Lori Grimes (TV Series)


 * For the comic book character, see Lori Grimes (Comic Series).

"Do whatever you have to do to keep this group safe."

- Lori to Rick.

Lori Grimes is Rick Grimes' wife and Carl Grimes' mother. Believing Rick to be dead, she joined Shane Walsh to Atlanta, Georgia, counting on him to keep her and Carl safe.

King County, Georgia
Lori married her husband, Rick at a very young age and the two of them eventually had a son named Carl. They lived as a typical suburban family in King County, Georgia. Lori was a doting stay-at-home mother, while Rick was the breadwinner of the family (working for the local Sheriff's department). Over time, their marriage became increasingly strained, with Rick constantly distancing himself from her. His unwillingness to talk about his feelings and their problems often resulted in fights, where harsh words were spoken by Lori. It had even reached the point where she began to question his love for her and Carl. Lori confided in a friend (and fellow housewife), Paula, to ease the stress and seek advice.

Days before the apocalypse breaks out, Lori finds out through Shane about Rick's injury, and is forced to break the crushing news to Carl. As the apocalypse finally breaks out, Shane convinces them that Rick is dead, and she and her son pack their things and leave with Shane to head towards Atlanta (where many other people were going due to it being a supposed safe-zone). On the road, they meet and befriend Carol and her family, where then Lori and Shane watch in horror as Atlanta was being destroyed by napalm helicopters. As time progresses, Lori and Shane begin to enter a relationship together both believing that Rick was dead.

Days Gone Bye
Lori is seen living at a camp with her son, Shane Walsh, and other survivors. After Shane and Amy unsuccessfully try to contact the other end of the line on the radio, Lori suggest they post signs on the road to Atlanta to warn survivors about the dire situations in the city. Shane objects, causing her to storm off to her tent. Shane follows and the two talk it out and embrace in a kiss. When Carl comes by, Shane leaves and Lori reassures her son that she isn't going anywhere.

Guts
Later, Lori lets Carl play while she decides to pick some mushrooms in the forest, before notifying Dale Horvath. She heads off into the woods and hears branches snapping. Shane sneaks up behind her and the two proceed to have sex, when Lori takes off her believed-to-be-dead husband's wedding ring and tosses it aside as she makes love to Shane.

Tell It to the Frogs
A day afterward, Lori and Carl are reunited with Rick, who they had previously believed to be dead. Lori explains she was told Rick would be med-evacuated to Atlanta, but it never happened. It is revealed by Carl that Lori (who in turn, was informed by Shane) told him that he was dead. Grimes' assures him that his mother was in right in telling him so, as she had no idea whether or not he'd survived the pandemic in the city. Grimes thanks Shane for keeping his family safe. Afterward, Lori and Rick proceed to reestablish their relationship by reminiscing over the family album and later, make love to each other. Lori is angered by the fact that Shane lied to her about Rick and warns him to stay away from her family.

Vatos
Lori is seen congratulating Andrea and Amy when they return to camp with several caught fish. Amy volunteers to teach Carl about knots and fishing and Lori allows her to. When Jim is seen digging all the holes on top of the hill, the group of survivors including Lori went to confront him. Later, Lori is seen teaching some schooling to Carl and Sophia with Jim tied up nearby to prevent him from harming himself. At night, Lori joins the others for supper to eat some cooked fish as they all chat, they soon become attacked by a group of walkers however, Lori and Carl both survive.

Wildfire
Distraught over the previous night's events, Lori is against Rick's idea of leaving the quarry to go to the CDC, over Fort Benning (a 100 miles in the other direction), to find a cure for the infected Jim. Rick asks Lori if she blames him for not being there when the camp was attacked, and to support his decision to head for the CDC. She doesn't blame him exactly, but she doesn't know if she can follow him to the CDC on blind faith. When she asks for any kind of certainty on Rick's part, he tells her "I love you. That's all I got." Later, Lori is confronted by Shane about Rick's decision. He asks her to convince him that his idea is a bad one and goes on to tell her that trying to repair her troubled marriage with Rick, does not supersede the safety of the group. {C Lori, still angry with him for lying to her, replies that the group can make up their minds about where to go without bringing her marriage into the situation. Afterward, Lori agrees to follow Rick to the CDC and the decision is made to depart in the morning. When the RV breaks down, Jim makes his wishes to be left to die known and Lori, along with Dale, agree that his request should be respected despite Rick's belief that their friend is delirious.

