Morgan Jones (TV Series)

"You keep choosing this life. You WILL die."

- Morgan to the Wolf.

Morgan Jones is a main character and 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 partly redeemed himself and is on a journey to find Terminus before Rick Grimes's altered sign turns him away. After stumbling across a map leading to Washington, D.C., with a familiar name on it, he heads north until he crosses paths with Daryl Dixon and Aaron, recruiters for the Alexandria Safe-Zone, who bring him to the town where he is reunited with his long lost friend, Rick Grimes. His favored weapon is a wooden staff.

Personality
Morgan is intelligent, caring, and fearless but also a damaged man. Before the dead started to rise, it was he was a loving family man and went out and provided for his wife and son. But the apocalypse took its toll and after his wife was turned into a zombie he was able to cope due to him still having his son, Duane, to look after. Morgan is like Rick Grimes in some ways as they are both survivors doing all they can to provide for their family and to keep them safe no matter what. However, in contrast to Rick, Morgan views every human life as precious and refuses to commit murder in order to survive. He even refused to kill two members of the Wolves who had attempted to kill him as he was camped out in the woods, and numerous others who laid siege to the Alexandria Safe-Zone and slaughtered numerous survivors.

After Rick left to find his family in Atlanta, Morgan began to get reckless, which eventually led to the death of his son. The next time Rick encountered Morgan, he was a changed man, who had become insane and intensively grief-stricken with the death of his family, so he claimed to redeem himself by killing all of the zombies in King County. Following his second encounter with Rick, Morgan was able to reclaim his sanity again and has regained part of his former self, seeking out to find his friend Rick. After a long journey and being turned away from Terminus thanks to a sign for the community redesigned to warn that it was no sanctuary and finding a map to Washington, D.C, with Rick's name on it and he set out on a quest to find his friend which he eventually did after being brought to the Alexandria Safe-Zone with recruiters Daryl and Aaron, only to find Rick executing Pete Anderson.

Morgan has now taken a strong role in the community of Alexandria and with his fighting skills, is a strong survivor and protector willing to do anything to keep good people safe from harm but still stubbornly refuses to kill those who indeed pose a threat to the security of his group

Pre-Apocalypse
Not much is know about Morgan's life before the apocalypse, except that he had a wife and a son.

"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, who returns to the house regularly as a walker. Morgan and his son, Duane, first encounter Rick Grimes outside of his house in King County, Georgia. Duane knocks 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 hears Rick speak, Morgan realizes that he is not and brings Rick into their hideout.

Upon Rick's awakening, Morgan interrogates Rick upon the cause of his wounds before the two's friendship can thoroughly take place. On learning that Rick has been in a coma, Morgan brings him up to speed on the current events as best as he can, introducing the previously confused Rick to the reality of the epidemic upon the country. He also tells 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 and Carl. Rick then thinks of traveling to the King County Sheriff's Department, for which Rick still has the keys, to gather supplies.

Morgan drives him over and Rick provides the pair with weapons and other supplies in exchange for their kindness and help. Morgan rejects 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 he cannot bring himself to kill her. He attempts several more times, yet each fails in kind. Morgan and Duane's whereabouts are unknown for the rest of the season.

Season 3
During the time Morgan is absent from the series, he and Duane live around King County the whole year. One day, while clearing a store, Duane is bitten by his own undead mother and Morgan is finally forced to shoot her. After Duane's death, Morgan starts to lose his sanity, believing he has the mission to clear all the walkers from town. He starts to set up traps and writes 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 was donning 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 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 Rick's group at the West Georgia Correctional Facility, 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.

"No Sanctuary"
Morgan is seen hiking to Terminus on the railroad tracks. He stops walking and examines the Terminus sign changed by Rick weeks before, before taking off his mask and beginning to follow cross-shaped markings left on trees by the people of Terminus.

