20 game-changing moments from The Walking Dead

Ahead of The Walking Dead's series finale on Sunday, we're revisiting the show's most powerful, shocking, and downright jaw-dropping scenes

By Cindy White  |  November 18, 2022 | 9:27pm
TV Features The Walking Dead
20 game-changing moments from The Walking Dead
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Madison Lintz as Sophia, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan Image: AMC/The A.V. Club

Remember when everyone was watching The Walking Dead? At the height of its popularity, way back in the early 2010s, it was the one of the most-watched, and probably the most talked-about, shows on television. Every twist and turn was a collective experience, and if you cared about it you had to watch the episodes live or risk being spoiled.

Now, as the series finale approaches, those conversations are still happening, just with fewer die-hard fans in the mix. There’s enough interest to ensure the surviving characters will live on through a seemingly unending stream of spinoffs and movies (and books and games and merch). Because The Walking Dead isn’t just a TV show based on a comic-book series anymore; it’s a global brand.

In honor of Sunday’s conclusion of the groundbreaking AMC, we’ve put together a retrospective on the show’s most jaw-dropping moments—the ones that shocked us, made us cry, and made us question everything we thought we knew. We’ve even included some bombshells from recent seasons, because it’s nice to know that the show can still surprise us, even after all this time.

1. Rick encounters bicycle girl
The Walking Dead Bicycle Girl Scene

Season one, episode one: “Days Gone Bye”When Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) first woke up in that hospital in the midst of a full-on zombie apocalypse, it took a while for the reality of it to sink in. It’s not until 23 minutes into the series premiere that we, along with Rick, get our first glimpse of an actual zombie, and she’s pretty horrifying. Stumbling away from the hospital, Rick sees a bike lying by the side of the road. When he starts to take it, he awakens the previous owner, now a zombie. Or half of a zombie. She’s really just a decaying torso so she can’t get very far. It’s an incredible make-up effect that gave us an idea of the kind of gore we were in for in the rest of the series. He gets away easily but comes back later to finish her off, studying her with tears in his eyes before telling her he’s sorry and shooting her in the head. This is a very different Rick Grimes than the hardened tough guy we would come to know in later seasons.

2. A dying brain
TWD - S1/E6 “TS-19" (4/7) - Dr. Jenner Shows Test Subject-19

Season one, episode six: “TS-19”Once Rick meets up with Lori, Shane, Carol, Daryl, and the rest of their little group of survivors, they all head for the CDC, which is conveniently just outside of Atlanta. Their hope is to find some answers about what’s going on from the experts, and maybe a cure. In the first season finale, they finally arrive and find a lone surviving scientist, Dr. Edwin Jenner (standout guest star Noah Emmerich), who puts the zombie outbreak into context for them. He shows them a playback of what happens to a brain as the pathogen takes over, killing off everything that makes you who you are, then restarting only the parts that compel the body to move and feed. It’s here that they finally realize and process the news that the outbreak is global and there’s no going back. This is the world they live in now.

3. Sophia comes out of the barn
The Walking Dead - Sophia’s Death/Barn Scene

Season two, episode seven: “Pretty Much Dead Already”The reveal in this episode, which originally aired as a mid-season finale, is still one of the biggest shockers of the entire series. After Carol’s daughter Sophia goes missing in the season two premiere, the characters spend six episodes—and a lot of their time and resources—trying to find her. While searching, they take refuge at Herschel’s farm and discover that he’s been keeping zombies in his barn, believing it to be the humane thing to do. Clearly, Herschel hasn’t gotten the memo that walkers are not actually human. Determined to clear them out, Shane, Glenn, Daryl, Andrea, and T-Dog (remember when there was a character on this show called T-Dog?) fling open the doors and start shooting. The big surprise comes at the end, when young Sophia steps out from the darkness, having been a barn zombie all this time. Rick has to put her down in front of everyone. And we still can’t get that image out of our heads.