TS-19
When the group arrives to the CDC, they find the complex is completely closed off by shutters; when they receive no answer, they all agree to they must leave the area before it gets dark. However, Rick is insistent that someone is still alive in the complex and demands to be let inside. Lori and the others become increasingly panicked when more and more Walkers begin to appear. Frantically, she tries to get Rick to leave with them, but he refuses. Just as they begin to flee from the complex, the shutter doors open. Lori and the other survivors enjoy a short reprieve from mortal danger when Dr. Jenner takes them inside the CDC under the condition that they submit to blood tests. The group celebrates with a meal and wine. When questioned about the lack of other people, Jenner explains that he is the only person still alive in the complex because most fled to be with their families and others began to commit suicide after a certain period of time. Afterward, Lori and Rick enjoy a hot shower together before going off on their own to explore. Lori finds Carl in the recreational room with Carol and Sophia, reading books. Carl goes off with Carol and Sophia to sleep, while Lori decides to stay behind for awhile and browse the library. She is startled by a drunken Shane, who insists that she listen to his side of the story. Angry, Lori attempts to leave the room, but is cut off by Shane who closes all exits of escape. He tries to plead his case to her, telling her that he believed Rick was dead and that if he hadn't lied to her she or Carl would've died trying to get to him. When Lori continues to refuse to listen to him, Shane becomes desperate and forces himself upon her until Lori scratches him across the neck. Shane flees the room, leaving a frightened Lori to herself. An equally drunk Rick returns to their bedroom and assures the crying Lori that they have nothing to be afraid of anymore. The next day, Lori avoids eye contact with Shane when he makes a vague statement that implies his behavior from last night wasn't like him at all. Later, Jenner shows them how the mysterious disease affects the human brain via "TS-19" (Test Subject 19) and explains that it only reactivates the brain stem, not what made a person human. He also admits that he doesn't know how to treat the disease and he lost contact with other CDC facilities. When it's revealed that the CDC complex is rigged to self-destruct, Lori implores that Jenner allows them to escape, telling him that they wish only to survive for as long as they can. Jenner eventually allows them to leave, choosing to remain behind with Jacqui. With the use of the grenade Grimes retrieved earlier in Guts, the survivors manage to reach their vehicles just as the CDC building explodes.

What Lies Ahead
Lori was with her family while driving up to the Vehicle Jammed Highway. Finding the way blocked and Dale's RV breaking down, they decide to take a break and look for supplies in the abandon vehicles. When The Herd of walkers come passing by Rick yells at Lori and the group to hide under the cars. Lori covers Carol's mouth to prevent the walkers from hearing her moans and cries. Once the herd passes and Sophia runs away and disappears, Carl finds a Gerber of tools and Lori tells him to put them down, but he doesn't listen and asks Shane but he yells at him to give it to Dale. Lori then confronts Shane about his treatment towards Carl and then finds out that Shane is trying to leave the group. Rick returns after the search for Sophia without her and everyone waits until the next day to continue searching, in the meantime, Lori continues to comfort Carol.

Bloodletting
The episode opens with Lori chatting to another mother outside Carl's elementary school. Lori opens up about her marital problems with Rick and the fight they had that morning. Shane soon shows up to tell her that Rick has been shot. Shane convinces Lori to tell Carl that his father was shot and in a hospital. Lori is then seen with the group searching for Sophia wondering why a single gunshot was heard (not knowing Carl was injured). Later, Maggie comes by horse to pick up Lori and rushes her to the Greene Family Farm. She and Rick comfort each other over Carl's injuries and decide what needed to be done to save Carl's life.

Save the Last One
Lori and Rick continue to worry over Carl and then Hershel comes and tells them that her and Rick would have to make a decision whether to proceed with the surgery or not if Shane and Otis don't make it back in time. They continue to debate whether they want Carl to continue living in a zombie apocalyptic world or not when Shane then shows up with the medical supplies.

