39 Walking Dead Best Scenes Ever – All Seasons

From losing popular characters to watching bloodthirsty walkers barbarically rip through human flesh, it’s safe to say The Walking Dead really does have a way of playing with our emotions and making our stomachs churn!

So, to celebrate all the gory, unsettling and downright epic moments from the show, we’ve gathered the best scenes it’s brought us.

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We take it all the way back to when Rick first opened his eyes to the end of the show where beloved characters have gone and new ones fight on to survive.

Put your reading glasses on, prepare for a selection of super-cool (and graphic) clips and dive into our list of The Walking Dead’s best scenes…

1. Rick Wakes Up
Season 1, Pilot

No one can ever forget the opening of The Walking Dead, or rather, one of the best episodes of the entire show – Rick opens his eyes from a drawn-out coma only to find himself in the middle of an abandoned hospital, during a full-blown apocalypse. There wasn’t a better and more memorable way to open the show. Killing off the young zombie girl also made for compelling viewing. Like WTF was happening? We were hooked from the get-go.

2. Rick and Glenn’s Escape
Season 1, Guts

Talk about intense! It’s true when they say the earliest seasons of this show had the greatest moments. Glenn and Rick’s first ever meeting might have got off to a bloody start but their chemistry from back then was as clear as day. The duo, although strangers at the time must unite and stroll through a swarm of walkers. Covered in blood and guts themselves, Glenn and Rick had our eyes glued to the screen as they disguised themselves among the dead.

3. The First Attack
Season 1, Vatos

The very first attack on Rick’s gang was one to remember although a few beloved characters were turned into walker meat. Long before the days of the Governor or Negan, the one and only enemy were the menacing walkers. Their initial attack on the camp is the first time we witness a few of The Walking Dead’s main character deaths including Ed Peletier (Carol’s abusive husband) and sadly, Amy (Andrea’s sister). Seeing Andrea cradling her dying sister was the first of many heartbreaks to come…

4. Goodbye Sophia
Season 2, Pretty Much Dead Already

The Walking Dead didn’t have us prepared for this sensitive viewing. The reveal of little Sophia’s horrible fate really hit the heart. After searching for her daughter for so long, Carol and the gang soon realise that she was pretty much dead already. When a sea of walkers emerge from a farm building, Sophia appears with them, only not alive, but a zombie herself. Our favorite characters are distraught as are we, and Rick puts the little girl out of her misery by shooting her dead.

5. Dale Down
Season 2, Judge, Jury, Executioner

It sucked when the voice of reason and father figure was ripped from the show. In yet another emotional scene in The Walking Dead, daddy Dale is bitten by walkers and is eventually killed off by Daryl, shooting him directly in the head. This scene was even tougher to watch knowing that Dale was fully aware of what was happening. RIP dude.

6. Carl Shoots Shane
Season 2, Better Angels

We certainly didn’t see this one coming. Sure, Shane was beginning to lose his mind and all, but his death was unexpected. After beefing with Rick and saying some pretty darn mean things to him in the middle of a field, Shane attempts to shoot his friend before Rick dives a knife into his stomach. Before you know it, Shane turns into a walker and little Carl comes out of nowhere, saving the day. Grabbing hold of a gun, the young kid kills Shane point blank. Seeing the demise of an old friendship and the start of a little boy turned warrior made for one of TWD’s best scenes to date.

7. Lori’s Death
Season 3, Killer Within

It kind of sucks that most of The Walking Dead’s best moments are the deaths of its beloved characters – but these unfortunate events always make for good, and emotional TV. We certainly weren’t waiting for Lori’s death. I mean, you don’t kill off the hero’s wife, right? The Walking Dead sure does! After a painful and agonizing labor, Lori dies giving birth to her daughter, Judith. Poor little Carl has to do the deed by finally finishing his mother off before she turns into a zombie. Damn, that kid went through a lot.

