When a show has been on the air for as long as The Walking Dead has, it’s understandable - even expected - that the writers would make their share of questionable decisions. This is especially true when it comes to TWD.
Through controversy, backlash, and even driving their fanbase away on multiple occasions, the series’ writers have made several decisions that wound up hurting the show. Some of these decisions included introducing characters that failed to win the audience’s affections, or killing off beloved characters.
Because of that, TWD, of course, has quite a collection of characters that it would most likely want the fans to forget. Let’s explore 10 of the characters that The Walking Dead writers want us to forget.
LORI GRIMES
From what was pretty much the very beginning of the series, a large portion of the Walking Dead fanbase adopted a passionate dislike for Lori Grimes. She was barely in the show for three seasons, but that was all it took for the fans’ dislike to morph into absolute hatred.
Sure, Lori had her flaws. She did make questionable decisions, and her parenting skills weren’t always the greatest. But did she really deserve all the hate she got? TWD writers didn’t seem to care about the answer to that question, as Lori is now a forgotten aspect of the show.
THEODORE ‘T-DOG’ DOUGLAS
It has been nearly seven years since T-Dog met his heartbreaking demise. He was not a major character, but he garnered enough screen time and memorable scenes to live on in the audience’s memories.
But The Walking Dead writers don’t seem to share the same sentiment, seemingly having forgotten all about T-Dog. This is most likely the writers’ attempt to bury the age of Darabont, the show’s first show-runner, as T-Dog was his original character. But despite that, T-Dog is still missed to this day.
ANDREA HARRISON
Due to her major role in the comics, it came as a shock to many when Andrea’s less-than-intelligent decisions in season 3 accumulated in the finale to cause her untimely death. She had a significant presence in the show, but after her death, she was rarely ever mentioned by anyone.
Many fans weren’t too happy with Andrea’s sudden demise, as they were expecting her to carry on a storyline similar to the one she had in the graphic novels. Perhaps this uproar provoked the TWD writers to bury Andrea’s character in the deepest archives of the series’ history, having many of the characters seemingly forget about her.
DALE HORVATH
Dale Horvath was only on TWD for two seasons. But he made his mark nonetheless, from inserting himself into everyone else’s business to the point where it was almost humorous, and to his heartbreaking death.
The death of this wise character made for some pretty heavy drama and tension in Rick’s group. Dale’s departure broke the hearts of many, other characters and viewers alike. But TWD writers didn’t have much choice in killing Dale. In fact, actor Jeffrey DeMunn actually asked for his character to be written out of the show. Considering that DeMunn was a close friend of former showrunner, Frank Darabont’s (who was fired by AMC in 2011), it does make sense that the TWD writers would want Dale to vanish from the audience’s memories.
MORGAN JONES
Morgan may be one of the lead characters on Fear The Walking Dead, but his exit from the main series at the end of season 8, still felt unjust, with his lengthy history on the show. Morgan made his first appearance in TWD’s series premiere. He remained a major part of the series’ story, despite not appearing again until late season 3.
At this point, when Rick, Michonne, and Carl accidentally stumbled upon Morgan, he was reeling from the death of both his son and (zombified) wife. Morgan was so traumatized from these horrors that he nearly killed Rick on multiple occasions in the episode, and even begged Rick to kill him. Due to Morgan’s breakdown, Rick, Michonne, and Carl left him. It wasn’t until season 5 when Morgan came back to the show and became a series regular. Lennie James’ portrayal of Morgan made him very likeable, but TWD writers utilized this in all the wrong ways; sending Morgan to Fear The Walking Dead and effectively making the characters cease to speak of him ever since.
ERIC RALEIGH
Eric was an underdeveloped character best known for being Aaron’s boyfriend. Though he made very few appearances, it was always good to see LGBTQ characters represented on The Walking Dead. But when there is a decent amount of gay characters on this show, viewers have learned to be prepared to say goodbye pretty fast.
Eric’s heartbreaking death occurred early in season 8, when he was fatally shot by a Savior while assisting his community with an ambush. Tragically, Aaron is forced to leave Eric to bleed out. Later, Aaron finds that Eric has reanimated. Viewers are only shown a distant shot of the walker version of Eric, but this is nonetheless unsettling. Aaron is left to raise Gracie, an orphaned baby, on his own. Walking Dead writers have since left Eric’s memory in the dust, most likely in hopes of quieting the complaints of their habit of killing so many LGBTQ characters.
GLENN RHEE
Perhaps one of the biggest, most regrettable mistakes that the TWD writers have ever made was killing Glenn Rhee. He was a fan-favorite since the very beginning, and it’s a popular opinion among The Walking Dead’s fanbase that Glenn was significantly mistreated by the writers.
This was a character who proved to be the heart of the show on multiple occasions, who was always making selfless and decisions. Glenn was one of the few characters whose humanity remained intact, and who always strived to honor his dead loved ones. Given this lovely character and Steven Yeun’s strong talents, TWD writers should have treasured Glenn Rhee. But instead, they killed him off for cheap shock value and the lame excuse of “following the comics”. Given the immense amount of backlash Glenn’s death evoked, it’s obvious that Walking Dead writers would, shamefully, want to keep Glenn’s time on the show a distant one.
3. DENISE CLOYD
Denise was not on the show for very long, but she had a memorable existence. In the days before the apocalypse, she was a psychiatrist. She originally went to medical school to be a surgeon, but due to her anxiety, she switched to psychiatry. This makes it even nobler when she becomes Alexandria’s doctor, and saves Carl’s life.
Denise was timid and insecure, but many viewers grew quite attached to her quirky demeanor. Her relationship with Tara was short-lived but adorable. When Denise died late in season 6, The Walking Dead once again re-established its reputation for not only killing characters solely for shock value, but also frequently killing LGBTQ characters.
2. THE ANDERSON FAMILY
Season 6 was not The Walking Dead’s strongest season, and one of the reasons for this was the entire storyline that surrounded the Anderson family. After Rick and co. arrive in Alexandria, Rick begins to show his problematic side.
He meets Jessie Anderson shortly after he arrives in Alexandria, and in TWD’s typical, heavy-handed style, viewers are treated to a scene of contrived flirtation as Jessie cuts Rick’s hair. This, of course, is only the beginning of a storyline that the majority of the fanbase hated with a passion. From Rick falling in love with Jessie within five minutes of knowing her, to Rick’s brawl with Jessie’s husband, Pete, and finally to Rick’s short, extremely contrived romance with Jessie - this storyline’s only real redeeming quality was its memorable end. Based on how badly received the Anderson family was, it’s understandable that TWD probably wants everyone to forget about this absurd arc.
1. MAGGIE RHEE
Goodbyes are never easy on TWD, but one of the most peculiar instances of a character exit was Maggie Rhee’s. She had been a strong presence in the show since season 2, so it came as quite a shock to see the show dispose of her in such an unceremonious way. After the six-year time jump that followed Rick’s disappearance, it was alluded to that Maggie had left Hilltop. Apparently, no one really knows where exactly she is, and she is only mentioned a tiny handful of times after her departure.
Rick Grimes’ exit was monopolized and hyped for months before the episode aired. But it was Andrew Lincoln’s decision to leave the series, just as it was Lauren Cohan’s decision to leave. For Maggie, who was a very longterm major character, Walking Dead writers should have shown a little respect and given her a proper exit, rather than attempting to disintegrate her entire existence.