4. Rick kills Shane, then Carl kills him again
TWD S2E12 - Rick Kills Shane [4k]

Season two, episode 12: “Better Angels”Looking back on this scene, and the entire rivalry between Rick and Shane from the start, it plays so differently now. Back then, Rick still had some of his humanity left. Earlier in the episode he decides to spare a hostage named Randall, who had been left behind by a wandering, violent gang. Shane argues for killing him, is overruled, then lures Randall into the woods and does it anyway. This was supposed to show how ruthless and unhinged he’d become, but in hindsight, it was a smart move. Just a few seasons later Rick wouldn’t have thought twice about killing someone like Randall. It all comes to a head with a fateful confrontation in the woods and Shane ends up with a knife in the chest courtesy of his former best friend. That’s not the end of it, though, because Carl shows up just in time to see Shane come back as a zombie and end him for good.

5. Everyone is infected
TWD S2E13 - Rick says that Everyone is infected

Season two, episode 13: “Beside The Dying Fire”Shane’s death led to another major bombshell in the following episode. When the survivors notice that both Shane and Randall came back without being bitten or scratched, they press Rick on it. He’s finally forced to share what he learned from Dr. Jenner back in the season-one finale—that everyone now carries the pathogen and will become zombies when they die, no matter what. Not trusting Jenner, Rick chose to keep this information to himself. They’re understandably pissed, and some consider moving on without him. This episode also happens to have another pretty monumental moment in it: the introduction of Michonne, who meets up with Andrea in the woods (though we don’t see her face until later).

6. The Governor is hiding something (or many somethings)
TWD - S3/E3 “Walk With Me” (13/13) - The Governor’s Heads | Ending Scene

Season three, episode three: “Walk With Me”Before there was Alexandria, or any of the other communities we would come to know, there was Woodbury. It was the first time we saw a large group of people trying to return to some kind of normal life, sheltered from the post-apocalyptic chaos outside its walls. Andrea is impressed right away by the seemingly idyllic refuge and its charismatic Governor. Michonne, on the other hand, is wary. As usual, her instincts are spot on. We see the Governor and his men attack a refugee camp, kill everyone, raid their supplies, then lie about it later. So we knew he was sketchy. The depths of his derangement aren’t fully revealed, though, until the final scene of this episode. We follow him into his private quarters, where he settles into his easy chair with a drink in his hand and stares ominously at a wall of fish tanks filled with zombie heads, including the head of a soldier who arrived with Andrea and Michonne very much alive. We knew the Governor was a potential threat, but this moment revealed that he was also creepy as hell.

7. Lori dies after giving birth to Judith
TWD - S3/E4 “Killer Within” (13/15) - Lori Death Scene

Season three, episode four: “Killer Within”The prison was the first place Rick and his group thought they could make into a longtime home. Despite the limited amenities, it made sense for the security it provided. But as usual, their plans were undone by human failings. In this episode, a disgruntled former prisoner allows the compound to be invaded by zombies. Terrible timing for Lori, who goes into labor in the middle of it all. The only ones around to help her are Carl and Carol, neither of whom is prepared when things take a turn for the worse. Lori pleads with them to perform a C-section knowing that it will kill her. Carl ends up pulling his baby sister out of their mother as she dies, then insists on being the one to shoot her so she won’t come back as a zombie. That’s a lot to put on a kid. He still takes it a lot better than Rick does, though.

8. Showdown at the prison
The Walking Dead - We can all live together

Season four, episode eight: “Too Far Gone” This episode marks the end of the prison arc and the final conflict with the Governor, which had gone on way too long by this point. When he shows up with his army at the prison Rick tries to reason with them, saying they are not “too far gone” to live in peace. The Governor is, though. He cuts off Herschel’s head with Michonne’s sword, pretty much ensuring a fight to the death. The prison’s defenses are overrun, some of the Governor’s people switch sides (including Tara), and amidst the chaos, Michonne slices him up for the last time. The Governor may be dead, but the damage is done. The survivors scatter and embark on different paths, remaining separated until the end of the season.

