Morgan Jones (TV Series)

"See because the good people, they always die. And the bad people do too. But the weaker people, the people like me, we have inherited the earth."

- Morgan to Rick.

Morgan Jones is a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is the husband of Jenny and father of Duane. While evacuating, Jenny was bitten and succumbed to the infection, causing Morgan and Duane to seek refuge in King County, Georgia, where the Grimes Family lived. After the loss of his son (who was bitten by Jenny), Morgan was living a life in denial, hoping to redeem himself by killing the invasive walkers. At the end of "No Sanctuary", it is revealed that Morgan has redeemed his mental state and traveled from Georgia to Terminus following the signs, but stopped after seeing a sign that said "No Sanctuary".

"Days Gone Bye"
Fiercely protective, Morgan Jones barricaded himself and his son in a house in Rick's neighborhood. Though his wife, Jenny, died, he decided to let her go outside instead of putting her down. Despite the dire conditions, Morgan still endeavored to create normalcy for Duane; such as correcting his son's grammar, and engaging in mealtime prayers. But both remained haunted by the loss of Jenny, whom returns to the house regularly as a walker. Morgan and his son, Duane, first encountered Rick Grimes outside of his house in King County, Georgia. Duane knocked the unsuspecting survivor in the back of the head with a shovel, as he and his father assumed that he was another walker. When he heard Rick speak, Morgan realized that he wasn't and he brought Rick into their hideout.

Upon Rick's awakening, Morgan interrogated Rick upon the cause of his wounds, before the two's friendship could thoroughly take place. On learning that Rick had been in a coma, Morgan brought him up to speed on the current events as best as he could, introducing the previously confused Rick to the reality of the epidemic upon the country. He also told Rick that the government was gathering people in the major cities, giving Rick the idea to continue to Atlanta to try and find his family, Lori Grimes and Carl Grimes. Rick then thought of traveling to the King County Sheriff's Department, which Rick still had the keys for, to gather supplies.

Morgan drove him over and Rick provided the pair with weapons and other supplies in exchange for their kindness and help. He rejected Rick's offer to join him on his way to Atlanta, but tells Rick that he will join up with him in a few days; with the excuse that Duane can learn to shoot in the interim. Rick gives him a walkie-talkie, and tells him to radio him in when he approaches Atlanta so they can meet up.

On returning to the house, Morgan tells Duane to read his comic books before heading upstairs. He goes through the photo albums Jenny brought with them, selects a picture of her and sticks it to the window frame. He aims his rifle, and after shooting a couple of zombies to lure his wife out, he trains his gun on his undead wife; yet cannot bring himself to kill her. He attempts several more times, yet each failed in kind. Morgan and Duane's whereabouts are unknown for the rest of the season.

"Tell It to the Frogs"
Morgan and his son are mentioned by Rick when he speaks with Lori explaining that Morgan and his son have saved Rick after he woke up from the coma and that Rick is alive thanks to them and arrived in Atlanta.

"Wildfire"
Rick later tries to contact Morgan via walkie-talkie and lets him know that he and a group of survivors are leaving and heading to the CDC, in the hopes of finding a cure.

"What Lies Ahead"
At the beginning of the episode, Rick talks into his walkie-talkie, announcing that he and his group are abandoning Atlanta and that the CDC is gone. Rick begins to mention what Jenner said but decides not to continue, saying that the group is heading to Fort Benning instead. Although he speaks into the walkie-talkie for several minutes, his message is never replied to. This is the last time that Rick is seen trying to contact Morgan for the rest of the season.

Season 3
During the time Morgan has been absent from the series, he and Duane lived around King County the whole year. One day, while clearing a store, Duane was bitten by his own undead mother, and Morgan is finally forced to shoot her. After Duane's death, Morgan started to lose his sanity, believing he has the mission to clear all the walkers from town. He started to set up traps and wrote down names of people he knew that turned that were put down by his own traps.

"Clear"
When Rick, Carl, and Michonne go on a run into King County, Morgan holds them at gunpoint from a roof. They have a shootout, and while trying to pursue Rick, Carl ultimately shoots Morgan in the chest. Rick pulls off Morgan's shirt, revealing that he had donned body armor. They drag his unconscious-self into his building, avoiding his traps, and lay him down on a bed. For safety measures, his hands are bound by Rick. While Rick is reading the strange writings on the wall, he discovers that Duane had reanimated, and decides to stay and wait for Morgan to wake up. While Michonne and Carl go on a run, Rick waits for him to wake up, but Morgan grabs a knife that was taped to the side of the bed. He attacks Rick, claiming that he is not familiar with anyone anymore. He stabs Rick in the upper-left chest. Rick knocks the weapon away, pointing his gun at Morgan's head, and Morgan pleads Rick to kill him.

Morgan is tied up again and, after patching himself up, Rick finally manages to make him remember that the two know each other. Morgan says that he tried to contact Rick every morning for several weeks, but he never answered the radio, before explaining what happened to Duane. He is offered to join the group at the prison, but he realizes that Rick is taking a lot of guns, meaning that they are preparing for a war. Morgan claims that Rick, Carl, and his people will die either by bullets or by walkers, and refuses to join them, not wanting to see anyone else die. While clearing out the walkers caught on his traps, Carl approaches Morgan and tells him that he is sorry for shooting him earlier. Morgan remarks to Carl, "Don't ever be sorry."

