10 TV Characters Who Went Through Hell To Win (And Died Anyway)

Famously optimistic and cheery The Walking Dead is not, but Frank Darabont’s critically beloved first season did manage to tread carefully and maintain the balance between thrills and the grim, realistic nihilistic streak of the source material.

Later seasons? Less so, if the declining viewership and rapidly increasing gore quotient are anything to go by. With the acrimonious departure of Darabont the show became a more sluggish affair, bleaker with each passing season and seemingly committed to offing anyone remotely likeable.

The low point for many viewers was the ultraviolent death of Glen in the opening episode of season seven at the hands of Negan, a shocking spectacle which pushed the boundaries of television violence, as well as the patience of viewers. But the character who made this list is young Carl, the son of and sole source of moral redemption for protagonist Rick Grimes.

After moving over the years from a cute-but-burdensome kid, to a remorseless survivalist, to a likeable and relatively well-adjusted young hero, Carl is killed off via walker bite and subsequent suicide in the most recent season of the megahit, proving the show’s central thesis is that there’s really no point in trying, is there?