This show is about a zombie apocalypse. It started in 2010 and wrapped up in 2022. Based on a comic, it follows survivors dodging walkers. It is gritty, intense and full of memorable faces. It is a hit. It has influenced TV for years. Who knew zombies could teach us so much about life?

Meet the badass women from The Walking Dead

Judith Grimes

Judith is this tiny hurricane of bravery and weird charm, like someone bottled up all the best parts of the apocalypse and handed them a baby jacket. She’s fearless with a knife and suspiciously wise for her age — also, she’ll probably correct you on your strategy while chewing a pacifier. Soft moments sneak up on her; she loves a plush toy one minute and is snatching guns the next, which is somehow both adorable and terrifying. Low-key, she’s the kind of kid who will out-stare an enemy and then demand a bedtime story five minutes later.

Enid

Enid is the quiet, scribbly survivor who somehow keeps everything together even when she refuses to talk about her feelings. She’s sardonic and private with a streak of weird tenderness — like she’ll leave you a sarcastic note on your bunk and then quietly patch your wounds at night. She’s hard to read on purpose and also secretly clumsy with affection, which makes her equal parts maddening and magnetic. Oh, and she draws; sometimes those doodles are heartbreaking, sometimes they’re oddly cheerful, depends on the day.

Tara Chambler

Tara is sunshine and sass wrapped in combat boots, the friend who will cheer you up and then kick your butt when you need it. She’s funny and warm but also oddly capable with maps and explosives, which is such a Tara thing — ridiculous optimism meets pragmatic grit. She cares fiercely about community and cupcakes (I’m not kidding, she has a soft spot for comfort food), and she’s stubborn in the best way. Also, she sometimes gets clumsy under pressure, like tripping over words or a curb, which makes her human and lovable.

Andrea

Andrea is that complex, sometimes frustrating sharpshooter who evolves from idealistic law-keeper to hardened strategist, and you can feel every step of that change. She’s confident with a rifle and not afraid to make hard calls, but also occasionally romantic and nostalgic in the dumbest, most human ways. She can be hot-headed and stubborn, yet there are flashes of softness — late-night confessions, unexpected humor — that remind you she’s trying to hold pieces of a past life together. Honestly, she’s sort of a tragic superhero vibe: fierce, flawed, and very, very real.

Rosita Espinosa

Rosita is pure practical energy with a flare for drama; efficient, fierce, and with just enough emotional chaos to keep things interesting. She’s a weapons expert and builder of plans, but also gets impulsive and jealous and then immediately apologizes like five minutes later — chaotic but loyal. She’s tough in front, secretly sentimental about small domestic things (like knowing how to fix a car and bake bread, don’t ask why), and she has this raw honesty that hits you when you least expect it. Also, low-key fashion sense — combat boots and a ponytail but somehow always on point.

Maggie Greene

Maggie is stubborn farm-born leadership with a soft core she will protect at all costs — ranch girl turned ruler, basically. She’s organized, stubborn as a mule, and will absolutely lecture you about ethics before sending you to negotiate with walkers. She can be ruthlessly practical and also maddeningly sentimental: she’s the person who hangs jars of preserves and also runs a militia. There’s this unshakeable resilience that makes her both comforting and a little terrifying if you’re on the wrong side of a decision.

Sasha Williams

Sasha is intense, watchful, and quietly explosive — the kind of person who seems calm until she isn’t, and then it’s very much a thing. She’s a dead-eye sniper with emotional depth that sneaks up on you, and she balances cynicism with a fierce loyalty that’s honestly admirable. Sometimes she’s all business and sometimes she’s unexpectedly tender, like laughing at dumb jokes while cleaning a rifle. Also, she has this neat, precise way of moving but her thoughts are often messy, which is kind of the best contrast.

Alpha

Alpha is disturbed genius with a horrific calmness, like someone who reads morality as a story she’s rewriting in real time. She’s cold, commanding, and genuinely scary because she believes in her rules with absolute conviction — also, she has this weird, almost poetic way of talking about death, which is chilling. She values “family” in a twisted, brutal way and can be both incredibly patient and violently impulsive, which keeps everyone on edge. Weirdly, there are moments that suggest a tiny, buried nostalgia for gentler things, as if she remembers a life that used to have color.

Michonne

Michonne is katana-wielding calm personified, stoic and precise but with a hidden ocean of feelings that you only see if you earn it. She’s fiercely loyal, deeply introspective, and has this uncanny ability to protect her chosen family without asking for thanks. She’ll stare down danger like it’s a petulant child, yet she also has tender rituals — quiet readings, small gifts — that humanize her. Slightly surprising: she can be dryly funny in a way that sneaks up and makes you laugh at midnight when you’re exhausted.

Carol Peletier

Carol is the wild, brilliant survivalist who started as meek and quietly mutated into one of the smartest, deadliest people around. She’s pragmatic, maternal, and a little bit terrifying because she plans five steps ahead and has no romantic illusions about sacrifice. She bakes (kind of) and also will coldly eliminate threats while humming to herself; it’s equal parts domestic and lethal, which is peak Carol. Also, she’s low-key soft for small animals and children, but don’t test her — she’ll outthink you and then quietly rearrange the world.