I’ve watched The Walking Dead for a long-ass time. And finally, the show is going to be coming to an end with Season 11 as part of the 2022 TV schedule, when the last eight episodes drop. I have seen characters rise and fall and become some awesome apocalypse survivors.
And then, I’ve also seen them make some stupid decisions. Like, truly unfortunate choices that completely changed the outcome of the show. So, in honor of The Walking Dead coming to an end soon, I’m going to look back on some of the biggest decisions that ended badly for our favorite survivors - and the outcomes that followed.
Rick - Attacking The Savior Outpost (Season 6)
Arguably, this is what began the whole Savior War arc in both Seasons 8 and 9 of The Walking Dead. While Negan is a brilliant antagonist and I genuinely enjoyed both of those seasons, it was this moment that really started the Savior War and what ultimately led many people to their demise.
The outpost was led by Simon, one of Negan’s leaders that he assigned to his outposts at the time. Rick and a bunch of his comrades from both Alexandria and Hilltop take on this outpost, hoping the violence that had been spreading to the communities would stop.
However, because their mission was so successful (i.e. no Savior came out alive after the attack), word gets back to Negan - and shows that this outpost wasn't the only spot the Saviors were in. This moment was the catalyst for one of the biggest plotlines in the show.
Daryl - Punching Negan (Season 7)
Look, I love Daryl just as much as the next person. I love his badass moments, his character development, the whole nine yards, but God did this moment piss me off in the premiere episode of Season 7 of The Walking Dead. I mean, this man just watched Abraham get his head bashed to bits and he thinks, surrounded by enemies, that it’s the best time to punch their leader? Who is already a hothead? Come on, man. Come on.
While I understand that tensions were high and shit happens - as Negan has said himself - it still wasn’t a smart move. The moment Daryl punches Negan after Abraham’s death is the moment that Glenn’s fate was sealed. It still upsets me to this day.
Also Daryl (And Connie) - Saving Lydia And Henry (Season 9)
While not as bad as the first Daryl moment on this list, it still led to a lot of issues down the line. In Season 9, when The Whisperer arc was just beginning and new characters were being introduced, a big one who is still on the show to this day is Lydia, the teenage daughter of Alpha, the main antagonist of both Season 9 and 10.
When Lydia is captured at Hilltop, she starts growing close to one of the teenage boys, Henry, forming a relationship. When Lydia is returned to her abusive mother and the Whisperers, Henry goes after her but ends up getting caught. Daryl and Connie (a new character at the time) take it upon themselves to rescue them. They take Henry, and Henry takes Lydia, but this moment ends up angering Alpha even more.
Even so, Lydia decides to stay with the communities after being rescued, despite her mother’s growing anger, and that’s when the Whisperers declare war on the Militia - and it ends with Henry’s head on a pike. It’s a sickening moment - especially for Carol, who had become a mother figure to him.
Michonne - Trusting Her Former Friend (Season 9)
You know, re-watching this confuses me sometimes because I can’t believe Michonne would be so trusting of someone she knew from before the world went to crap, but I can sorta see why she did. In the Season 9 episode, “Scars,” we see that a big reason why Alexandria stopped letting in new people is because of what happened to Michonne while she was pregnant with R.J.
An old friend of hers, Jocelyn, showed up at Alexandria with a group of children, but Michonne mistakenly trusts her and it ended with Judith and the other children of Alexandria being kidnapped. Michonne is forced to kill Jocelyn when she finds out that she’s basically the leader of a cult where she manipulates children to do whatever she wants.
It’s an even sicker scene when you realize that, because these children were so heavily manipulated, Michonne was forced to kill several of them, so Judith and other children of Alexandria wouldn't be killed next.
Sasha - Infiltrating The Sanctuary (Season 7)
Another character I felt was underutilized in The Walking Dead was Sasha. While she was badass in the show, her last few episodes on the series left much to be desired as she made a lousy attempt to kill Negan. When she and Rosita were planning on doing it together, Sasha locked her out at the last second and said that Alexandria needed her more, and decided to do it on her own.
Obviously, she fails in killing Negan, and either has to become a part of the Saviors or die, and while she accepts at first only to get close to Negan in order to kill him, she ends up killing herself by using a suicide pill that Eugene (who was working for the Saviors at that time) gave her, becoming a walker and nearly biting Negan before she was put down. It was so underwhelming, at least in my eyes.
Andrea - Getting It On With The Governor (Season 3)
The Governor was hands down one of the best villains on The Walking Dead for many reasons, but the one thing I will never get over is that Andrea got it on with him.