9. Carol has to put Lizzie down
The Walking Dead Carol Kills Lizzie HD

Season four, episode 14: “The Grove” One of the unexpected joys of The Walking Dead has been watching Carol Peletier transform from a timid housewife into the formidable, cunning warrior she became in later seasons. As a survivor of domestic violence, Carol had to develop a backbone of steel, but she didn’t always show it. All it took was a zombie apocalypse for her to grow into her own strength. One of the bigger steps on that path came in this episode, where she had to make a terrible call and put down a young girl named Lizzie after she loses touch with reality and kills her own sister. All at once, she goes from being in danger to becoming a danger herself. Left with no choice, Carol takes Lizzie out back, tells her to “look at the flowers” and shoots her in the head. What Carol—and the audience—learned from this episode is that safety is an illusion. It reminded us not to get too comfortable, because more horrors are always on the horizon.

10. Terminus is full of cannibals
The First 4 Minutes of Season 5: The Walking Dead

Season five, episode one: “No Sanctuary”The Terminus arc wrapped up rather quickly, considering all the setup at the end of season four. In this episode, we learn that the promised “sanctuary” is a trap and Terminus is full of stone-cold cannibals. Rick and his newly reunited group are nearly eaten before being rescued by Carol. The world, and the people left in it, just keeps getting darker. It ends on a hopeful note, though. We get a glimpse of Morgan again for the first time since his reappearance in the season-three episode “Clear.” He’ll become a big part of the show this season, before eventually moving on to the spinoff series .

11. Eugene doesn’t have a cure
TWD S5E5 - Eugene is not a scientist (2/2) | Abraham beats him up

Season five, episode five: “Self Help”When we first met Eugene in season four, he gave everyone hope by claiming to be a scientist who had discovered the cure for the zombie outbreak. All he needed was to get to Washington, D.C. His story convinced Abraham and Rosita to be his military escorts, believing they were helping him change the world. In this episode, though, Eugene is forced to admit that he lied about it all. He confesses that although he is smart, he’s also a self-serving coward. He came up with the story just to get them to protect him as they all traveled to the place he thought would be the most secure. His admission was a huge blow to his friends and traveling companions, not to mention the audience, and earned him a severe beatdown courtesy of Abraham. It just goes to show that you can’t trust anyone in the post-apocalypse.

12. Welcome to the Alexandria Safe Zone
Talked About Scene: Episode 512: The Walking Dead: Remember

Season five, episode 12: “Remember”After spending most of the season wandering through the barren landscape, Rick and his group encountered Aaron, a scout for another established community. In this episode, they decide to trust him and let him take them to Alexandria, the place that would become home to many of them for the rest of the series. The gated, self-sustained community has been lucky not to have had much trouble with walkers or strangers so far. They haven’t spent much time outside the walls, though, and they don’t have the survival skills of Rick’s people. The stark contrast really comes into focus in the closing scene, when Rick declares that if things don’t work out with the residents, they’ll just take it by force. With that harsh assessment, he’s completed the journey from victim to would-be subjugator.

13. Introduction to Hilltop
Talked About Scene: Episode 611: The Walking Dead: Knots Untie

Season six, episode 11: “Knots Untie”We got our first look at another important settlement in this episode, the Hilltop Colony. Paul “Jesus” Rovia, who was previously being held captive in Alexandria, leads them there with promises of setting up a trade between the two communities. We meet their shifty leader Gregory and also get our first mention of Negan and the Saviors when a couple of messengers arrive to berate the Hilltop folks for their last shipment being light. When an altercation breaks out, Rick and the other visitors get involved, because they can’t leave well enough alone. Daryl even offers to kill Negan for them in exchange for food and medicine. It’s just a simple mission that definitely won’t have any lasting consequences, right?

14. Negan kills Abraham and Glenn
The Walking Dead - Glenn’s Death.

Season seven, episode one: “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”In one of the show’s biggest season-ending cliffhangers, Negan had taken Rick and a few of the others hostage and lined them up on their knees, threatening them with his distinctive barbed-wire bat and a menacing “eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” We saw someone getting a deadly taste of Lucille, we just didn’t know who until this episode. Turns out, there were two someones—Abraham and Glenn. Abraham’s loss was upsetting, but fans were devastated and angered over the death of Glenn, a fan-favorite character who’d been with the show since season one. The brutal act made Negan the most hated villain in the show’s history.

