Deanna Monroe (TV Series)

"I didn't run out to help you because I like you. Or because you're a good man, a good father. Or because you can grow one hell of a beard. It's because you're one of us. That's the right answer."

- Deanna's last words, to Rick Grimes

Deanna Monroe is a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. She is the former leader of the Alexandria Safe-Zone and is the mother to Aiden and Spencer. She is also the wife to Reg Monroe. After the death of her husband, Deanna passes a portion of her leadership to Rick Grimes, and shortly before her death, full leadership.

Character
Deanna Monroe is known to be an extremely intelligent woman. Several times throughout her appearance, she picks up on small subtleties that other survivors give off about themselves and on what they are thinking. An example of this is when she realized that Rick Grimes had been telling her that letting his group in might not have been a good decision.

Deanna claimed that she would have been a professional poker player if she ever lost her status as a congresswoman. Her political party, presumably, advocated for her because of her deep understanding of people, and she was re-elected as an Ohio congresswoman.

Deanna also shrewdly came up with a way to force integration of Rick's group into her community: with a house party in their honor. In doing this, she had each of her people situate themselves in knowing Rick's people (except for Daryl Dixon and Abraham Ford, who did not socialize at the party and the former of whom did not even show up), become comfortable in the company of the strangers who would soon receive jobs in the community, and teach people that even people outside of their community could be good people.

Deanna is capable of looking at a conflict from both sides. Although she herself claims to care for the safety of only her people, she is able to perceive how Rick's group would have seen them at first glance. She's also very optimistic, wise and ambitious.

Deanna is very committed to her community. She barely let her son's death affect her rule of the safe-zone, save for what exactly she spent her free time doing. However, Reg's death drove her into a depression that caused her to shirk her responsibilities to an extent, though she continued to lead the community as best as she could up until her death, with the help of Rick and Maggie Greene. In her last moments she is shown to be bold and strong-willed.

Ohio, United States
Deanna was a congresswoman in Ohio and won the re-election. She is exceptionally good at reading people; possibly she played poker in her leisure time as indicated by herself in "Remember", that if she hadn't won the re-election, she would have been a professional poker player instead.

Post-Apocalypse
Deanna and her family were trying to get back to Ohio so that she could help her district to manage the crisis, but the army stopped them before they could even reach Ohio and directed them to the safe-zone which, by the time that Rick arrived there, was known as Alexandria Safe-Zone. The army who directed them to the community were supposed to come back later, but they never returned. Despite being left out, they found supplies in the community and used them to stay alive.

There was a huge shopping mall being built nearby the community and Deanna and her family used the material sources from the building to build the walls around the community. At first, Deanna and her family only built one of the walls, but after a few weeks, more people came in and helped to finish the walls.

As the community population grew larger and larger, Deanna had to make a decision to exile two men and one woman who were "not working out". She knew in her conscience that it was as good as killing them, but she argued it was needed to be done.

"Remember"
Deanna is first introduced as she interviews Rick Grimes over his experiences since the apocalypse. She goes on to interview Michonne, Glenn Rhee, Carol Peletier, Daryl Dixon, Rick's son Carl, and the rest of the survivors in Rick's group. She realizes Rick's group is good and they stick together and expresses she wants to be part of his family. By the first night she has given everyone a job but Rick, Michonne, Sasha Williams, and Daryl and stops by to see them all sleeping in one room. When her son Aiden and Glenn get into a confrontation by the town gates, she steps in and restores order while assigning Rick and Michonne jobs as police constables for Alexandria.

"Forget"
Rick first talks to her about defending the walls with patrols and arming a few select people inside the walls, something Deanna believes to be unnecessary. When asked about the shifts people take in the clock tower, Deanna reveals that the town has no official lookout, which surprises and angers Rick. Sasha vehemently volunteers to be the first lookout on patrol and asks to have as many shifts as possible. Deanna notices this and refuses to let Sasha have a job like this so early, understanding Sasha's desire to shoot someone alive. Deanna tells them that she will host a house party for all residents for Alexandria to celebrate the induction of Rick's group (especially his infant daughter Judith) into their community, and tells Rick that she will authorize the use of a lookout in the tower if his group attends. He accepts, and Deanna leaves to make preparations for their party. She is later seen introducing her husband, Reg Monroe, to Rick and Michonne. She being the leader of the community, much of her time is monopolized by requests from residents, and she is therefore left not to socialize with Rick and his group. The following day, Deanna personally oversees the departure of Sasha for a quick walk.

