The Walking Dead: 10 Worst Casting Mistakes

Maybe it’s because Sam is the reason his mother got devoured by zombies, which in turn made Rick chop her hand off, which in turn made his brother shoot Carl through the face … but Major Dodson’s pale, wide-eyed ‘I can’t handle the zombie apocalypse’ thing got annoying after a few episodes.

The kids of Alexandria are the sheltered and naïve antithesis of Carl Grimes, and not every child is going to take to the zombie apocalypse like a duck to water. But all Dodson does is look petrified and not the kind of petrified that makes you want to protect him, but the kind that makes you want to chuck him into a herd of zombies yourself. A slightly more varied performance would’ve made his short time on the show a hell of a lot more bearable.

His other acting credits to date may have something to do with it. He spent a few episodes on American Horror Story held captive by a killer clown and co-starred in fellow apocalypse-set drama Left Behind with Nicolas Cage (maybe Cage gave him acting advice?), so it’s not like he’s had a good mentor to look up to or much practice looking anything but scared.