The Walking Dead: The 10 Best Characters To Only Appear In One Episode

With the highly anticipated part 2 of the final season of The Walking Dead now underway, fans of the show are eager to know what’s in store for the heroes. With only two characters, Carol and Daryl, left from the original first season, it’s hard to tell who will be left standing.

With nearly twelve years of screen time, there’s a large archive of characters that have had an impact on The Walking Dead. Though here and gone within an episode, there are some notable supporting roles that have contributed to the overall outcome of the story so far.

10 Carter

Carter (Ethan Embry) was an Alexandrian who wasn’t keen on accepting Rick’s group into the community. He appeared in season 6, episode 1, and was the first death of the 6th season.

Though his part was short-lived, he offered an interesting dynamic to Alexandria’s attitudes towards the original group. When Carter protests Rick’s ideas about herding the quarry walkers away and Deanna shuts him down, this introduces a new dynamic of power not seen in the prison. Though the prison had established a council to make decisions, Alexandria introduced a hierarchy with Deanna at the top and people like Carter unheard at the bottom.

9 Tina

The 6th episode of season 6 is remembered as the time Sherry and Dwight captured Daryl, eventually making off with his supplies and motorcycle. Tina, Sherry’s sister traveling with them, is an overlooked casualty.

Forced to flee from the Saviors with insulin Tina needed to survive, her character represented the workers of the Saviors. While the audience sees how sadistic and power-hungry the Saviors can be, there are only passing views on the way the workers are forced to live in a system of points. It’s hard not to pity Tina’s demise when she was only trying to escape an oppressive system that would deny her the very thing she needed to live.

8 Zach

Zach (Kyle Gallner) is introduced and killed off within the premiere of season 4. The short-lived love interest of Beth Greene, he had a lot of potential within the group, seemingly well-liked as he dates Beth and plays games with Daryl on the road.

Zach symbolized the hope Beth had that the days of losing people endlessly were coming to a close. The episode’s title, ’30 Days Without An Accident’, was reflective of Beth keeping that literal score. When Beth changes that 30 to a 0 after losing Zach, the audience is now ready for the inevitable change of the stability within the community (which would be the illness that devastates the prison survivors).

7 Tomas

Every fan remembers the 1st episode of season 3, which features the heartbreaking moment Hershel loses his leg, and the group comes head to head with a group of surviving inmates. Tomas, one of these survivors, was the self-proclaimed leader of the men left inside the prison.

After months on the road struggling to find food and safety, Tomas creating chaos in the prison was a foreboding message that nowhere was safe. Though dead by the end of the episode, Tomas was a formidable foe who is memorable for his fiery attitude and attempt on Rick’s life. Although he became another case of “don’t mess with Rick”, he was the start of a list of people who would want to take the safety of the prison from the group.

6 Paula

Paula (Alicia Witt) was an upper-level member of Negan’s Saviors. In the 12th episode of season 6, after Rick and a group attack their outpost, the few remaining Saviors capture Carol and Maggie. Holding them hostage, the two captives manipulate the Saviors, eventually killing them all with Paula dying last.

Before her demise, Paula shows the humanity within the seemingly sadistic higher-ranking members of the Saviors. She talks about her family before and her drive to survive throughout the apocalypse. While all of the upper-ranked members of the Saviors were alarmingly unempathetic, Paula’s character pointed out that, like Rick’s group, there’s a reason why each survivor became who they are in the new world.

5 Patrick

Patrick (Vincent Martella) came from the Woodbury community and continued to express his gratitude during the episode he is introduced and killed off in, season 4, episode 1 (the same episode Zach met his demise).

He is a stark comparison to the “grown” kid Carl is, representing the more childish, innocent mind of a young teenager. Patrick didn’t last long in the world he lived in, but if he had lived he may have been able to soften the hard exterior Carl had built up since his mother’s death. When Carl expresses grief over his friend’s death, there is hope that the boy’s hard exterior is simply a guard that he feels he needs to survive.

4 Eastman

Eastman (John Carroll Lynch) is technically dead before he’s introduced. The audience only meets Eastman in a flashback that explains why Morgan changed. Throughout episode 4 of season 6, Morgan is taken care of and eventually taught the “art of peace” by Eastman.

Though Eastman only lives through one episode, his value of life is carried on in Morgan’s effort to change Rick’s merciless tactics. Morgan struggles a lot with his morals throughout the series, but the teachings of Eastman are apparent as Morgan makes harsh decisions about who is worth living or dying. Without the teachings of this mentor, Morgan, one of the few surviving characters from season 1, wouldn’t be as morally complicated of a character as he is.

3 Clara

Clara (Kerry Condon) is one of the people Rick tries to allow into the group by asking them three questions. After attempting to feed Rick to her undead husband, Clara stabs herself. Rick tries to put her down but Clara declares she wants to turn to be with her husband.

Most characters in this show opt to die rather than turn into the undead. Clara is the rare exception. She doesn’t mind being undead as long as her love is undead as well. Through Clara’s character, fans are shown the opposite side of the spectrum. She’s a stark comparison to the survivors determined to continue living. This scene with Clara sets up the season as Rick questions the events that changed him.

2 Duane Jones

The audience doesn’t get to see Duane Jones, Morgan’s son, die, but he still only appears in one episode. In the very first episode of this series, Duane and his father save Rick after he wakes up in the hospital and wanders the street.

With Duane’s character, the first representation of a child surviving in the new world is introduced. From the first episode until Morgan comes back, the audience is left wondering if Duane survived. Eventually, it’s learned that Duane died in one of the worst ways a child could die in this world; he’s bitten by his undead mother. Morgan’s tragic loss of his son and wife are influences that shape his (often unstable) mind throughout the series.

1 Georgie

Georgie (Jayne Atkinson) is the only character that appears once but doesn’t die by the end of her single episode. Georgie is captured by Maggie for a short period of time before they make an agreement and Maggie lets her go.

Though we meet her two companions after this, Georgie is never seen on screen again. However, the communication between her and Maggie is the inevitable drive that leads to Maggie leaving in season 9. Georgie’s character introduces a life in which people are peaceful and working towards rebuilding instead of just surviving. Now that Maggie has returned, it is possible the group might learn more about Georgie or possibly encounter her again.

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