The Walking Dead has always run with an ensemble cast made up of people from different backgrounds, with most of the individual characters bringing something unique to the overall group. With over 11 seasons under its belt, viewers have seen dozens of characters come and go over the years. Gamer fans of the show may enjoy the Telltale Walking Dead series.
While the show does borrow a lot of the same plot elements and characters as from the comics it's based on, there are wild differences in how and when certain characters in the show were killed off compared to their TV show counterpart. A lot of the time, characters die when they have served their narrative purpose and there's little left to gain from their involvement. Sometimes though, The Walking Dead has rushed and killed off characters too soon.
7 T-Dog
T-Dog was one of the original characters, so newer fans may not remember him as vividly, especially if they binged the series to catch up. Lasting from Season 1 to Season 3, T-Dog got close with many of the other survivors such as Glenn and Carol. A funny character, T-Dog gave the audience many hilarious Walking Dead memes that have stood the test of time.
His death was a sad blow to many Walking Dead fans who had started the series with him as one of the main characters, and there was definitely far more development left in his character. T-Dog lasted only until the Season 3 episode "Killer Within" when he was devoured by a group of Walkers.
6 Enid
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Enid did appear in a fair ruck of episodes, lasting from Season 5 until Season 10 when she was killed and her head placed on a spike at the hands of the Whisperers' leader Alpha and her band of Walking Dead side characters.
Despite the fact that she appeared in a fair amount of episodes compared to some characters many fans still feel like her character development had more room to grow. Over her tenure, Enid developed into a confident young woman who was training to be a medic under Siddiq.
5 Dale Horvath
Dale was a sweet, loving man who would have been out of place in any post-apocalyptic video game, let alone the series. As such, he died very early in what was an emotional gut punch to both the survivors and the audience. Disemboweled by Walkers in the 10th episode of Season 2 "Judge, Jury, Executioner", Dale had an undeserved death.
Dale could have much more character development as the grandpa of the group. It seems obvious that Dale was written out to be replaced by Hershel. At the time, many The Walking Dead fans were devastated by his death.
4 Hershel Greene
Hershel Greene's family may have lived on, with his daughter Maggie and her son Hershel being some of the core characters of Season 12, but fans still haven't gotten over Hershel's brutal death at the hands of the Governor in what was one of the saddest Walking Dead deaths.
Dying in the Season 4 episode "Too Far Gone", Hershel's death hit the rest of the survivors hard, with the effects felt on it multiple episodes later. While Hershel was a pretty consistent character throughout his tenure and some fans would argue that he had served his purpose, there were plenty of fans who thought he should have appeared longer to continue acting as the wise old man of the group.
3 Shane Walsh
Shane's death being too soon may be seen as controversial by some fans since his death made for an entertaining and drama-filled finale in the second season as his conflict with Rick came to a head in one of Walking Dead's best episodes. However, there are those that believe there was further room for character development with Shane, and more potential for drama when Judith arrived.
It's fun to think about how certain events may have gone down had Shane survived and been a co-leader of the group with Rick. It's likely that the main group would have become a lot more savage and lost more of their humanity, but equally likely that fewer characters would have died due to mistrust in other groups, as Shane would not have stood for any swindling.
2 Andrea
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Andrea was one of the most interesting characters in the early seasons and had an engaging storyline as she was trapped between loyalty to her original group and her relationship with the Governor. Brutally killed by an undead Milton at the hand of the Governor, her death came as a shock to many comic book fans. Andrea was killed way too early.
In the comics Andrea is still alive to this day, becoming the wife of Rick Grimes, which the show changed to be Michonne. While differences between the comics and TV shows do help to add some distinction to both franchises, fans are typically mixed in their opinions of this.
1 Carl Grimes
Carl grew up on the show and by being Rick's son has always been considered one of the main and most important characters on both the show and comic book series.
Despite having an extensive appearance list across eight seasons, there was plenty of character development room for Carl before the show decided to abruptly kill him off. In the comics, Carl is still alive, which is another case of how the TV show has killed off characters unexpectedly to comic book fans.