"Coda"
Morgan is seen following the Terminus markings to the elementary school where the Terminus members held Bob when they cannibalized his leg. Morgan comes across a walker pinned under debris and shushes it before stabbing it in the side of the head with a knife. He then follows the markings to Father Gabriel Stokes's church where he walks inside and creates a makeshift shrine at the altar. Morgan then kneels and prays in the front of the shrine before laughing. He explores around the church and finds a map to Washington, D.C., lying on the floor. He picks it up, reading the message Abraham Ford left for Rick, and realizes that his friend is still alive out there.

"Conquer"
Morgan is first seen sleeping inside of a car. Outside, he is fixing a mug of hot chocolate before a fire as a man approaches him and holds him at gunpoint. He is revealed to be a member of the Wolves and demands all of Morgan's things, planning to kill him afterwards. As another member attempts to stab Morgan from behind, Morgan dodges the man and attacks both men with his staff, asking them to stop before knocking them unconscious and placing them in the back of the car he was previously sleeping in. He blows the horn, checking to make sure there are no walkers nearby so the men are left in a safe area. When Daryl Dixon and Aaron, two recruiters from the Alexandria Safe-Zone, become trapped inside of a van surrounded by walkers after they fell for a trap set by the Wolves, Morgan saves the two men. Aaron offers him to join them at Alexandria but Morgan refuses, showing them the map he found of Washington, D.C., with Rick's name on it. Morgan, realizing that Rick is at Alexandria, accompanies Daryl and Aaron back to the town and witnesses Rick executing Pete Anderson. He says "Rick?" as the two stare at each other.

"First Time Again"
Morgan is surprised to see Rick again after a very long time and surprised that Rick has just killed Pete, although he is unaware of the events that transpired at the meeting. Later on, he is seen talking with Rick about old times, and how both of them are killers. Rick sees Morgan training with his staff and asks him where he learned it from. He tells him that he learned it from someone after the outbreak. Before leaving, Rick tells him that he doesn't take chances anymore.

After Deanna tells Rick to "let the trees" have Pete, Morgan accompanies him to the spot where she wants him buried. While digging a grave for Pete, Rick tells him to stop as he hears the sounds of walkers, then a gust of wind. They later explore the nearby area to find out where the sound is coming from, and find a quarry filled with walkers, the entrances blocked by several trucks. Morgan grabs some binoculars he had to check how many walkers there are inside. After Rick saves Ron from walkers, he later buries Pete's corpse along with Rick.

Morgan accompanies Rick with his plan to lure the quarry herd away from Alexandria, along with Michonne. Along the way, Morgan jokingly asks Michonne if she had taken one of his peanut bars. They arrive at the divided road where the Alexandrians had constructed a makeshift barrier to soften the impact of the walkers' heads as they banged on the steel panels, as suggested by Eugene.

After Rick disarms Carter after Carter tries to incite an insurrection with other Alexandrians, Rick confesses to him that he wanted to kill Carter, because it would be easier, so that Carter would not mess anything up, and because people like Carter will always die no matter what happens. During construction of the makeshift barrier, several walkers stumble into the work zone. Rick sees this as an opportunity to train the Alexandrians, telling them to use their knives as shooting could attract more of them. The Alexandrians are too paralyzed in fear to kill them, so Morgan and the rest of Rick's group at the work zone kill the walkers. Rick asks them why they helped them. Morgan reminds him that they shouldn't take any chances.

As the group is luring the herd away from Alexandria, a blaring horn attracts some of the herd. Morgan is seen with Rick and Michonne running back to Alexandria to check on what is going on.

"JSS"
When Morgan came back to Alexandria he find's Spencer by the Truck that's honking and shut's the honking off, so Morgan heads inside and find's one of the wolves and tells him to leave then Carol came out of nowhere and kills him Morgan doesn't want them killing people but Carol said we have to then Carol needs Morgan's help to get to the armory before the wolves do. When they were getting closer Morgan saw someone getting attacked Morgan runs to help him and takes one of them out. While Morgan was walking he finds the blonde wolf and his gang when they were attacking him they want them gone if they choose this life they will die so they all leave Alexandria. When things were quiet Morgan find's a walker and kills it and one of the doors were open he goes in and the Wolf 1 the one he met outside they start fighting and Morgan knocks him unconscious.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Morgan has killed:
 * Jenny Jones (Zombified)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and presumably 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 leaves the hospital, weak and ragged, Morgan mistakes him for a walker and Duane knocks him unconscious (with a shovel). Rick wakes up, tied to a bed, and is questioned. After Morgan learns that Rick has not been bitten, Morgan offers Rick shelter and food. The next day, Rick takes Morgan and Duane to the police station where he worked to scavenge the remaining guns and supplies as well as to let them use the facilities to have a hot shower. After Morgan and Duane collect the weapons, Rick gives them a vehicle. Morgan thanks Rick, saying that he is a good man, and wishes him the best of luck.