Cherokee Rose
Since Shane helped save Carl's life, Lori doesn't want Shane to leave just yet. Lori then asks if Glenn could get something "personal" during his trip to the pharmacy for her. After, Lori helps the group pull out a walker that fell into a well. Lori then continues to be with her son as he recovers and tells him that they lied about finding Sophia only to try and keep his hopes up when he was injured. Later after Glenn returns with Lori's "personal" request, she goes outside at night in the middle of the field and uses it only to find out the worst...

Chupacabra
Lori is seen at the beginning of the episode with Shane during the evacuation, they meet Carol and Ed on the highway and asks them to look over Carl while she and Shane go scout ahead only to witness the military bombardment on Atlanta. Lori then wakes up and helps Carol with the laundry and is later then confronted by Glenn knowing her secret. She begs him not to say anything to Rick until she finds the right time to tell him. Rick then asks Lori for advice about Sophia since it has been days since they last saw her and the search for her is starting to fade. Lori insists and says that if it were Carl, they would want them to keep looking so Rick decides to continue the search. Later, Lori is seen helping Carol, Patricia and Beth prepare a meal for everyone in honor of thanking each other for their help.

Secrets
Lori and Carl are seen feeding the chickens on Hershel's farm. After she is confronted by Glenn who urges her to talk to Rick about the pregnancy and that he would support and help her out no matter what. Later, Lori and Rick find out that Carl has been armed with a gun and decide whether he should be trained using weapons or not. Lori disagrees and that Carl is too young and too soon since Carl has just recovered from his injury however, she eventually agrees and allows him to practice. Once the group disbands, Lori helps Hershel with repairing the fence where she talks to Hershel and thanks him for everything but then discovers that her and the group of survivors cannot stay at the farm. She then talks to Rick and says that he has to convince Hershel to change his mind and allow them all to stay, Rick replies telling her that he just needs time to work things out. After Glenn tells Dale about Lori's pregnancy, he confronts her and discusses his experience with his wife and gets Lori to think about the child and her decision on what she does with it. She decides that she doesn't want to keep the child and asks Glenn to go to the pharmacy back in town and get her some supplies, he agrees and takes Maggie with him. When the two return, Maggie is angry at Lori for making them risk their lives for her personal issues and throws her abortion pills on the ground. She decides to take the pills and swallows them but at the last second has a change of heart and throws up the pills. Rick enters the tent and sees the pills and confronts Lori about the child. They have an argument not sure whether or not to have a child but Rick convinces her they should still have the baby and she told him that Shane might be the father. He says he knows and understands that she thought he was dead.

Pretty Much Dead Already
Glenn tells the group that the barn is filled with walkers and the group goes to investigate. Rick says that he would handle it and discuss matters with Hershel. After Shane finds out that Lori is pregnant, he goes and talks to her trying to figure out the situation and insist he'll still be around to help his child since he is convinced he is the father but Lori tells him whether the child is his or not, her and Rick would raise it. Later, Shane gets frustrated with Rick and his slow progress with Hershel and decides that the group should stop fooling around and kill the walkers. Lori tells him to stop and let Rick handle it but he doesn't listen and opens the barn and the group proceed to kill the walkers. Lori runs and holds Carl back from getting hurt and when Sophia is revealed to be a walker, she comforts Carl and holds him in her arms since he cared about her so much.

Nebraska
After talking to Daryl about going out to help Rick and Glenn find Hershel, Lori takes a revolver and a car, then drives towards the town. While driving out of the farm, she looks on the map for directions to the town. When she looks back to the road, she hits a walker and panics, causing her to lose control of the car, thus flipping it several times.

