Carol looking discouraged

Is Carol Still Alive in ‘The Walking Dead’?

She's a survivor, she keeps on surviving!

Let’s face it, The Walking Dead has never been scared to kill main characters off—either in the comics or in the hit AMC series. Ultimately in a zombie apocalypse, death is a given. During the beginning of the series, Carol (Melissa McBride) was the kind of character you’d expect to die quickly. She was a housewife with an abusive husband who wasn’t adapting to the new world as quickly as some of the other characters. If you haven’t caught up in the show in years, you may be wondering if she stayed alive (can’t help but think of the Bee Gees hit?) all this time. 

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Carol’s Fate

The answer to that big question is that she did! Yes, Carol is still kicking it (alive) with the undead. And the interesting part of her lasting this long is, that wasn’t always going to be the case. In fact, Carol doesn’t last long in the comics. And the series was ready to kill her off during the Prison arc.  But then they kept her around, and now she’s one of the most important characters in the show. 

How did Carol manage to stay alive all these years? Especially after all the enemies that have tried to take her out? Well, she got stronger and colder at times (usually making the decisions that nobody else wanted to—just look at the flowers, ugh), and she went from a meek character who was scared to say anything—to someone who could more than hold her own in basically any scenario. And had no problem defending herself or those she loves. She’s indefinitely one of the main characters whose arc has been the meatiest. Her evolution as a character is so visible and shows how Melissa McBride really knows her character. But will she survive the last part of the show which will most likely air this summer? Only time will tell.

(featured image: AMC)


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Vanessa Maki
Vanessa Maki (she/her) is a queer Blerd and contributing writer for The Mary Sue. She first started writing for digital magazines in 2018 and her articles have appeared in Pink Advocate (defunct), The Gay Gaze (defunct), Dread Central and more. She primarily writes about movies, TV, and anime. Efforts to make her stop loving complex/villainous characters or horror as a genre will be futile.