The following year, Rick, Carl and Michonne return to King County to retrieve guns and ammunition from the police station that Rick worked for in preparation for their dealings with the Governor. 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, a non-fatal wound due to him wearing body armor. Rick realizes who it is and drags an unconscious Morgan to his apartment. After tying Morgan down to a bed, Rick looks at the walls, which 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 Michonne asks if Morgan is "OK", to which Rick responds, "No, he's not."

When Morgan finds the note Abraham left for Rick he seems overwhelmed with joy to see Rick is still alive out there. However when he arrives at Alexandria with Daryl and Aaron he appears disturbed after watching Rick execute Pete, but Rick appears stunned to see his old friend again. Later on, Rick tells him about the recent events in Alexandria, allowing him to understand why he had to do it. They are seen having several conversations after the incident.

Carl Grimes
"Hey son, don't ever be sorry...."

- Morgan telling Carl to never feel remorse for his actions

Morgan and Carl first interact while on a supply run in King Country. Before learning of Rick's relationship with him, Carl shoots him in his bulletproof vest when Morgan attempted to shoot Rick. Carl also later holds Morgan at gunpoint while he is unconscious.

Before returning to the prison, Carl attempts to apologize to Morgan for shooting him, stating that he had no choice, but Morgan coldly tells him never to feel remorse for his actions.

Michonne
"I think he's dangerous."

- Michonne to Rick about Morgan

Michonne and Morgan did not originally interact directly with each other. However, before learning of Rick's relationship with him, Michonne attempts to kill Morgan in order to steal his rifle and stop him from killing her, Carl, and Rick. Michonne is clearly distrustful of him and believes that Morgan is dangerous and possibly insane due to the booby traps and strange writings, but does show concern for him, as she asks Rick as they are leaving King County if Morgan is all right. Michonne's initial reaction to Morgan's arrival at Alexandria remains unknown. However, the two seem to get along well. Morgan jokingly asks if Michonne took one of his peanut butter protein bars when she, Rick, and Carl met him in King County, but Michonne denies the interrogation. The two work together to lure the mega-herd of walkers away from Alexandria.

Daryl Dixon
"Why? Because all life is precious, Daryl."

- Morgan to Daryl when he asks why he rescued them

Morgan and Daryl first interact when he rescues him and Aaron when they are trapped in a van surrounded by walkers after falling for a trap set up by the Wolves. Daryl asks why he rescued them, to which he replies that all life is precious and is eventually recruited by Daryl and Aaron to Alexandria when Daryl becomes aware of Morgan's connection to Rick when he shows him the Washington, D.C., map that Abraham left for Rick that he picked up in Gabriel Stokes's church.

Aaron
Morgan and Aaron first interact when he rescues him and Daryl when they are trapped in a van surrounded by walkers after falling for a trap set up by the Wolves. Grateful, Aaron tells him of Alexandria and though he refuses at first but upon learning of their connection to Rick, Aaron takes him back.

Season 1

 * "Days Gone Bye"

Season 3

 * "Clear"

Season 5

 * "No Sanctuary" (No Lines)
 * "Coda"
 * "Conquer"

Season 6

 * "First Time Again"
 * "JSS"

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 planned for Morgan to come back in the second season. However, Lennie James was too busy to be able to reprise his role as Morgan at the time.
 * Morgan is currently the only recurring character who has been alive for the entirety of the series' run, also being one of the three surviving characters who appeared in the series premiere.
 * According to his interview on Talking Dead, Lennie James trained for his fight scenes with Stephen Ho, one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.