Triggerfinger
Lori remains injured and unconscious after accidentally hitting a walker with Maggie's car, which flipped into a ditch. When Lori comes to, a walker is trying to get to her through a smashed window. Lori grabs a screwdriver and stabs the walker in the eye, killing it. When she manages to get out of the car wreck, she's suddenly attacked by another walker. After a terrifying struggle, Lori eventually retrieves her gun from the car, shooting the walker in the head. Later, Shane finds Lori walking up the road. He gets out his car, and begins fussing over her. Lori refuses his attention and won't get into the car, saying she needs to find Rick (who had taken off with Glen to find Herschel). Realizing he must lie in order to get her back to the farm safely, Shane tells Lori that Rick is already at the farm. She believes him, and they drive back. Later, they arrive at the farm, where several of the survivors hurry to the car to see if she's ok. Lori asks about Rick, discovers Shane has lied, and angrily lashes out at him. Shane defends his actions, insisting that the baby's safety was at stake. The group is shocked to hear that Lori is pregnant, including Carl; who is upset that he was kept in the dark. Later in the house, Carl and Lori discuss the baby, and he is excited about being a big brother. Shane appears, asking Lori if they can talk, alone. Begrudgingly, she allows it. She is angry that once again, Shane has lied to her about Rick. Again, Shane argues that his priority was only keeping her safe, as he's always trying to do. He talks about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, and how she and Carl kept him going. Shane wills Lori to see that their relationship was more than just a desperate fling- it was real, and they were in love. Lori repeatedly tells him he's wrong, but she can't look him in the eye. The next day, Lori and Carl are reunited with Rick. Concerned, Rick asks what happened to her, and Lori says she had a car accident. Shane interjects that he had found Lori walking alone, and brought her back to the farm. There is tension between the men. In the final scene, Rick and Lori are in their tent alone. Both wounded, they help each other undress. Lori says they need to talk about Shane, and that he thinks the baby is his. She assures her husband that no matter what, it will always be Rick's. Rick confesses that in the bar he took human lives to protect what is his. Lori snuggles close to him. She whispers calculatingly into his ear that Shane thinks what's Ricks is his, is dangerous, and needs to be stopped. We are left with a close up of Rick's face, as his perception of Shane is changed.

18 Miles Out
Maggie confesses to Lori that Glenn lost confidence after the shootout at the bar. "Tell him to man up," Lori advises. At the farm, Lori brings Beth a tray of food. She empathizes with Beth's loss of her mother, by saying she herself had tried unsuccessfully to get her own mother on the phone when the zombie apocalypse broke out. Beth asks Lori how she could have a baby in such a world. "I don't really have a choice," Lori says. Meanwhile, Lori collects Beth's lunch, which hasn't been touched. "It's just so pointless," Beth cries. As Lori clears Beth's tray, she notices a knife missing. She confronts Beth, who pulls it from under the covers and hands it over. At the farm, Maggie scolds Beth for considering suicide. Lori and Andrea listen in from the kitchen. Andrea tells Lori she shouldn't have taken the knife away — Beth "has to choose to live on her own." Lori counters that Andrea got through her own death wish by shirking her chores: "You sit up on that RV working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap," she snaps. Andrea accuses Lori of taking her blessings for granted: Rick and Carl both came back from the dead, she's pregnant, she even had a romance with Shane. "The rest of us have piled up our losses, but you just keep on," Andrea says. Unguarded, Beth locks herself in the bathroom and smashes the mirror. Lori pries open the door, but not before Beth has cut her wrist. "I'm sorry," Beth cries. Andrea runs to the farmhouse after Beth's attempted suicide. Lori reports that Beth didn't cut herself deeply. "She wants to live," Andrea smiles after being told by Maggie that shes forbidden to enter the Greene Family's home.

Judge, Jury, Executioner
Lori finds Rick tying a noose in the barn. He asks if she supports his decision. "If you think it's best," she says, asking what happened on the road with Shane. "He won't be a problem any more," Rick answers. As the sun sets, Rick again asks Lori if she thinks he's doing the right thing. Lori nods. The group gathers in the house. Rick asks if anyone thinks Randall should be spared. Dale posits that the only people who think so are himself and Glenn, but Glenn too sides with Rick. "He's not one of us," Glenn offers. Rick brings Carl back to the camp and tells Lori what happened. "He wanted to watch," Rick says. "I couldn't." Meanwhile, Dale walks through the fields. He hears the moans of a dying cow and goes to investigate; the cow had been gutted. He turns and is attacked by the walker that Carl found in the creek bed. Back at camp, the others hear Dale's screams. Daryl runs to the scene, where the walker is on top of Dale, tearing into his stomach. Daryl stabs the walker in the head, then shouts for help. Dale's intestines are spilling out of his gut. He goes into shock. When Hershel arrives, he reports that Dale can't be saved. As Dale writhes on the ground, Carl sees the body of the walker lying nearby. Horrified, he buries his head in Lori's lap. Andrea begs Rick to help Dale. Rick upholsters his gun, but can't shoot. Daryl takes the weapon and aims it at Dale's head. "Sorry brother," Daryl says and fires, killing Dale.