8. Michonne vs. The Governor
Season 3, Made to Suffer

Michonne’s discovery of the Governor’s weird artifacts as well as his protected zombie daughter leads to a full-on battle between herself and the greatest monster of the show. The Governor loses an eye and a daughter during this very fight, turning him into an even greater villain for episodes to come. Watching the Governor cry over his dead walker daughter certainly brought on a few mixed emotions – we didn’t know whether to sympathize or not.

9. Daryl Looses Merle
Season 3, This Sorrowful Life

Merle entered the show a badass and left the show a badass. Dying on a suicide mission at the hands of the Governor, Daryl as well as the fans were saddened and shocked to see Merle go full zombie. In what was probably one of Norman Reedus’ most emotional performances on the show, Daryl breaks down but ends up stabbing his brother-turned-walker in the head – a few too many times.

10. Hershel’s Unexpected Death
Season 4, Too Far Gone

Fans reeled over the death of the Governor but mourned over the demise of the poor and wise Hershel. Just when we (kinda) got over Dale’s death, the show throws this moment at us like a ton of bricks. Hershel’s head is sliced off by none other than the brutal Governor in front of his dear friends and daughters. This truly broke viewers’ hearts. Hershel didn’t deserve to die.

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11. The Governor Goes Down
Season 4, Too Far Gone

If there’s anyone who had to kill the Governor (other than Rick), it was Michonne – and that she did pretty darn well. During his attack on the prison, the Governor finally gets his deserved fate by getting stabbed by Michonne and then shot by Lilly Chambler. Although we would have preferred a much slower death for the psychotic villain, it didn’t stop us from cheering at the TV screen! This was one of The Walking Dead’s best bits by far.

12. Carol Kills Lizzie
Season 4, The Grove

A gripping story-line in season 4 was certainly that of Lizzie’s and her obsession with walkers. When she kills her sister and almost does the same to baby Judith, Carol is left with no choice but to kill the young girl. “Just look at the flowers, Lizzie. Just look at the flowers”, Carol tells her before taking her life. A line and high point in the show that fans won’t ever forget.

13. Our Gang Against Terminus
Season 5, No Sanctuary

The Walking Dead sure knows how to open a season. The premiere of the fifth series was indeed an unforgettable moment. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Bob, plus four randoms are bound, gagged, and kneeling over a trough, waiting to have their throats slit by the madmen/cannibals of Terminus. Right when we think our faves are about to have a dip in the blood bath, Carol sets off an explosion and all hell breaks loose in Terminus, triggering all-out battle between the two peoples.

14. Noah’s Death
Season 5, Spend

During one of their missions, the crew lose yet another short-lived member of their team – and poor Glenn has to watch it all go down. Walkers surround Glenn, Nicholas and Noah whilst stuck in a set of revolving doors. Zombies block both the entrance and exit and Eugene tries to distract the monsters with his van outside, but it’s all too late when they gruesomely pull Noah into the fray and devour him. Watching blood pour out of his body as the walkers gobble him up was disturbing indeed.

15. Rick vs. Pete Anderson
Season 5, Try

Oh we love it when Rick is mad – it always means a great battle is about to ensue. His violent fight with Pete was a gripping scene to watch – seeing the abusive Pete’s face being punched in was a guilty pleasure. Men fly out of the window, blood splatters and Rick gives a long-winded diatribe about the way society works before Michonne suddenly pops up and knocks Rick out mid-sentence to keep him from making the situation way worse.

16. Glenn and the Dumpster
Season 6, Thank You

This moment took us on a roller-coaster ride which ended with blood-splatter, a zombie-fest and a heartbreaking “death”. In their escape from a herd of walkers, Glenn and Nicholas climb onto a dumpster only to be completely surrounded with no way off. It all gets too much for Nicholas as he watches their hands reach up and their teeth gnash at him. Before you know it, he shoots himself, blood splatters in Glenn’s face, and Nicholas falls into the waves of walkers, knocking Glenn down into the masses as well. Seeing volcanoes of blood erupt in front of Glenn really had fans thinking he was a goner – until a few episodes later, of course…

