“The Walking Dead” and its assorted spin-offs have presided over the small screen segment of the zombie genre for a very long time. Typically, characters in any project involving the, well, walking dead have the life expectancy of a mayfly, so even more impressive than the franchise’s longevity is the fact that a handful of series originals are still hanging on to their post-apocalyptic existence in various corners of the land, keeping their respective shows alive.
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Yes, despite the fact that the mortality rate among the show’s characters is extremely high for obvious reasons, a precious few have indeed managed to make it to the present with their lives intact. Granted, the paths they’ve taken are wildly different. Some of them have taken extended periods of leave from the show, while others started out as fairly inconsequential season 1 figures and only rose in prominence later down the line. Still, there’s pride in being a long-term survivor in a franchise as wild as “The Walking Dead” … and the following folks are the only card-carrying members in the exclusive club of “The Walking Dead” season 1 characters who are still alive today.
Carol Peletier
Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier goes through more than almost anyone else in the property, which makes her survival from the beginning of “The Walking Dead” to the sprawling, spin-off-y franchise’s present that much more impressive. She starts out the show as a fairly frail and passive figure before growing steadily stronger as the series progresses, ultimately reaching the threshold of becoming the hardened survivor fans know and love. Come season 5, she utterly wrecks the deadly cannibals of the Terminus community, thus cementing her place as one of the show’s most hardcore characters.
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Carol’s ability to hide behind a harmless housewife facade when needs be, coupled with her capacity for the kind of extreme violence even the likes of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) might raise an eyebrow at, make her a compelling presence. Even at her lowest, she remains deeply relatable thanks to McBride’s nuanced performance, which makes clear that the most hardened version of Carol still isn’t above worrying about losing her humanity. The other reason she’s remained such a prominent player is her deep bond with another crucial individual who’s lost loved ones: Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus).
Indeed, Carol and Daryl have become one of the great platonic friendships in fiction. They’re two best friends with zero romantic interest in each other, and their dauntless support of each other is one of the biggest beating hearts of the franchise. Carol has gone to many places, but the one she arguably truly belongs in is her current spot as the co-protagonist of the spin-off show “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” … which, fittingly enough, assumed the title “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol” for its 2024-25 sophomore season.
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Daryl Dixon
Speaking of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), who could have suspected that the mumbling and perpetually greasy kid brother of the loathsome Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) would eventually take over as the face of the franchise? The only reason anyone wants anything to do with Daryl at first is his vast set of survival skills, which comes in handy in a group of ragtag survivors who can barely feed themselves. However, Daryl eventually starts to grow on people and vice versa, and once Merle is out of the picture and Daryl finds a surrogate sister in Carol, he truly comes to his own as a character.
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Daryl gains more and more prominence over the seasons, and by the time Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) leaves “The Walking Dead,” he’s the show’s de facto central protagonist and quite likely the most popular character. Notorious enough that his spin-off show is simply called “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” the surly, sulky, bow-hunting, motorcycle-loving semi-loner is a true franchise breakout and a compelling character who deserves every bit of his popularity.
Daryl’s longevity is one thing, but he gets extra points for being the sole TV original on this list. Merle and Daryl were created for the “Walking Dead” show and have no presence in Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard’s original comics. To make things even more impressive, Daryl was specifically created with Norman Reedus in mind. In other words, Daryl Dixon is a canon foreigner who was built around a specific actor whose biggest claim to fame at the time was his role as Murphy MacManus in “The Boondock Saints” and its sequel. Yet, the character proceeded to become the show’s de facto face and a fan darling. Take a bow, Mr. Reedus.
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Morgan Jones
Morgan Jones (Lennie James) was quite literally the first guy Rick Grimes met after he woke up in “The Walking Dead” season 1, episode 1, “Days Gone Bye.” This remained his only appearance on the show until a single-episode return for season 3 and a handful of appearances in season 5. After this slow burn, however, his story picked up, and Morgan was a major force from seasons 6 to 8. Morgan then returned in “Fear the Walking Dead” season 4 and was a key character on the show until the end of its eight-season run.
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Longevity has not always been a blessing for Morgan, though. Both his wife Jenny (Keisha Tillis) and son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner) turn into walkers comparatively early on. Distraught, Morgan himself deals with mental health issues, becomes a pacifist, goes through bouts of soldier and survivalist modes, and ultimately defaults to a sort of warrior monk mindset where he prefers to avoid conflict but will absolutely hit hard when push comes to shove.
Morgan has lost a lot during his time on the show, and while he’s not currently an active character, he ended the “Fear the Walking Dead” chapter in his story in a comparatively peaceful place. He’s made peace with his past mistakes and losses and is one of the biggest “The Walking Dead” free agents at the moment. As such, should James’ eternally busy schedule allow for more appearances, there’s every chance that Morgan Jones will one day return — possibly on the Rick-centric “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.”
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Rick Grimes
Rick Grimes is the man who gets the questionable honor of being the viewpoint character of the not-zombie apocalypse’s first moments, waking up at the hospital and learning about the grave situation at hand. From that point on, he goes on to be the de facto leader of whatever version of the comparatively heroic central survivor group “The Walking Dead” is focusing on, clashing with various antagonists and occasionally members of his own team.
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Rick’s time on the show is a ride, to say the least. Among many other things, his turmoil involves clashing with and eventually having to kill his own best friend, Shane (Jon Bernthal); losing his wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), to a particularly gruesome combination of walker attack and childbirth; and losing his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), after the young man is bitten by a walker. He also meets and ultimately falls in love with fellow sturdy survivor Michonne (Danai Gurira) before being whisked away from the show for what was supposed to be a trilogy of Rick-centric “The Walking Dead” movies. This, however, never came to be. Instead, Lincoln’s exit from “The Walking Dead” after nine seasons ultimately culminated in a comeback on the aptly titled spin-off show “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live,” where Rick continues his adventures with Michonne.
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Out of all the characters on the show, Rick is the original protagonist and the closest thing to a comparatively clear-cut hero. The sheer size of the wringer the series puts him through is a great way to illustrate just how hostile the world of “The Walking Dead” truly is to its residents … and how much luck (and popularity power) one has to have in order to survive as long as Rick has. Solana Token Creator
