Even when they're axed in spectacularly gory fashion, a fallen star of The Walking Dead
gets to walk away with a major feather in their cap for being on one of TV's most popular
programs.
Here's a look at what's happened to these killed-off Walking Dead actors since they
departed the show.
Love him or hate him, Jon Bernthal's Shane Walsh was a very big deal in The Walking Dead's
earliest seasons.
Shortly after his departure from the show, Bernthal starred in Martin Scorsese's The
Wolf of Wall Street as Quaalude supplier Brad Bodnick.
He also landed the leading role in Mob City, from original Walking Dead showrunner Frank
Darabont and continued to impress in cinematic action fare like Fury and Baby Driver.
Apart from his Walking Dead role, though, Bernthal is perhaps best known for his turn
as Frank Castle in Marvel's The Punisher for Netflix.
Sarah Wayne Callies' Lori Grimes was another divisive but paramount part of The Walking
Dead's initial run.
Though she was initially hesitant to take on another TV role after The Walking Dead,
she landed a leading role in USA Network's alien invasion series Colony, which lasted
for three seasons.
Soon after, she also reprised her most noteworthy pre-Dead role in Fox's Prison Break revival.
While most of The Walking Dead's deathbound cast members get a call from the showrunners
to let them know their characters are being killed off, it was Jeffrey DeMunn who did
the dialing about Dale's fate.
The actor had a long working relationship with Frank Darabont, and said he was "furious"
about how Darabont had been "pushed out of the show" after its inaugural season, so he
quit.
It didn't take long for DeMunn to reconnect with Darabont.
DeMunn starred as police chief Hal Morrison in Darabont's short-lived noir series Mob
City.
He's branched out into other TV projects since then, as well.
After enjoying guest roles on several popular series, DeMunn became a regular on Showtime's
Billions as the central character's father, Chuck Rhoades, Sr.
Laurie Holden was also one of The Walking Dead's initial cast members who had a prior
working relationship with Darabont on The Mist.
But the death of Andrea wasn't as instantaneous as Dale's.
In fact, she became an important factor in season 3's war with the Governor, until she
faced an especially gnarly demise at the hands of his reawakened henchman.
Since her Walking Dead departure, Holden enjoyed a recurring role on FX's The Americans as
Renee, the new wife of the series' central FBI agent who, spoilers, may or may not have
actually been a Russian spy.
She also has a recurring role on Fox's legal drama Proven Innocent.
Unlike most of the earliest characters in The Walking Dead, Merle Dixon did not first
come from the comics and was instead an original creation of the show.
Actor Michael Rooker had never struggled to secure work before, but things really started
to take off after The Walking Dead.
In fact, he may even be better known for his work in the MCU as Guardians of the Galaxy's
Yondu than Merle.
He's also since starred in films like The Belko Experiment and HBO's third season of
True Detective.
As The Walking Dead's first major antagonist, the Governor brought a lot of shocking moments
to the screen.
Since he left The Walking Dead, David Morrissey has continued to impress on the small screen,
starting with a regular role as Tobias Shepherd on the second season of sci-fi series Extant.
Interestingly enough, that allowed him to work with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who would later
become The Walking Dead's mega-villain Negan.
Before he joined the rest of the survivors as Tyreese Williams, Chad L. Coleman was already
known for his performance as Dennis "Cutty" Wise on HBO's The Wire.
Since his time on Dead came to a heartbreaking end, Coleman has continued to amass impressive
TV credits.
In addition to enjoying recurring roles on several popular TV shows, Coleman joined the
cast of The Expanse as Col. Fred Johnson, who becomes known as "The Butcher of Anderson
Station" for his ruthless attack on a group of insurgents.
Coleman also appears as the alien Klyden on FOX's The Orville.
Poor Bob.
When the survivors sought refuge at Terminus, it was Bob who was made to pay for that mistake
more than anyone else.
He was forced to give a pound of flesh, several pounds, actually, to satisfy the hunger of
the crazy cannibals who had tricked the group, but he turned out to be "tainted meat."
In addition to a role on HBO's The Deuce, actor Lawrence Gilliard Jr., another Wire
alum, also earned a recurring role in USA Network's final season of Graceland.
If you don't get a chill thinking back on Gareth's behavior in The Walking Dead's fourth
and fifth seasons, you might be as inhumane as he was.
Since his character's brutal on-screen execution, Andrew J. West has made some interesting career
moves.
First, he continued in the vein of villainy as Damon on Freeform's short-lived horror
series Dead of Summer, but then he showed everyone that he could totally play the good
guy by becoming the adult version of Henry Mills in ABC's final season of Once Upon a
Time.
As divisive as Deanna was for some fans of The Walking Dead, she eventually wised up
and ceded all her authority in Alexandria to Rick Grimes.
So, in the end, she definitely did not deserve what was coming to her in season 6, and her
death was pretty sad.
Things have been going just swimmingly for Tovah Feldshuh in real life, though.
The actress has since earned several recurring roles on new shows, including playing the
President of the United States on CBS' Salvation and guest-starring as Rachel Bloom's overbearing
mother on The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
After his beloved character Glenn was killed off in the premiere of season 7, Steven Yeun
made some big moves to capitalize on his small screen fame.
First, he appeared in a few movies, including Netflix's Okja, Sorry to Bother You, and the
critically-acclaimed Korean film Burning.
His TV cred is only going to increase, too, as he stars in an episode of Jordan Peele's
reboot of The Twilight Zone, and he's also set to perform in another property based on
the comics of Robert Kirkman, the animated superhero series Invincible.
Glenn might've run out of luck on the show, but his real-life counterpart is doing just
fine.
Like Glenn, Abraham and his epic mustache were both grossly mistreated by Negan's batting
practice session at the beginning of season 7.
Actor Michael Cudlitz journeyed back to Alexandria to jump behind the lens and direct an episode
for season 9 and signed on to do so again for season 10.
The long-working actor has also had no trouble getting jobs that put him in front of the
lens, including guest roles in House of Lies and Young Sheldon, and a regular role as the
Cleary family patriarch in ABC's The Kids Are Alright.
Jessie was eaten alive by walkers in Season 6 while experiencing the anguish of watching
her son get devoured right in front of her, because The Walking Dead simply has no cap
on cruelty.
TV fans are most likely to recognize Alexandra Breckenridge from NBC's hit drama series This
Is Us, which introduced her as Kevin Pearson's long-time love interest Sophie.
She's also appeared on American Horror Story: Coven and leads the cast of Netflix's drama
series Virgin River.
A few months before Sasha's final episode aired, the news dropped that Sonequa Martin-Green
had landed the leading role of Michael Burnham in CBS' Star Trek: Discovery, which made her
exit from The Walking Dead seem inevitable.
Martin-Green's career shows no signs of slowing, as Discovery has been renewed for a third
season, and she's been tapped to star in the sequel to Space Jam.
Last but not least, let's pour one out for poor Duane Jones.
The kiddo only appeared in the very first episode of The Walking Dead, but his presence
was pivotal to establishing the mood of the series.
Since the show, actor Adrian Kali Turner has continued to work steadily in films and TV,
including appearing in the pilot for Don't Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and in Bad
Teacher with Cameron Diaz.
Turner has grown up quite a bit since his days on The Walking Dead and even recently
shared a photo of himself holding a little Duane doll for old time's sake.
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