First, I'll acknowledge that loving/missing a character doesn't mean I think they should have stayed alive longer than they did. Some characters I loved, but who sort of had to die in order for the plot to progress or in order for a certain story to be told as it should be are as follows:
The Governor, Shane, Merle, Lizzie, Hershel, and Bob.
The Governor, Shane, Merle, and Lizzie had just done too many horrible things, or were just too incompatible with the rest of the group. They had to go, unfortunately. They were super-interesting characters, and some of them would have probably made for a better series if the show were told with them as the main character, but since this is Rick's story, we can't let his enemies or the enemies to his group win.
Hershel had to die because The Governor had to kill someone the group loved, and I think his death stung the most people in the group the hardest. His leg situation would have also made living outside the prison nearly impossible. It was his time, unfortunately.
Bob... Tainted meat! It had to be someone, and who better than a character who was still pretty new, but also funny enough to pull the scene off? That was Bob's perfect death.
...... ......
There are lots of characters who did not have to die in order for the plot to progress, and they had so much potential to become much more interesting characters. These characters were killed before their time, and before their stories were finished. The characters who I think should not have died yet are:
1. Sophia - How many lines did that girl even get on the show? About six? Did she even have that many? I don't remember her ever speaking. But in the comics, she is still alive, and in the show she could have been such an interesting character! Being the daughter of an oppressed, abused mother and an abusive father, she is Carl's polar opposite, and would have made a very interesting foil for him. There also aren't enough children on the show. I know child-actors can be annoying... Carl certainly is... But they can be interesting too. I would have loved to see Sophia's character grow.
2. T-Dog - They killed him just to make Lori's death in the same episode more surprising. BULL s**t!!! T-Dog deserved better. He was another character who barely got any lines. They should have written some scenes for him besides the few sentences he said right before dying. I believe they created the character just so they'd have a black guy and they didn't know what else to do with him besides for having him stand around being black.
3. Andrea - The show ******** Andrea over so hard. They kept having her make horrible choices (which the audience could see were horrible, but which she couldn't.) I could understand her choices, because she didn't see everything about the situation that I could see, but much of the audience couldn't get past the fact that they knew she was sleeping with the "enemy." She had potential to be awesome, but the writers kind of threw it all away, and had her die in the dumbest way I can think of... Failure to pick up pliers fast enough.
4. Dale - He died too soon. I actually wanted him to have his "tainted meat" scene from the comics. Bob did a great job with that scene too, so it's not a total loss, but I still really liked Dale and would have liked to see him stick around longer.
5. Oscar and Axel - from the prison. Oscar's personality never really got to be seen. Axel was kind of funny. But they were newbies, so they were killed before they developed into much. It would have been cool if someone from the prison, who was an actual prisoner there had survived and joined the group. Either one staying with the group would have been cool. I am biased toward Axel since he was funny, but if Oscar had been given some lines maybe I would have preferred him. They both died too soon.
I can't think of any more at the moment.
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