"Spend"
Deanna is first seen with Reg, seeing off their son Aiden who is heading out on the supply run. Later Tobin, the concurrent head of the construction crew, comes to the house to make her elect Abraham Ford as head of the construction crew to replace him after his valiant actions earlier that day in the face of oncoming walkers. After he has gone, she is concerned about electing another of Rick's people into a position of power but Maggie Greene, who is her assistant now, reassures her it'll be okay. Father Gabriel Stokes then comes to the house to warn her that Rick's group are bad people.

"Try"
Deanna is first seen playing back Aiden's run mix CD, depressed over the sudden death of her son. She later receives Carol's casserole and burns the note that was included. The next day she has a conversation with Rick regarding the domestically-abusive Pete Anderson, and she reveals that she only kept Pete in the Safe-Zone due to his medical experience. She is called over by her husband when Pete and Rick are brawling in the streets. She repeatedly tries to break up the situation until Rick points a gun at her and the other Safe-Zone residents. She stands listening to Rick's speech.

"Conquer"
Deanna first appears in the episode the day after the fight when she is talking with Maggie about what happened between Rick and Pete. She later says that a meeting will be held in the community that evening. Maggie tries to convince her that Rick did not mean any harm from what he did, but Deanna refuses to believe that, and tells Maggie that everything will be settled in the meeting later that night.

At the meeting, Deanna notices that Rick is not in present, escalating her distrust of him and the group. Deanna reveals what Gabriel told her about Rick's group, which angers Maggie, who storms off. Deanna and the others then were shocked when Rick threw a dead walker in front of them and told Deanna that walkers got in because the gate was left open. Spencer notes that he asked Gabriel to secure the gate, and Deanna sends Spencer off to find Gabriel. Pete then appears with Michonne's katana. Reg tries to calm Pete down, only to be slashed across the throat. Deanna becomes hysterical, holding Reg and feeling helpless. Enraged, she says "Rick, do it". Rick, without hesitating, shoots Pete in the head.

"First Time Again"
After Rick kills Pete, Gabriel arrives at the scene of the murder and finds Deanna, alone, sitting beside the pool of her husband's blood. She croaks, "You were wrong." She is later seen after Rick argues with Gabriel about burying Pete's corpse within Alexandria. Deanna arrives and agrees with Rick, telling them to bury "it" out in the woods, to "let the trees have him." Another day, after Rick explains the plan to the Alexandrians about moving the mega-herd out of a nearby quarry and away from the Safe-Zone, Deanna agrees with Rick's proposition.

"JSS"
Deanna and Maggie head outside the walls by the burned-down houses to begin preparing the land for farming. When people are heard screaming inside the Safe-Zone, Deanna calls out to Richards, a look-out, to find out what's going on before a Molotov cocktail strikes him, setting him aflame and bringing him down off the wall. Deanna and Maggie, who has drawn her gun, head over to investigate. When Maggie and Deanna try to get inside they find Spencer. Maggie says they need to go inside and help, but Deanna acknowledges that she cannot use a gun and would only be another person to protect, and so Maggie heads in by herself while Spencer stays outside to protect his mother. After the skirmish, Deanna finds Richards' charred, reanimated corpse. She watches Maggie put it out of its misery.

"Now"
Deanna is first seen in the beginning of the episode, where she is shown climbing up a ladder onto the walls. She absorbs the aftermath of the Wolf attack, and seems distant. When Rick arrives, it is obvious that the sheer amount of walkers behind him shocks her. She is also present for Rick's impromptu meeting, and for Aaron's confession to the Alexandrians. She leaves the meeting in a daze, obviously still struggling to cope with everything. When Spencer steps up and stops the Alexandrians from taking surplus food items from the pantry, Deanna appears to be proud of his actions.

