): Daryl is a redneck who was aggressive and as the seasons went on he became more sensitive. After losing his brother he started to care about the group. In the fifth season Beth is being held, I guess you would say, hostage. Rick and the group went to trade some of their people for Beth and in the end Beth was shot in the head. Daryl cried like he never cried before.
Michonne (Danai Gurira): Michonne is the samurai, who used to be alone in the apocalypse world until she met her friend, Andrea, who died in season 2. She has grown with the group and learned to work together. She has become a valuable member of the group.
Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs): Carl is a kid who didn’t really have a childhood, he is growing up with a life as a zombie killer or, as known in the show, a walker killer. He has become more mature as the seasons have gone on. He has had to help with tough decisions and helps watch over the group, especially his little sister Judith.
Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun): Glenn started out as a pizza delivery guy and turned into a killing machine who would do anything to find his wife Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan). He has become more of a man, yet still has no mustache after three years of the apocalypse.
Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan): Maggie is a tough girl, her whole life changed when the apocalypse started. She has recently lost her sister, and is learning to defend for herself.
Where these characters ended up
This guide was written after season five, and the show kept going for a long time. AMC’s The Walking Dead ran for 11 seasons and 177 episodes, ending on November 20, 2022.
Glenn did not make it to the end. Negan killed him in the season seven premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” which aired on October 23, 2016. Steven Yeun left the series with that episode.
Andrew Lincoln announced that season nine, which premiered on October 7, 2018, would be his last, and he appeared in five episodes of it. Rick was not gone for good, though. He and Michonne returned in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, a six-episode miniseries from 2024 starring Lincoln and Danai Gurira.
Daryl outlasted the main show as well, with his own spin-off, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which began in 2023. Another spin-off, The Walking Dead: Dead City, also started in 2023.
