13 Most Compelling Backstories In The Walking Dead

3. The Governor

The most iconic antagonist The Walking Dead on AMC has had to date. Pulled from the pages of the graphic novels, The Governor wasn't a mirror image of his literary counterpart, but he was just as evil. There's also a lot of back story to his character that was never touched upon. Yes, we know that he kept his daughter, zombified, locked away, unable to fully part with her and put her down. Yet how did she wind up bitten? Why wasn't The Governor, one of the most able leaders (albeit a sociopath) in the post-Apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead, able to protect her? What about his life before the arrival of the walkers? It's known that he wasn't happy with his simple life, basically a slave in an office, as well as the fact that his wife died prior to the outbreak, but really, that's about it. There was so much gold in the comics as well, where "Phillip" actually stole the identity of his brother, and was really named Brian. There was a bit of an Easter Egg in The Walking Dead when Phillip took on the name Brian ever-so-briefly, but it wasn't taken from a brother, but a memorial he saw on the road. So sadly, all the gold from the comic run is out of reach - but the family back story is still there, and it's almost a crime that the father-daughter relationship wasn't focused on more in the show.