Later, at her home, Deanna is phased by Reg's wedding ring, but snaps out of it. She then proceeds to take out a map of Alexandria, which she marks up with her various plans for expansion. She marks spaces for farm plots, future areas of development, and various other things. This seems to indicate that Deanna hasn't given up hope quite yet. However, the next scene shows her finding Spencer drunk in the kitchen, with stolen alcohol and food. She berates him for his hypocritical actions, but he simply remarks that he only wanted to prevent the chaos what could result from the Alexandrians acting solely on their own behalfs. He then proceeds drunkenly to blame her for the deaths of her husband and son.

That night, she returns the stolen items, only to discover a reanimated Wolf. She drops the crate of food she was carrying, and uses a broken bottle to stab it multiple times. Rick intervenes and stabs it in the head, before anything else can occur. Covered in Walker blood, Deanna states that she wants Alexandria to stay standing, and asks Rick if that's unrealistic. Rick acknowledges this by saying that it isn't unrealistic for Alexandria to remain standing. Deanna, with regained confidence, walks up to the gates. She watches the walkers at the gate, who are banging at the fence. She responds by banging the fence herself, an obvious act of resistance. The last we see of her this episode is when she leaves, and observes blood leaking through a part of the walls.

"Heads Up"
Deanna first appears where she thanks Rick for saving Spencer, where Rick says that she should be thanking Tara instead of him, but she says that she already did. Rick then tells her that he could have jumped off the wall, got into one of the cars at the quarry and let the walkers corner Spencer, which would have resulted in his death, which Deanna remarks that he didn't and asks him why he didn't do so.

When Rick tells her that the reason he didn't do so was because Spencer is her son, where she then tells him that he gave the wrong answer. Later, along with most of the residents of Alexandria, she witnesses in horror as one of the watchtower leans, falls and eventually destroys a part of the wall, letting the herd outside in to Alexandria.

"Start to Finish"
Deanna appears by helping Rick shoot at the herd that are now entering Alexandria through a part of the wall that was destroyed by the watchtower that had fallen. She and Rick runs from and fight the walkers that begin to come up on them. When a walker is about to attack Rick, Deanna pulls it away and struggles against it and later a second walker comes up on her, causing her to fall onto a sharp gear, injuring her thigh.

Rick is able to dispatch both of the walkers and helps Deanna up, although injured. She and Rick are later joined by Michonne, Carl, Ron and Gabriel, as they flee from the herd that are coming after them, however, they are later cornered by some of the herd ahead of the road, where she and Rick shoot at the walkers who are getting close. Eventually, Jessie shoots at the walkers coming for them and lets them in at her house to hide in.

She is then put on one of the couches upstairs, where Michonne tends to her injury. When Rick asks her afterwards if she is okay, Michonne finds a bite mark on her side.

Later on, now becoming weak from the bite mark she had received, she talks to Michonne about their current situation and about Alexandria. Michonne says that she believes in Alexandria and that they can get through on what they are currently in and her plan of expanding the community. She then asks Michonne if there's something that she wants for herself, whom replies by admitting that she doesn't know.

Deanna then makes her way to the room Judith is in and, after being confronted by Rick who almost kills her after assuming that she had turned, she says that she wants to see her one last time. She then admits that she tried to go to the room herself, but her weakened state made it hard for her to do so easily. Rick then gently carries and puts her on the bed nearby where she gives him farewell notes to both Spencer and Maggie. She then asks Rick to look after Spencer for her, as he would with his own people, stating that the people of Alexandria are now Rick's people.

When the herd manages to break through the makeshift defenses Rick and the others had made downstairs, Michonne comes to Deanna's side and offers to kill her, saying that they're leaving, before she turns, however, Deanna insists that she will kill herself when the time comes, referring to when she and the others leave and when the herd reaches her upstairs. After Rick and the others leave, blending into the herd, she is about to kill herself when she hears the herd moving around outside and decides to open the door and open fire at them, killing a few of the walkers coming after her, before letting out one last scream of defiance against the herd.

