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- Rick (Andrew Lincoln) – Walking Dead, Season 5 RICK is a ‘good’ guy who, when thrust into a WD world, took on a leadership role which seemed to fit. Subsequent events have caused him to doubt himself; his values and his choices. Season 5, he accepts all parts that make up his whole. He is all things: a good man, a thoughtful father, a compassionate friend and though at times brutal, the protector of his pack. (Courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Daryl (Norman Reedus) – Walking Dead, Season 5 DARYL has come into his own. Escaping the psycho-torture of brother Merle’s love you-despise you behavior, his true character was revealed as real in Season 4, when stranded with Beth, after the destruction of the prison. Later in the season, he rescues helpless innocents who turn out to be Rick, Carl and Michonne. We in television-land breathed a sigh of relief. Daryl wasn’t just back… he never left. (Courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Carl (Chandler Riggs) – Walking Dead, Season Five. CARL, was introduced to the WD life during the heightened value-defining years of an adolescence. Season 4 saw him return from a self-destructive path that would have soon enveloped him in a self-loathing cocoon unable to be penetrated. He could have easily turned into a Merle or, worse, a Governator. His trust in his father is restored, but it isn’t the unblinking trust of a little boy who sees his dad as superman. He gets the hard choices adults must make and understands that, sometimes, the consequences may be bad. Photo by Frank Ockenfels – Courtesy of AMC
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- Glenn (Steven Yeun) – Walking Dead, Season 5. GLENN was a carefree youth when this thing started. He was the Teflon kid who saved Rick from the jump and seemed to have few cares in spite of the dire situation. Married now, Maggie is the heart of his world. He has brought Tara, unreservedly, in to the inner circle of the first team, in spite of her participation in the destruction of the prison. He has grown up. (Courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Maggie (Lauren Cohan) – Walking Dead, Season 5 MAGGIE has always been a firecracker. Her love for husband Glenn is only matched by his devotion to her. She will stubbornly stand her ground. In Season 4 she comes to the realization that she cannot, and should not, go it alone. Every member of the team counts and she believes that can survive if they stick together. Photo by Frank Ockenfels – Courtesy of AMC)
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- Michonne (Danai Gurira) Walking Dead, Season 5 The group’s safe haven—the prison— is destroyed. They are figuratively ripped asunder: together in twos and threes, but apart as a whole. How are they ever going to find their way back to one another? Will they ever and, if they do, will they reunite in time for it to still matter or would it be too late? Then there’s MICHONNE—singly—on her own. No big, though, right? Having been there before, this is one thing she knows how to do all too well. Only she doesn’t. She rethinks her instinctive choice to tuff it out alone and starts to track the group that has become her pack. A touchstone moment in “After,” is the guess-who’s-coming-to-dinner (“It’s for you.”) knock at the end of the episode. (WD, Ep. 9, S-4) Rick, Carl and Michonne. At that moment we knew that these three, at least, would be alright. There aren’t many moments more perfect than that one. (Courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Carol (Melissa McBride) Walking Dead, Season 5 CAROL is the person we barely recognize from the start of this world. Once a battered woman with a young daughter, she sported bruises on her body and standing up for herself was a phrase she that never grazed her brain matter. Oh yeah, she’s come a long way baby. She’s killed people for the good of the group. Arguments and critical debates will wage on and on about whether she’s done right or wrong. Carol doesn’t care. She does what she feels she must and though she feels each cut she must make, she attaches no judgment to the act. Somehow… she maintains her humanity while donning the cloak of heroic acts. (Courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Beth (Emily Kinney) Walking Dead, Season 5 BETH lost her boyfriend, Zach, early on at the prison and seemed to lose herself for a time. Now she’s lost Hershel, her father and, on the loose with Daryl in Season 4, she doesn’t know if Maggie, her sister and one remaining relative, is alive. She becomes set on experiencing at least one teenage rite of passage because in a heartbeat she could be next: she gets blitzed. Unfortunately, Daryl does the same and he is not a nice drunk. Later, Beth discovers, with as much surprise as he probably feels, that Daryl has actually come to care about her as a close friend. Then she is stolen away during a zombie attack. Beth is the sole member of the group that doesn’t make it to Terminus. Her clear toned singing voice won’t be heard round the camp fire until, and if, she’s found and brought back into the fold. (Photos and text courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Tyreese (Chad Coleman) Walking Dead, Season 5 There has always been a moral center in The WD. First there was Dale, followed by Hershel. TYREESE, a compassionate bear of a man, comes closest to filling the void. He never chases the kill, but does what he has to when pushed to the wall. He maintains his dignity in the most trying of times and is not afraid of showing his vulnerable side. Carol finds him and helps with the two young girls and the baby Judith. They feel like a family and, for a night, they have a bit of peace. When Carol tells him of a questionable act she’s committed, he is able to see the humanity within her that informed her actions and accepts her with no judgment. (Text and image courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Sasha (Sonequa Martin) – Walking Dead, Season 5 SASHA remains strong physically. She has started a relationship with Bob. He spoke directly to her fears and that allowed her to trust. Fostered by Bob, Sasha is encouraged and hopeful amid their grave surroundings. (Text and image courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
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- Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) – Walking Dead, Season 5 BOB was a cursed man. As the sole survivor of at least two other bands of travelers, he had taken to drinking for solace. Meeting up with the, he is overjoyed when they survive, along with him, after the firebombing of the prison. He’s formed a tight bond with Sasha and is brought to tears at the thought of his fortune having been turned. (Text and image courtesy of AMC – Photo by Frank Ockenfels)
