The Walking Dead: Every Character Ranked Worst To Best

Appearances: Season 1-8 (78 episodes).

Carl was killed before his time, let's get that out the way. He never should have died at all, in fact, because before his death he was far and away one of the show's most compelling and promising protagonists.

The son of Rick and Lori, Carl basically grew up in the apocalypse, at first portrayed as a naïve child unable to handle the horror that surrounded him, before he grew into an unflappable fighter and leader willing -- until his final moments -- to put himself last in order to save his loved ones.

In another life, Carl would have seen the show's closing moments, but in this life I guess we'll just have to live with what we got, which was one of The Walking Dead's most hopeful and endearing figures, whose influence followed it until the end.