I mean, there are thousands of reasons not to like Andrea in the show. No offense to the actress, Laurie Holden, but my God, I hated the TV version of Andrea with a passion because she was nothing like the comic-book version. The fact that she slept with the Governor doesn’t sit with me because she knew he was sketchy. Michonne, the person that saved her, literally told her, and yet she still ended up staying in Woodbury, despite seeing many red flags.
How did Season 3 end? With the Governor showing his true side to Andrea, her trying to help Rick and his crew, and ending with her being bitten by a walker.
Carol - Not Stopping Lizzie (Season 4)
Carol has had major storylines throughout The Walking Dead, and as of Season 11, she and Daryl are the only ones still around from Season 1, so she's been through a whirlwind. Though Carol is a hardened survivor, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made some pretty bad choices. One of them was Lizzie.
Acting as another mother figure to the young girl, Carol (and Tyreese) looked after Lizzie and her sister, Mika, as well as Judith, when the prison fell. Carol could see that Lizzie had violent tendencies - where she was literally playing with a walker at one point - but she didn’t put a real stop on it at first - i.e. taking that kid out.
I’m not saying that killing a kid is okay, but Lizzie was not thinking straight and there was no way to properly get her good treatment. Carol, believing that there was still good in Lizzie, didn’t harm her at the time - but, eventually, it was too late and Lizzie killed her sister in an attempt to show that walkers weren’t that different from humans - and was going to do the same to Judith.
Well, we know what happened next. If Carol had stopped this beforehand, Mika never would have died.
Beth - Trying To Kill Dawn (Season 5)
I’m still so upset about this one. Beth, in Season 5, seemed like she would be on a good track to be the next big survivor of The Walking Dead, and in the mid-season finale, “Coda,” the group finally found her. But, in a last-ditch attempt to end the cycle of abuse at the hospital, she stabs Dawn (the person who has kept her trapped) in the chest.
This ends with Beth getting killed. Shot right in the head. I’m never going to forget those screams from Maggie, or Daryl carrying Beth out of the hospital. It’s still one of the most heartbreaking deaths on this show.
Tyreese - Staying In That House With Noah (Season 5)
I didn’t think The Walking Dead would do two back-to-back deaths, but they did in Season 5, in the episode “What’s Happened and What’s Going On.” Tyreese and the rest of the group arrive at Noah’s old community that’s destroyed, and he decides to stay behind and comfort Noah, following him to his old home while the others look for supplies.
However, this moment led to his doom, because while Tyreese was letting Noah have his space in his home, he was so focused on family pictures that he ended up being bitten by Noah’s reanimated brother. It wasn’t that long before we had to say goodbye to Tyreese, as well.
Hershel - Attempting To Make Peace With The Governor (Season 4)
Hershel was the moral compass of Rick’s group in The Walking Dead for two seasons, and such an important character, which was why as soon as I saw him trying to negotiate with the Governor in “Too Far Gone,” I knew he was done.
The Governor, at this point in Season 4, is so unhinged and wants Rick dead - so much that he finds a whole new group after burning Woodbury to the ground. Rick even proposes the same thing to the Governor - to live in peace - as Hershel did, but the Governor believes him to be a liar, and slices Hershel’s neck. It’s the end for him.
Carl - Saving Siddiq (Season 8)
Probably one of the most controversial things that has ever happened in The Walking Dead was Carl’s death in Season 8 of the show. Carl risks his life to save Siddiq, someone who is a doctor, and felt the need to bring him back just because he wanted him to survive. In the process, he ends up being bitten.
While Siddiq was a good character and even fathered a child with Rosita, was he really worth Carl losing his life? In the comics, Carl literally survives until the end. It’s his story, but Carl’s death in the show just felt like a cheap event in order to shock viewers - at least that’s how I felt.
Lori - Hooking Up With Shane (Season 1)
Judith is the most adorable little girl on this series and she is a badass I love with my whole heart. But you can’t deny that the OG f-up in this show was Lori getting it on with Shane in Season 1.
She got pregnant, creating a huge divide between Rick and Shane, and led to many, many other bad events that happened throughout Season 2, such as Shane becoming more unhinged, and eventually, being killed by Rick. The only good thing that came out of this is little Judith - who is still my favorite TWD child to this day.
Who do you think has had the biggest screw up on this show? No matter what, at least most of them have been able to survive somehow. Hopefully, my favorite characters won’t make any more poor choices before the show comes to an end.
