The Walking Dead: 10 Most Underused Characters

Based on the brilliant comic series by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead has been home to some of pop culture's most recognisable characters, including Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Michonne and Negan.

There have been many great characters to grace the show, the best of them receiving complex, multi-layered arcs and adequate screen time.

Unfortunately, not all of the show's characters have been so lucky. Despite many of the following playing much more important roles in the comics than they do in the series, there are plenty of promising characters who've been thoroughly wasted over the show's ten season run.

Whether it was due to behind the scenes disputes, sloppy writing or uninspired development, each of the following characters were bursting with potential never realised.

Of course, it's difficult to craft such a large, expansive universe on TV without some hiccups along the way, but you can't help but think, looking at some of the show's most squandered figures, that keeping many of them around would have worked wonders for the show as a whole.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most criminally underused characters from The Walking Dead. Major spoilers follow.

Dale Horvath was around for just shy of two seasons, playing a key role in the early days of the show as a leading member of the Atlanta camp. He was wise, humble and morally sound, and acted as the voice of reason to a number of the show's more volatile characters.

Now, it's fair to say Dale was doomed for the get-go. He was older than those around him, and his innocent, overly optimist view of the new world continuously put him in danger.

But it should be noted that Dale was meant to have a much larger impact on the show. In the comics, he survives passed the prison arc (season three/four) and suffers the same fate given to Bob Stookey in the show's fifth season.

Dale was bitten in the second season, though, and put down by Daryl before reanimation. Behind the scenes, actor Jeffrey DeMunn was bitter about his close friend and original showrunner Frank Darabont being fired, and called up AMC to be killed off.

It's a tragic development looking back, especially given how important a player he was in the comics and how big he could have become on the show.