15. Carl dies from a walker bite
Carl’s Death | The Walking Dead Classic Scene Ep 809

Season eight, episode nine: “Honor”Those who were hoping for Negan’s comeuppance would not get it quickly. Or ever, really. The war between Rick and the Saviors carried on throughout season seven and into season eight. As ruthless as he was, though, even Negan had a soft spot for Carl. Everyone did. He came of age in this world and showed early on that he had what it takes to survive. So it came as a shock when he didn’t. After helping Siddiq get to Alexandria and taking shelter in the sewers, Carl reveals to the group that he has been bitten. As he’s dying he expresses his life’s regrets, writes letters to his dad and Negan urging them to make peace with each other, and tells his dad to find his compassion again. But it’s too late. Even Carl’s dying wish isn’t enough to get these two forces of nature to come to terms.

16. Rick dies (or maybe not)
Rick Sacrifices Himself To Destroy the Bridge | The Walking Dead Classic Scenes

Season nine, episode five: “What Comes After”When the news broke that Andrew Lincoln would be leaving the show, fans wondered how it could carry on without the main point-of-view character. This was how we found out. After realizing that he must protect the family he has left, Rick risks it all to blow up a bridge before a horde of walkers can cross it and reach Hilltop. Believing he died in the blast, the remaining survivors mourn him, but we see that he has been rescued by Jadis/Anne and taken somewhere by helicopter. His time on The Walking Dead may be over, but Rick is set to return in a spinoff series, which will reportedly pick up the story from here. That’s not the only game-changing moment of this episode, though. Shortly after the rescue scene we fast forward six years and meet up with a now-adolescent Judith.

17. Enter the Whisperers
The Whisperers Murder Jesus | The Walking Dead Classic Scene | Ep 908

Season nine, episode eight: “Evolution”What a great fake-out this was. We had hints prior to this episode that there might be walkers out there with the ability to speak. Here is where the setup paid off. During a mission to rescue an injured Eugene from a horde he believes to have evolved, Jesus covers the group’s escape in a foggy cemetery at night. He takes out a number of walkers with his knife but one of them suddenly ducks, spins around, and stabs him with it instead. Zombies aren’t supposed to be able to do that! And they definitely aren’t supposed to say sinister things like, “You are where you do not belong.” We barely have time to process that information before it’s revealed that these whispering walkers weren’t zombies at all, just a group of disguised humans wearing their skin. Still a game-changer, just not in the way we initially thought.

18. Heads on pikes
Heads on Pikes Scene | THE WALKING DEAD 9x15 [HD]

Season nine, episode 15: “The Calm Before”At a fair meant to bring the communities of the Kingdom, Hilltop, and Alexandria together, the treachery of the Whisperers sets a dark cloud over the festivities. Hilltop is already under attack, and Alpha, who has snuck into the fair, is onto their plans. She tries to convince her daughter Lydia to come back to the Whisperers with her, and when she refuses Alpha hides her disappointment but secretly loses it. She tells Daryl that their territory has been clearly marked and if anyone crosses it she’ll set a horde of walkers on them. Then she lets him, Carol, Michonne, and her other captives go, knowing what they’ll find on their way back. To their horror, they come across the border Alpha warned them about, made up of 10 pikes mounted with the heads of several major characters, including Enid, Tara, and Henry. Just when we thought we’d seen it all, the show suddenly delivered a blow that left everyone reeling.

19. Dante is a Whisperer spy
The Walking Dead S10 E07 Clip | ‘Siddiq’s Realization’ | Rotten Tomatoes TV

Season 10, episode seven: “Open Your Eyes”Something is rotten in Alexandria, and it’s driving Siddiq over the edge. While still dealing with PTSD from his experiences as a prisoner of the Whisperers, he tries to find the source of a mysterious infection that’s been making everyone sick. After giving up and trying to drown himself, he suddenly realizes the water has been poisoned. But who did the poisoning? While his buddy Dante is giving him a little pep talk, he makes a habitual clicking noise that Siddiq recognizes. The last time he heard it was from one of the masked Whisperers holding him captive. Yep, it was Dante who contaminated the water supply, on orders from Alpha. Before he can warn anyone, though, Dante chokes him to death. With this reveal, the Whisperer threat suddenly felt a lot more imminent and closer to home.

 
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