Tyreese Williams (TV Series)

"I'm not doing this. They've got women and children. You can't do this!"

- Tyreese to Martinez about the Walker pits.

Tyreese is a survivor of the zombie apocalypse and is leading a small group of survivors in the The Walking Dead. He appears in the mid-season finale of Season 3 in "Made to Suffer."

Jacksonville, Florida
Not much is known about Tyreese's life prior to the apocalypse besides that he had a sister named Sasha and a neighbor named Jerry. He lived somewhere in Jacksonville, Florida.

Post-Apocalypse
As the outbreak began, he and his younger sister Sasha stayed in a bunker in their neighbor Jerry's backyard for about 7 months, until they ran out of supplies. After that, they met up with Allen, Donna and Ben and joined a larger group, which had about 25 survivors at one point. The camp was eventually overrun, and many were killed. For about 6 weeks they wandered until they arrived at the prison.

"Made to Suffer"
Tyreese makes his debut appearance in this episode. He is seen with a group of survivors in the woods. One survivor from his group, Donna, is bitten on the arm by a walker, while escaping from a small herd. While they run away, Tyreese discovers a destroyed wall, which ends up being the back of The Prison. Tyreese leads them through the broken part of the fence and into the facility. Tyreese's group is attacked by walkers again, this time, inside the boiler room. His sister, Sasha, screams as she and her friends are being attacked, and she is heard from the other side of the prison, where Rick's group is. Carl heads to the room, and after helping Tyreese by killing some of the walkers, he takes the group safely into the other side of the Prison. Tyreese attempts to kill Donna with his hammer to avoid reanimation, but as he's about to, Carl locks his group out. Sasha argues with Carl over locking them out and demands that he and Hershel let them inside, but Tyreese calms the situation down by telling his sister that they had never been in a better place for weeks, and she should leave Carl alone.

"The Suicide King"
Tyreese is at the common room telling Hershel how he managed to survive through the past months. Later, when Tyreese and his group go outside to bury Donna, he starts arguing with Ben and Allen over them planning to take over The Prison. Tyreese disagrees with them, stating that Rick's group are good people, and that they don't want any trouble, unaware there are more survivors that make up The Prison group. When Rick decides their fate, he has a vision of Lori, which causes him to lash out and order her to leave, which causes Tyreese's group to flee in fear (believing Rick was yelling at them).

"Home"
Tyreese and his group are briefly mentioned when Glenn is trying to figure out how they got into The Prison. He and his group have left the Prison and their location is unknown.

"I Ain't a Judas"
Tyreese and his group run into Andrea and Milton during their journey from the prison. Milton and Andrea tell them about Woodbury, and Milton offers to take them there. He and the group arrive in Woodbury, where they are greeted by Milton Mamet and The Governor. Tyreese mentions the Prison to Philip, and says that he can provide some details about the layout of the prison and offers to help defend Woodbury from the Prison Group.

"Prey"
Tyreese and Sasha are seen guarding the wall and Sasha makes fun of how a poor shot Tyreese is when Andrea tries to lure them away to another part of the wall. When they refuse, she confesses that she's leaving Woodbury. "The Governor is not what he seems to be," she warns before fleeing. They inform the Governor about Andrea's escape and Tyreese asks "This isn't a prison camp, is it?" The Governor reassures them no and that he's merely concerned for Andrea's safety.

Back in Woodbury, Tyreese is yelled at by Allen for jeopardizing their standing with the Governor. Allen then blames Tyreese for a prior encounter where he saved Donna in front of his family, emasculating Allen (in his eyes) in front of his family. They are brought by Martinez to a walker pit and are asked for help rounding up the dead. Tyreese realizes that the walkers will be used to tear the Prison survivors apart and refuses to participate in the plan. He offers to leave Woodbury; Allen steps in and the two fight, nearly resulting in Tyreese dropping Allen into the walker pit, but he relents at the last second. The Governor tells Tyreese and Sasha that the pit walkers are just a scare tactic and were never intended to kill people. Not fully convinced, Tyreese nevertheless apologizes for being difficult.

"Welcome to the Tombs"
Tyreese is seen being told to gear up and head out to the Prison, but him and Sasha both decline, offering to guard the children and elderly. That night, they encounter Karen along with Rick's group and demand to know what's going on. Tyreese is told that the Governor went mad and killed the soldiers who were trying to retreat and is horrified when he sees the room where Andrea is held hostage in. Both him and Sasha commandeer a bus and use it to transport the other survivors from Woodbury to the Prison and they formally join Rick's group.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Tyreese has killed:
 * Donna (Before Reanimation)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Sasha
Sasha is Tyreese's younger sister. Surviving together, they have made a good team with Allen and his family. She seems to have different viewpoints on crucial decisions Tyreese makes. However, she and Tyreese both disapprove of Allen and Ben's plan to overtake the prison in "The Suicide King". In "Prey" Sasha pokes fun at Tyreese's poor shooting skills, showing that the pair like joking around with each other. Later in the same episode, Tyreese starts to fight with Allen but as soon as Sasha tells Tyreese not to, he stops. This shows that the two have a loving and caring relationship.

When Tyreese finds out that The Governor killed his own men, both he and Sasha decide to leave Woodbury with Rick to go back to the prison in order to keep each other safe from The Governor, when he returns.

