10 Best Performances In The Walking Dead
Honouring the actors who stole the show.
The Walking Dead hit our screens in 2010, and despite a few narrative bumps here and there it remains one of the best dramas on television. Just about to finish up its tenth season, there have been many characters who have graced our screens, all brought to life by passionate and experienced performers.
If anything deserves credit when it comes to The Walking Dead, it has to be the actors. In a show which concerns a zombie apocalypse, promising big deaths, cast shake-ups and some seriously heavy subject matter, the actors strutting their stuff on screen have to be endearing and constantly changing with the tone and setting of the show.
There are plenty of great actors who don't quite make this list, including Lennie James, Ross Marquand, Samantha Morton and Seth Gilliam, but that's only because the show has so many performers to choose from, and those who make the list had slightly better character arcs and, in many cases, more longevity than others.
In any case, here are the ten best performances on this wildly popular and wholly awesome show. Some spoilers follow.
10. David Morrissey - Philip "The Governor" Blake
The primary antagonist of the show throughout Season Three and the first half of Season Four, The Governor was a force to be reckoned with right from the get-go. Menacing, intimidating, cold and manipulative, he remains one the show's most popular (if clearly hated) characters.
Played by British actor David Morrissey, The Governor could easily have felt stuffy or over the top - more cartoonish than a real life threat to the Survivors. In Morrissey's capable hands, though, there is never a moment when he feels out of place or overdone. Instead, The Governor is performed as a complex, broken man with violence and hate in his heart, who still manages to almost redeemable as his arc progresses.
His final Season Four arc, in which he has an opportunity to leave his old life behind, is Morrissey finest hour, a tour de force of acting that sees The Governor slowly succumb to his need for revenge and power.
It's a thrilling storyline, anchored by a powerful performance which never once fails to shock and surprise.