"The Next World"
Deanna reanimated as a walker and presumably wandered out of Alexandria. Due to not being put down during the massacre of the herd by Rick and the Alexandrians. For the weeks following, Spencer combed the nearby forest in search of his zombified mother, convinced he had seen her during the battle. About two months after the survivors reclaim the safe-zone for themselves, Carl and Enid encounter Deanna in the woods. Carl, knowing Spencer is out there and having deduced that he is searching for her, leads the walker to her living son. Spencer, with the help of Michonne, who followed him into the woods that day, puts down his mother and buries her under a tree. Michonne etches a "D" into the tree above the grave before the two head back to town.

Killed By
After Rick and the others have left the house by blending into the herd using the scent of the walkers they had killed, Deanna is about to kill herself when she hears the walkers outside the hallway and decides to open the door and open fire, killing some of the walkers as they begin to come close to her and letting out one last defiant yell at them before she subsequently dies off-screen. About two months after the herd's assault on Alexandria, Deanna is wandering the woods outside the town, having not only escaped from being devoured but reanimated and apparently left the town as well without being killed in the subsequent massacre of the herd by Rick and the other survivors. After being spotted by Spencer and Michonne, Michonne restrains her while Spencer unsheathes his knife and tearfully stabs her in the back of the head, killing her. She is later buried in the forest.
 * Zombies (Alive, Off-Screen)
 * Spencer Monroe (Zombified)

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Deanna has killed:
 * Pete Anderson (Caused)
 * One unnamed Wolf (Zombified, Caused)
 * Numerous counts of zombies

Relationships
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Reg Monroe
Reg is Deanna's husband, and it is shown that they love each other deeply. Reg respects Deanna's leadership, but had doubts about some of her decisions. After Reg's accidental murder under Pete's hands, she is shown to be devastated by his death. Deanna, in a fit of rage and grief, tells Rick to execute Pete, which Rick does without any hesitation.

Aiden Monroe
"Thank you. (...) For knocking him on his ass."

- Deanna to Glenn after the fight

Deanna and Aiden have a basic mother and son relationship. Aiden is shown to respect his mother, but somehow Deanna sees through his recklessness. Aiden is known for being a bully by using his power inside the community run by his mother, and Deanna is aware of that. When the fight between Aiden and Glenn ensues, Deanna thanks Glenn for punching her son in the face, further proving that Deanna sees the problems with her own son. Deanna is saddened when she finds out her son died, but she moves on quickly.

Spencer Monroe
Deanna is shown to love Spencer as a son. She trusts him with various tasks such as keeping watch on the bell tower. When finding him alive after the wolves attacked, she ran up and hugged him, showing relief after realizing he was alive. He then proceeded to protect her while she stayed in the truck. After Deanna witnesses Spencer's speech to the Alexandrians to conserve the food, she smiles at her son, proud of his actions. Deanna later finds Spencer drunk with some food that was stolen from Olivia's food pantry. Deanna reprimands her son's actions, to which he in a drunken aggression calls out Deanna for giving everyone a false sense of security in Alexandria. Deanna walks away from this shocked, but she most likely doesn't hold it against Spencer mainly because he was intoxicated. During Deanna's last moments she asks Rick if he can give a message to Maggie and Spencer, with Deanna telling Rick to look after Spencer as if he was one of Rick's group, which Rick sorrowfully accepts.

After his mother's death, Spencer dedicates his time to combing through the woods in search of his reanimated mother, convinced that he had seen her during the battle. Finally, after about two months of searching, he finds her with the help of Carl. Michonne restrains Deanna and Spencer is able to put down his mother at last. He buries her in the woods before returning to Alexandria.

Although their relationship becomes strained in the end after the deaths of Aiden and Reg, Deanna makes clear her love for her son in her final moments and Spencer strives to do right by his mother even after her death.

Rick Grimes
"They don't need me, Rick. What they need is you."

- Deanna to Rick about protecting the people.

Deanna and Rick appeared to trust and respect each other. When Deanna first interviewed Rick, she clearly views his leadership and survival tactics as a great asset to the Alexander-Safe Zone and personally believes that she can trust Rick. Upon settling in the safe-zone Deanna continues to be inspired by Rick's ability to have come so far in the apocalypse and even jokes aboard his shaved beard Rick in turn views Deanna as a strong and independent leader for the safe zone and reluctantly trusts her.