Allen
Allen is Tyreese's friend and he and his family are the first people Tyreese and Sasha met after running out of supplies in their neighbors bunker. Tyreese and Allen seem to get along and work well as a team. When Donna was bit, Sasha informed the group they need to kill her before Donna kills them, but Tyreese and Allen told Sasha that Allen and Ben should not have to do this and do it somewhere private, safe, and away from Donna's family. When Allen mentions taking over the prison, Tyreese and Sasha both disapprove and Tyreese manages to convince Allen that it would be more beneficial for them to convince the prison group to allow them to join, rather than overtake them. This shows that Allen trusts Tyreese's judgement to some degree. Though it was originally shown that they were good friends, in "Prey" it is revealed that Allen harbours a grudge on Tyreese. According to Allen, at some point Tyreese saved Donna from a walker when Allen could have, and the way Donna revered Tyreese cause bitterness between the two men. Allen also states that Tyreese "showed him up" in front of Ben. In "Prey", the two argue, as Allen attempts to talk Tyreese out of causing trouble with the Governor. The two engage in a physical fight after Tyreese and Sasha refuse to help collect walkers from the "biter pit". Tyreese gets infuriated to the point that he almost shoves Allen into the pit, but decides against it. The two seem to be on unsteady ground after this altercation, and it seems that their apparent friendship has been severed.

Donna
"...and from that moment she was glued to you like a lost puppy; her... knight in shining armor."

- Allen to Tyreese.

It is mentioned in "Prey" that after Tyreese saved Donna from a walker, she revered Tyreese as her "knight in shining armor", much to the dismay of Allen.

Rick Grimes
"We'll do anything to help. We'll get our own supplies, help you out with any other groups..."

- Tyreese to Rick.

When Rick returns from Woodbury, Tyreese introduces himself and says he'll do anything to help. When Hershel tells Rick that he needs to give people a chance, Rick begins to hallucinate and sees a vision of Lori. He yells and Tyreese believes he was yelling at him. At Woodbury, while Allen says that Rick is a "whack job" to The Governor, Tyreese seemed to understand why Rick was a little unhinged. Later on, he encounters Rick again at Woodbury and is told by both him and Karen what the Governor did to the other soldiers that attacked the Prison. He then travels with Sasha to the Prison and is now a member of Rick's group.

Carl Grimes
"Come on!"

- Carl helping Tyreese and his group.

After hearing the screaming of Tyreese's group being attacked inside the prison, Carl goes to investigate. Carl helps the group and brings them to safety. He then locks them inside a room, as the group was unsure what to do with them. While Sasha is upset and yells at him for locking them up, Tyreese is understanding and respects Carl for saving him and his group. However when Rick brings Tyreese, Sasha and the rest of the Woodbury survivors back to the prison Carl seems to disaprove and appears to consider them outcasts and unworthy of being in their group.

The Governor
Tyreese and his group meet The Governor and ask to stay in Woodbury in "I Ain't a Judas". The group explains to The Governor that they were kicked out of the prison and offer information about The Prison and the group. Tyreese wants to help defend against Woodbury's enemies, but The Governor rejects their offer. Tyreese later finds out how deranged and evil the Governor really is and he resolves to take as many survivors as possible and flee Woodbury, severing any type of friendship between the two.

Hershel Greene
Although their interaction was brief, they seemed to form a friendship. This is evident when Hershel tries to, and almost succeeds to convince Rick into leting Tyreese and his group stay in the prison and to give them a chance at earning their place.

Trivia

 * Robert Kirkman hinted that a fan-favorite Comic Series character's first appearance in this season would be in Episode 8 of Season 3, "Made to Suffer".
 * His appearance was confirmed on November 14, 2012 by a proven-reliable source on the Walking Dead forum, 'Roamers and Lurkers'. The official confirmation of Coleman playing Tyreese was reported by various sites such as the Hollywood Reporter and TVLine on November 20, 2012.
 * In the Comic Series, Tyreese was killed in the volume "Made To Suffer", whereas in the TV Series he is introduced in the episode of the same name.
 * Entertainment Weekly equipped, "[Tyreese was introduced] carrying a Really Big Hammer. At this point, viewers of Walking Dead know that anyone with a Distinctive Weapon -- crossbow, katana, Colt Python, knife-hand, any gun with a suppressor enhancement -- is probably important."
 * In the Comic Series, Tyreese was first seen traveling with his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris. Allen, Donna, and Ben (including the TV Series-omitted Billy) were a part of Rick's group prior to them meeting.
 * In the Comic Series, Tyreese is introduced much earlier, being introduced after the group left Atlanta, but in the TV Series he was introduced after they arrived at the prison.
 * In the Comic Series, Tyreese was always a member of Rick's group, but in the TV Series he initially joined them, then travels to Woodbury and later rejoins the survivors at the Prison.
 * Tyreese seems to dislike confrontation, as seen in "The Suicide King" and "Prey".
 * Tyreese is shown to have terrible accuracy with firearms, much like his comic book counterpart.
 * Tyreese is shown to be a capable fighter, as seen when he easily defeats Allen during their altercation in "Prey".
 * It is possible that Tyreese may become a main cast member for season 4 due to him surviving the season 3 finale and joining the prison group as well as being a major character from the comic book series.