Better Angels
Lori and others help to pack their belongings into the back of the truck, while Rick delegates roles and instructions. Lori witnesses Shane's unhappiness with Rick about his decision to release Randall. It appears that Rick is back in command, and Shane is obviously bitter about it. Out the front of the farmhouse, Lori is struggling to lift a packed crate. T-Dog insists that she shouldn't be heavy lifting in her condition, offers to assist, and Lori is grateful. She tells Herschel that she, Rick and Carl will sleep in the living room, but Herschel refuses it; generously offering up his bedroom instead. Lori is touched, but can't accept. T-Dog jokingly warns that if neither she nor Herschel take the bedroom, then he will. Lori finds Shane fixing an electrical tower. They briefly and lightheartedly reminisce about a pre-apocalypse occasion where Shane showed Rick up by fixing a sink (and when Rick flooded the basement). She asks Shane to come down from the tower, and talks openly about her fears in light of Sophia and Dale's deaths. Lori admits that she is unsure who the father of her unborn child is, and thanks Shane genuinely for protecting her and Carl before Rick's return. Tearfully, Lori also apologizes for what happened between them (alluding to their romance), and for the "confusion" it caused, to which a heartbroken Shane begs her not to be sorry for. The impact of Lori's words on Shane becomes the catalyst for his fateful decision to murder Randall, as a trap to try and lure Rick to his death.

Beside the Dying Fire
Lori is at the house when the herd arrives at the farm. She goes to get Carl, but she can't find him and starts to panic. She doesn't want to leave and wants to go out to look for Carl, but Carol convinces her not to. When she Beth, Patricia, Carol and T-Dog try to flee, Patricia is grabbed and bitten by a zombie; after some struggling, Lori pulls Beth away from Patricia and Carol gets separated from them. As Lori, Beth and T-Dog drive away from the farm, T-Dog says they need to drive toward the coast (something he remarks they should have done a long time ago.) Lori threatens that either they go back to the highway, or she and Beth will jump out the car. T-Dog gives in. They reach the highway and meet up with the others (except Jimmy, Andrea and Patricia.) Later on, Lori tells Rick that he must have had a good reason for keeping Jenner's secret hidden from the group. Alone, Lori comforts Rick. Rick starts to reveal that he killed Shane- weary of his threats, and wanting their feuding to end for good. During the revelation, a speechless Lori slowly withdraws. She is fearful at what her husband has become, and guilty of her own hand in it. Rick goes on to say that Shane turned into a zombie and that Carl put him down. Shocked, Lori takes a few seconds to catch her breath- but when Rick tries to touch her, she instantly pulls back. Her expression is of anger and horror. Around the campfire, Rick reacts badly when told by Carol to do something to help their dire situation. Lori comforts a crying Carl, while Rick indignantly defends his role as reluctant leader; saying he killed his best friend for the group. Fed up of their in-appreciation of him, Rick delivers an ultimatum- leave now, or follow his lead. Neither Lori nor the others leave.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Lori has killed:
 * At least five zombies.

