The Walking Dead: 5 Characters Rick Could Call Friends (& His 5 Worst Enemies)

AMC’s The Walking Dead weaves an epic tale of survival as it follows various groups of people as they make their way through a savage, apocalyptic world. Though the series boasts a large ensemble cast, the story has always specifically revolved around one man and his friends – Rick Grimes.

In a dystopian world overrun by zombies, it’s tough to know who to trust, and the wrong decision means the difference between life and death. This is an ongoing struggle for ex-deputy Rick Grimes. Despite the dangers, he protects his friends and loved ones with everything he’s got and fights his enemies just as hard. Though he has been missing from the series since season 9, he is far from forgotten by those he left behind.

10 Friend: Morgan

Morgan Jones is Rick’s oldest friend that he met post-apocalypse. Originally mistaking him for a Walker, Morgan and his son Duane take Rick in and clue him into what happened while the Sheriff’s Deputy was in a coma.

Rick leaves the Jones home in season 1, but Morgan makes his return in season 3. Despite being overcome with grief and mentally unstable from solitude and the loss of his son, Rick helps Morgan to find himself again. The two have since remained loyal friends regardless of distance (or what spin-off they happen to be in).

9 Worst Enemy: Shane

Partners and close friends since High School, Shane should be one of Rick’s closest allies, but the outbreak changed things. Believing Rick to be dead, Shane started up a relationship with Rick’s wife Lori, but when Rick reappeared in their lives, Lori’s immediate rejection of Shane for her long-lost husband threw him into a tailspin that he never recovered from.

Bitter, angry, and constantly putting Rick and the group in danger because of his jealousy, Shane eventually tried to kill him, and Rick was forced to defend himself, resulting in Shane’s death.

8 Friend: Glenn

Other than Morgan, Glenn is one of Rick’s earliest friends that he makes after waking up from a coma. Desperate and exhausted, Rick is at the end of his rope when Glenn’s voice crackles to life over a walkie-talkie and gives him new hope.

Cheerful, brave, and clever, Glenn is always there for Rick and the rest of the group, whether he needs someone to cover themselves in Walker guts and walk through a horde, a joke to lighten up the situation, or someone to help take the lead when he can’t.

7 Worst Enemy: Gareth

The leader of Terminus – a group of cannibalistic survivors that lure desperate travelers to their deaths – Gareth is a cunning and devious antagonist who attempts to put Rick and his friends on the menu.

Rick has no love for Gareth once he realizes that he and his people have been duped. He vows to kill him, and eventually follows through on his promise. Not worth wasting bullets, Rick traps Gareth in a church and brutally kills him with a machete.

6 Friend: Hershel

A friend and mentor, Hershel Greene is there for Rick in some of his weakest times. He not only begrudgingly gives the desperate group of survivors a place to stay, but he nurses Carl back to health when he is shot, and serves as a guiding light at the prison after Lori’s death and Rick’s breakdown. The two grow even closer after Hershel is bitten and has to have his leg amputated.

Seasons after Hershel’s horrific death at the hands of The Governor, Rick sees Hershel again in a dream sequence while injured, proving how much the older man truly meant to him.

5 Worst Enemy: Joe The Claimer

Joe is the leader of an antagonist group known as The Claimers. A nasty band of survivors, they live by a few important rules – if someone “claims it”, then it belongs to them; if someone steals or lies, then they are in a world of trouble.

Sadistic and cruel, Joe seems to only care about these rules and has little problem with his men committing horrible acts of violence. When he threatens to let them assault and kill Carl, Rick responds by ripping out Joe’s throat with his teeth.

4 Friend: Michonne

Michonne has consistently been a friend, a support system, and a strong ally to Rick throughout most of the series. Even before the two warriors were a couple and shared children together, Rick could rely on Michonne’s level head and her sword to protect the group.

She always had his back, even if it meant knocking him out when he went overboard at Alexandria. She also developed a strong bond with the younger Grimes kids. Long after Rick’s disappearance and Carl’s death, she has been a loving mother to Judith.

3 Worst Enemy: The Governor

Rick and The Governor AKA Philip Blake never see eye to eye – no pun intended. The governor of Woodbury let his true colors show as a manipulative and power-hungry leader who would not tolerate those that challenged his authority.

Though Rick attempted negotiations, there was never going to be a true alliance between the two groups. The Governor’s actions lead to Andrea’s death, he eventually attacks the prison, and later, murders Hershel in front of everyone by beheading him with Michonne’s katana.

2 Friend: Daryl

Rick and Daryl may have butted heads at the beginning, but over time, they grow to be more than just best friend goals – they become brothers. It doesn’t matter that there are times that they don’t agree on every decision, they still have each other’s backs.

Daryl stands valiantly at his side time and time again, ready to charge into battle, but the broody hunter is there in the quieter moments too. When Rick needed advice from a friend, or to get something off his chest, Daryl was always there.

1 Worst Enemy: Negan

Negan is one of the most iconic villains in the history of The Walking Dead. Introduced with sarcasm, swagger, and the chilling ability to switch from playful to sinister, Rick and Negan don’t get along from day one.

Negan viciously kills his friends in front of him (because of the Survivors’ attack on the Saviors), mentally tortures him by making him think that he was going to force him to cut off his son’s arm, and then helps himself to half of Alexandria’s supplies. Despite Carl’s wishes for peace, the two rival leaders never quite get to a happy place before Rick’s supposed “death”.

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