While leaving King County, Rick, Carl, and Michonne watch as Morgan prepares to burn the corpses of the walkers he captured.

Morgan had remained living in his fortified base in King County, until an unknown time in which he left.

"No Sanctuary"
Morgan is seen in a post-credits scene hiking to Terminus on the railroad tracks. Morgan stops walking, and stares at the Terminus sign recently changed by Rick, before taking off his mask and beginning to follow cross-shaped markings left on trees by unknown survivor(s).

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Morgan has killed:
 * Jenny Jones (Zombified)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people.

Jenny Jones
"She, uh... she died in the other room, on that bed in there. There was nothin', I could, I could do about it here. That fever, man: her skin gave off heat like a furnace. I should have, I should have put her down, I should have put her down, I know that, but, you know what, I just didn't have it in me. She's the mother of my child."

- Morgan to Rick over the death of his wife.

Morgan was Jenny's husband and he loved her dearly. At the start of the outbreak, after Jenny succumbed and subsequently reanimated, Morgan could never bring himself to killing her because he had loved her so much. Torn between putting her down to let her finally rest in peace, and having a false idea of her still "alive" in the world, Morgan eventually gets a sniper rifle; with a picture of Jenny on the window, he shoots the walkers on the street. But after taking aim at his dead zombie wife's head for several long moments, he is unable to pull the trigger and eventually breaks down in tears.

Months later, Morgan and Duane are looting a store when Jenny attacks and bites Duane. Only after this is Morgan able to put her down.

Duane Jones
"Hell yes, you're gonna learn. But we gotta do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon."

- Morgan to Duane over the responsibility of a firearm.

Morgan, father to Duane, is shown to love and care for his son very much. This is shown as when Duane is upset, Morgan immediately goes to his side to comfort him. Despite the circumstances of the new, post-apocalyptic world, Morgan still tries to raise his son into a morally good man, as stated as he frequently corrects Duane's grammar and proper manners. Duane's death at his undead mother's hands has caused Morgan to lose his grip on sanity, and has made him vengeful to both walkers, and people.

Rick Grimes
"I have to clear."

- Morgan to Rick.

Morgan and Rick have an interesting introduction to each other. After Rick left the hospital, weak and ragged, Morgan mistook him for a walker and Duane knocked him unconscious (with a shovel). Rick woke up, tied to a bed and was questioned. After Morgan learned that Rick wasn't bitten, Morgan offered Rick shelter and food. The next day, Rick took Morgan and Duane to the police station for scavenging the remaining guns and supplies as well as to let them use the facilities to have a hot shower. After Morgan and Duane collected the weapons, Rick gave them a vehicle. Morgan thanked Rick, saying that he is a good man and wished him the best of luck.

Later on, Rick, Carl and Michonne return to King County to retrive guns and ammo from the police station that Rick worked for. As they wander the town, they see main street completely fortified and traps all over the place. They walk through it, avoiding the traps, only to come under fire from Morgan, who has lost his mind after losing his son and doesn't recognize who they are. After a short shootout, Carl appears and shoots Morgan in the abdomen, infatally, due to him wearing body armor. Rick realizes who it is and drags an unconcious Morgan to his apartment. After tying Morgan down to a bed, Rick looks at the walls, whic are covered with information regarding Morgan's life after Rick left. Morgan wakes up and attacks Rick with a knife and manages to stab Rick in the upper-left shoulder. The two exchange their life stories after Morgan realizes who he's with. Morgan doesn't have a grip on reality and Rick tries to convince him to come away with him, Carl and Michonne, to which Morgan declines, saying that he "needs to clear". Rick packs up the car and Carl asks if Morgan is ok, to which Rick responds "No, he's not."

Season 1

 * "Days Gone Bye"

Season 3

 * "Clear"

Season 5

 * "No Sanctuary" (No Lines)

Trivia

 * The scene in which Morgan appears to shoot his wife is shot from the same angle, and is almost identical, to a scene in the episode from Jericho called "Crossroads" where the same actor, portraying Robert Hawkins, is defending the town of Jericho.
 * According to Talking Dead, the producers wanted Morgan to come back in the second season however Lennie James was too busy to be able to reprise his role as Morgan.
 * Morgan is currently the only recurring character who has been alive for the entirety of the series' run.
 * Morgan is also one of three characters (along with Rick and Carl) who appeared in the pilot and are still alive.

Comparison to the Comic

 * In the TV series, Morgan encountered Rick, Carl, and Michonne while the three were looking for guns in Rick's hometown whereas in the comics, he encountered Rick, Carl and Abraham Ford.
 * In the TV series, when he is asked by Rick to join him in the prison, he decides to stay in King County and "Clear". However, in the comic, he decides to leave with Rick, however, this is after the prison was abandoned.
 * In the comic series, both Morgan and Duane had smacked him with a shovel, causing him to lose consciousness. However, in the TV Series, Morgan stabbed Rick, whereas Duane was the only one to strike Rick.