After she witnesses Rick breaking up a fight between Daryl and Nicholas, their relationship strengthens greatly as she then gives Rick the position of constable for Alexandria. Rick is thankful for her offer and accepts his given position. Later, however, Rick scolds Deanna for not managing her community correctly, saying that she has to fight or die. Their relationship is hinted to be severed.

However, in the episode "Conquer", while mourning Reg after he was murdered by Pete, she gives Rick the go-ahead to execute Pete. This repairs Deanna's relationship with Rick, firmly ending their conflict.

In the episode "First Time Again", Deanna begins to allow him to have some leadership over the other survivors, showing that she trust Rick's leadership and that their relationship is good.

In "Start to Finish" Deanna is injured by a walker saving Rick, Rick carries her to Jessies house. Rick is saddened to discover that Deanna is bitten by a walker. Before her passing, Deanna says of how proud she is of Rick and what he has done for Alexandria and he assures her that Alexandria will still be standing in her memory. Before Rick leaves, Deanna gives him a note to Maggie and Spencer to which Deanna asks for Rick to take care of Spencer as if he was one of Ricks group to which Rick tearfully accepts. Rick is deeply saddened of Deanna's passing and he works to keep Alexandria alive and standing in her memory.

Maggie Greene
Deanna and Maggie are both shown to get along. This is shown when Deanna employs Maggie to work with her. When Deanna, Maggie, and Reg are discussing what should happen to Rick, the two disagree with each other and become slightly more distant than previously shown. This may also be due to when Gabriel warned Deanna of Rick's group, including Maggie.

Pete Anderson
"Rick... do it."

- Deanna telling Rick to execute Pete after the latter kills Reg.

Deanna disliked Pete due to his use of domestic abuse towards Jessie but didn't act upon it because of Pete's medical experience. The relationship however quickly turned to sheer hatred from Deanna, so much so that she told Rick to execute him after Reg's murder at his hands.

Her hatred still continues in "First Time Again", as is seen when Rick is arguing with Father Gabriel and Tobin about how they should only dig one grave instead of two and shouldn't bury Pete's body. Deanna arrives, says that Rick is right and that Pete should be buried out where the "trees can have him".

Michonne
TBA

Gabriel Stokes
"You Were Wrong."

- First Time Again

Gabriel and Deanna first talk when Gabriel tells her that Rick and his people are indeed dangerous, she then thanks him and also tells him she has a lot too think about now. After the death of Reg, Deanna is in his puddle of blood, Gabriel then walks up, Deanna looks at him and tells him he was wrong. Then Gabriel nods knowing he was wrong about Rick and his group being dangerous.}}

Appearances
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Season 5

 * "Remember"
 * "Forget"
 * "Spend"
 * "Try"
 * "Conquer"

Season 6

 * "First Time Again"
 * "JSS"
 * "Now"
 * "Heads Up"
 * "Start to Finish"
 * "The Next World" (Zombified)

Season 7
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 * "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" (Flashback)

Trivia

 * Tovah Feldshuh used Hillary Clinton as an inspiration to portray Deanna.
 * Deanna is currently the only politician ever encountered in the TV Series. The only other person in the political circuit was Aaron, who was a former politician but left the circuit before he became an actual official politician, due to him believing his best assets can be better used in a hands-on approach, prompting him to join a non-government organization.
 * Deanna is one of two main characters to be recognized with a relative "celebrity" status (as an Ohio Congresswoman). The other is Tyreese Williams, who was a former linebacker for the NFL.
 * Deanna is the third series regular to die while being credited under "also starring" the first being Gareth and the second being Bob Stookey.
 * Deanna is the first main character from Alexandria to die.
 * She is also the first member of the Monroe family to die during a mid-season finale, the second being one of her two sons, Spencer.
 * Deanna is the first female main character in the series to be directly killed by zombies, and also the first to reanimate.
 * Deanna represented Ohio's 15th Congressional District. The real-life district lies primarily to the Southeast of the City of Columbus, Ohio.