17. Carl’s Eye is Shot
Season 6, No Way Out

Hearts raced as we watched Rick’s gang move stealthily through the crowd of walkers during an attack on Alexandria. Little Sam has a moment of panic, leading walkers to take a bite out of his head. Chaos ensues for the team, Jessie’s screams attract the herd of walkers and all of a sudden she too, is attacked by the horrifying zombies. Just when you think things can’t get more dramatic, Rick suddenly has a gun pointed at him by (douchebag) Ron but just as he presses the trigger, a sword slices through him from behind. Michonne thinks she’s stopped him in time until she realizes Carl’s been shot in the eye. That might have been one of the most exhilarating three minutes in Walking Dead history – and probably one of the scenes that makes it one of the most expensive TV shows ever!

18. Denise’s Untimely Death
Season 6, Twice as Far

Just as Denise builds up the courage to slash and dash a few walkers, she’s wiped out of the show in a blink of an eye (pun intended). As she begins a long, drawn-out monologue, an arrow shoots through Denise’s eye, her speech slurs and she drops dead to the ground. I mean, the Saviors were to blame and all but, rule number one – never stand around preaching philosophy during a zombie apocalypse. Unlike Carl, Denise didn’t survive an arrow to the eye. This was yet another sad death on the show, and things got even tougher to watch as Tara mourned her girlfriend in episodes to come.

Fun fact? In the Walking Dead comics, it’s Abraham who gets shot in the eye! The show decided to give this plot to Denise, instead!

19. RIP Glenn and Abraham
Season 7, The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be

The season 6 finale certainly ended with a bang. Or shall we say bashing? And season 7 picked up exactly where it left off – at Negan’s evil game of Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. It was truly heartbreaking, sickening and simply too gruesome watching Lucille strike straight into Ab’s head, turning his brains into scrambled eggs. Things got even more graphic and heart-wrenching seeing Negan swing Lucille into Glenn’s head and sadistically bludgeoning his skull to pieces – killing not one, but two beloved characters on the show! It was as though The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones were challenging each other on how many characters they could kill off!

20. Rick Fights Winslow
Season 7, New Best Friends

We’ve seen Rick go head to head with hundreds of walkers before but nothing compares to the one he fought in this top episode. In one of his early meetings with Jadis at her junkyard, Rick gets pushed into a pit of trash and is confronted by a walker wearing a helmet and body armor that’s covered with spiky blades. We don’t know about you, but we had to watch this battle through our fingers, especially as Rick’s hands got sliced! It’s not everyday you get to see Rick combat a metal spiked zombie – the show brought something real different to the table!

21. Sasha Surprises Negan
Season 7, The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

It was tough, really tough seeing Sasha go. She was one of the show’s greatest warriors, after all. But her goodbye goes down in history as one of The Walking Dead’s best moments – it’s even become a hilarious meme! When Negan thinks she’s alive and well in a coffin, little does he know that she’s secretly taken a poison pill and died during their two-hour ride to Alexandria. In the words of Negan, “Holy God damn!”. He opens the coffin door, zombie Sasha leaps out and knocks Negan to the floor. If zombies could talk, I’m sure Sasha would have said “Surprise mother-fu**er”.

22. Negan and Gabriel Team Up
Season 8, The Big Scary U

Soon after we see Negan reveal his most hidden secrets and insecurities to Gabriel, the duo must put all differences aside to escape the enveloping walkers. Reminding us of Glenn and Rick’s scene in season one, the psychotic villain and priest cover their clothes in blood and guts to escape and walk among the zombies. An unusual pairing, a gripping scene and moment that many might have found bizarre, but watchable to say the least.

23. The End of Carl
Season 8, How It’s Gotta Be

It was truly an end of an era seeing Carl go. What is The Walking Dead without its youngest warrior, right? Who is Rick without his son? Carl’s death is certainly ranked as the most shocking and saddest moments on The Walking Dead. Beaten, bruised and finally, bitten by walkers, Carl makes his way to the sewers to join his Alexandria family before his untimely death. Watching the young man say goodbye to his sister, Judith and father, Rick was a tough moment for all. Most viewers had to hold back their tears as they bid farewell to one of the show’s most popular characters.