Rick Grimes
Rick and Lori have a good relationship usually, and are married. When Rick reached the Atlanta camp and saw Lori and Carl, they all ran to each other hugging. Later Lori shouted at Shane saying, "You told me he was dead". And she also told him there relationship was over and she loved her husband. They were hugging in there tent and Lori gave Rick his wedding ring she was looking after back. The next day when Rick told Lori he was leaving to get the bag of guns and save Merle, she became angry that he was risking his life for a man like Merle and some guns. When Rick came back and saw the camp overrun, he quickly ran to Lori killing all the walkers with help from Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn. The next day Rick and Lori were seen hugging at the funerals of there fallen friends. At the farm, Rick and Lori had an argument when Rick found morning after pills or as Maggie refereed to them as, "Abortion pills". They talked about why she did what she did and she told him she threw the pills up. They kept talking and both agreed they wanted to try and keep the baby. Rick asked if there was anything else she wanted to tell him and she told him about her affair with Shane. Lori told Shane about the baby and said she doesn't care if it is Shane's baby or not, it would be Rick's. After Rick killed Shane and told Lori, she was disgusted and did not let Rick touch her and stormed away angrily.

Shane Walsh
Lori and Shane (Rick's best friend) had presumably known each other for years. Pre-Apocalypse, they both lived in the same small town in Georgia. It is mentioned that Shane had been a real DIY kind of guy and even showed up Rick by fixing the Grimes' sink. After believing that Rick had died in hospital, Shane- sparing no thought for himself- accompanied Lori and Carl to Atlanta, where they believed a refugee center to be. It is implied that on the way there, Shane and Lori had a sexual encounter, both desperately needing physical contact amid the chaos and grief surrounding. When the survivors are stationed outside of Atlanta, Lori sneaks off into the woods to meet Shane for a romantic tryst (Shane later mentions that the pair "carried on quite a bit" in these times). Rick's reunion with his family and Shane is bittersweet, as Shane struggles to accept that Rick has rightfully resumed his role as a protector, father and lover. Consequently, friction between the trio worsens and is further complicated by Lori's pregnancy- and the truth that Shane could very well be the father. To Lori, he insists that their affair had been "a long time coming"- implying that there could possibly have been romantic tension present prior to the zombie breakout. But she continues to deny that any real feelings had ever existed between them. At a bid to eliminate the threat of her former lover and bury her regretted mistake for good, she convinces Rick to kill Shane. However, after Dale's funeral in Better Angels, Lori appears to have had a change of heart- she not only apologizes to Shane for putting him at odds with Rick, but also acknowledges that he hadn't misinterpreted the feelings between them. Lori is overwhelmed with shock, grief and anger when learning that Rick killed Shane and she reacts even more horrified that Carl shot Shane once he turned into a walker.

Trivia

 * In the graphic novel series, the paternity of Lori's baby is never determined. However, during the pregnancy, Lori expresses her surprise and concern to Carol over how advanced her current stage of pregnancy is. It alludes to the possibility that she is too far along for the baby to have been concieved with Rick.
 * The posed family photo of the Grimes family that Rick keeps in his car (and later places in the photo album Lori saved) is featured in the comic book. It appears hanging on a wall inside the family home in Cynthiana, Kentucky (shown during Rick's dream sequence).
 * In the television series, it isn't known whether or not Lori ever attended college; whereas in the graphic novel series Lori mentions that she had attended college away from home but dropped out after only a year.
 * Lori tried in vain to get in touch with her mother after the apocalypse first occured.
 * Lori and Rick are the only characters to appear in every episode.
 * Though unintentionally, Lori's last words with Shane before his departure in both versions may have fueled Shane to start a final confrontation with Rick.
 * In the comics, Lori doesn't seem upset that Carl killed Shane whereas in the TV Series, it may be to the contrary. She tries to convince Rick that killing Shane would be good for the group in Triggerfinger, but is horrified when she finds out that Rick did in fact kill Shane in Beside the Dying Fire.
 * In the final two episodes of season two, it is evident that Lori realizes she does in fact love Shane.
 * She almost always supports Rick's decision, even in a more important decisions that normally would take more thought; like deciding whether Randall lives or dies in Judge, Jury, Executioner, where she says, "If you think it's best.".
 * Sarah Wayne Callies (the actress that portrays Lori) is in favor of Lori dying the same way the character died in the comic series. In an interview she stated, "I argued that it was necessary to kill Lori and I feel very strongly that for all of the other deviations we may have from the comic book, killing Lori does something to Rick that is vital for the story and can't be done any other way."