24. Rick vs Negan
Season 8, Wrath

Negan’s sarcastic words and degrading comments are finally silenced during an epic battle with Rick. This phenomenal showdown was the most awaited moment since Negan stepped onto the scene, bludgeoning Glenn and Abraham to death. The extended sequence saw Rick and Negan go head to head, resulting in the villain’s neck being slashed, but unfortunately, surviving. The last time we felt such satisfaction watching the enemy lose to our fave characters has to be when the Governor died. Off to your prison cell, Negan…

25. Rick’s ‘Death’
Season 9, What Comes After

It surely wasn’t easy watching Rick come to his ‘untimely end’ halfway through season 9, but what a roller-coaster of an episode it was. What Comes After showed our main man losing his mind as he escaped herds of walkers and reminisced on lost loved ones (oh hey, Shane!). In a scene where we thought we were watching Mr Grimes’ draw his last breath, the mighty hero shoots a range of explosives on a bridge before it sets on fire, leaving his friends (and fans) to believe he’s gone.

26. Judith’s Appearance
Season 9, What Comes After

What Comes After threw in a bunch of twists, turns and titillating scenes that Walking Dead geeks will vow to remember. Just after thinking we’ve waved goodbye to Rick Grimes, the episode shocks fans with a flash-forward scene, six years later. A young girl wearing a rather familiar cowboy hat was brave enough to rescue Magna, Yumiko, Luke, Connie and Kelly from walkers, and just when we least expected it, the little lass was revealed as a much-older Judith Grimes. Go girl!

27. Heads on Spikes
Season 9, The Calm Before

Just when we thought things couldn’t get more dramatic on this show, the penultimate finale of season 9 throws another hurtful surprise at us. Our buddies, Daryl, Carol, Michonne and co come across a row of bordering pikes made by none other than grisly Alpha. Turns out, a bunch of heads were gruesomely mounted on those pikes, which unexpectedly included that of Tara’s, Enid’s and Henry’s. In the words of Daryl, “look away”. Damn, that was a disturbing scene to date.

28. Michonne’s Hallucination
Season 10, What We Become

As much as we hate reliving this terrible moment, this time round, it was bitter sweet. Why? Old faces appeared once more (oh hey Rick! How ya doin’ Sasha?) and just rewatching this very moment made us hella nostalgic. After being drugged by Virgil, Michonne hallucinates an alternate timeline where she is on Team Negan. This twisted reality sees Mich being the one to Lucille everyone, including herself. Imagine if this was the real deal. Damn, thank goodness it wasn’t.

29. Alpha Down
Season 10, Walk With Us

It’s been a long time coming since we’ve wanted to see the (headless) back of Alpha. And to our surprise, Negan, her lover, was the one to behead the villain. In Walk With Us, Negan finally killed Alpha in an almighty scene of betrayal. Seeing the big-bad Negan slit the throat of another big bad (and later watching Carol put her head on a spike) was satisfying indeed. Although we kinda would’ve preferred to see Carol do the deed.

30. The Hilltop Battle
Season 10, Morning Star

When Game of Thrones is done and dusted, you can always count on The Walking Dead to bring us some hardcore battle scenes. The action-filled face-off between the survivors and The Whisperers was suspenseful indeed, giving us Battle of the Bastards vibes. Can we shout out Daryl’s awesome mace swinging? And yes, just how badass was the oil shooting technique used by the Whisperers?! Great television!

31. The Birth of Negan
Season 10, Here’s Negan

It’s been a long time coming since we’ve wanted Negan’s backstory – and at long last, we got it in the series finale of season 10. Watching the bat-wielding villain (at least once-was villain) see his beloved wife turn into a walker was undeniably one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the show. Finally understanding his cruel motives, viewers were at last able to witness the birth of Negan, as well as his bat Lucille in this epic turnout of events. It’s also safe to say this fantastic moment wouldn’t have been as special without the powerful performance by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, too.

32. Connie and Virgil vs. The Ferals
Season 11, On the Inside

This episode in and of itself was one of the most vicious and creepiest episodes of The Walking Dead. Virgil and Connie are trapped and terrorized in a house of crazed and feral people, giving us true horror movie vibes. Connie manages to save the day and draws the walkers in on the feral people. Leaving the house, she is blissfully reunited with her sister Kelly and the others who had been looking for her. To say this scene was wild would be an understatement.

33. Maggie Gets her Revenge
Season 11, No Other Way

Maggie is a legend for what she does in this episode. After a stand-off with the Reapers, she remembers the reason why they were fighting them in the first place – to avenge the deaths of their friends and Elijah’s sister. Maggie becomes ruthless and kills the last remaining members of the Reapers, after agreeing to let them go free. She truly sets the tone of the series from here on out and absolutely gives us ‘Rick Grimes’ vibes with her vengeful and ruthless behavior.

34. Daryl Carries Injured Judith
Season 11, Family

This particular moment in the penultimate episode goes down as one of our favorite Walking Dead scenes simply for its clever parallels. When Judith is shot and carried by Daryl, it’s a cool callback to another significant moment in the past when Carl was shot and carried by his father back in season two. Not just that – Judith muttering “Daddy”, reminds us when Carl’s eye was shot in season 6 and he turned to his father to say “Dad?” before collapsing.

35. Rosita Gets Bitten
Season 11, Rest In Peace

Although Rosita’s death scene was one of the most emotionally-charged moments in The Walking Dead, it’s still ranked as one of the most exhilarating and nail-biting scenes. Watching her trying to protect her daughter Coco, only to eventually fall into a flock of hungry walkers was tense and thrilling all in one. Just when we thought Rosita made it to safety, though, we learned that she had suffered a fatal bite. RIP Rosita.

36. Negan Apologizes to Maggie
Season 11, Rest In Peace

Negan finally said sorry for all of his atrocities – and it’s been a long time coming. His heartfelt apology has been anticipated ever since he bludgeoned poor Glenn to death all those years ago. One last step towards redemption, the former big bad N, finally worked up the nerve to say “I am so sorry” to Maggie. Even though the latter admitted that she couldn’t forgive Negan, this tender moment was groundbreaking to say the least.

37. The Explosion
Season 11, Rest In Peace

Although we’ve seen multiple explosions and walker-kills throughout the seasons, this one in particular was a great symbolic sendoff to the iconic zombies and ultimately, the show. In efforts to protect the Commonwealth from a herd of walkers, explosives are set off in a dramatic fashion, giving us one of the most gratifying and “YES!” moments on the show. It’s not the last the community will see of the walkers, but it’s certainly the end for us, the viewers.

38. Daryl and Carol’s Goodbye
Season 11, Rest In Peace

Admit it, you cried. In what goes down as one of the most emotional scenes in The Walking Dead, Daryl and Carol shared their last few words before the iconic motorbike-rider set off on his journey. From hearing them share words like, “I wish you were coming with me”, “You’re my best friend’ and “I love you”, to seeing the duo shed a few tears, there’s no denying this scene had us (and definitely YOU) bawling.

39. Rick and Michonne Return
Season 11, Rest In Peace

As it turns out, the show ended with Rick and Michonne’s long-anticipated return. Both writing letters to their family and reminiscing on good and bad times gone by, seeing the show’s most iconic characters make one last appearance sincerely took a hold of our hearts. The hope of seeing Grimes, Michonne, Judith and R.J. reunite was restored and fans finally felt like they had closure as the finale came to a very fitting end.

With it’s epic fight scenes, stomach-churning walkers, and emotional relationships, this series truly did impress season after season.

What was your favorite and best TWD moment? Have we missed any other awesome and badass scenes that had your eyes glued to the screen? Let us know in the comments below!

This post was originally published in March 2019.

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