| This article is about the TV Series character. You may be looking for her Comic Series counterpart. |
| “ | People kill people. They still have names.
―Lizzie to Carl Grimes after he admonishes her for naming walkers.[src]
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Lizzie Samuels is a survivor of the outbreak and later an antagonist in AMC's The Walking Dead. She is the daughter of Ryan Samuels and the older sister of Mika. After her father's death, Lizzie looks to Carol Peletier as a parental guardian. She served as the primary antagonist of the episode "The Grove".
Overview
Lizzie is seen to be a disturbed young girl, unable to completely come to terms with the world around her. Though she tries her hardest to be polite and altruistic, Lizzie nonetheless is prone to acts such as lashing out at people and torturing animals. She is often pessimistic, frequently assuming absent people (such as Daryl Dixon and Sasha Williams) to be dead. While Lizzie can also be seen exhibiting normal childlike happiness and playfulness, these moments quickly give way to her character's increasingly dark turn throughout the fourth season.
Lizzie's most notable quality is her obsession with the 'walkers'; she sees them as being "just different," and thus not a threat to humans. She shares an eerie connection with them, naming them, describing them as her "friends," and saying that she can "hear them" talking to her. Lizzie most likely is mentally ill in some capacity, as evidenced by the fact that Carol is aware of her coping mechanism (looking at the flowers when she's feeling upset). Interestingly, she seems to "flip-flop" her position on walkers; sometimes she recognizes that they're dangerous and attempts to keep herself and others away from them without hurting them, and other times she sees them as friends at best, harmless presences at worst. (She leans strongly towards the latter policy after her father's death and the downfall of the Prison.) In "Internment," Lizzie appeared to be fascinated with a pool of congealed blood for some reason. This was also a case where she had attempted to help by leading the reanimated Henry away, but seemed stunned that he had tried to hurt her as she thought he was listening to her. In the end, Lizzie was a very disturbed girl, who could be considered a budding psychopath due to the fact that she showed no remorse in killing Mika or the near killing of Judith. In another case, Lizzie appeared to consider suffocating Judith Grimes to stop her from crying and appeared to be in an almost trance-like state as she did it, not reacting at all to her sister's cries for help from directly behind her.
Pre-Apocalypse
Jacksonville, Florida
Very little is known about Lizzie's life prior to or as the outbreak began, except that she has a father, Ryan, and a sister, Mika, and lived in Jacksonville, Florida. She joined the community at the West Georgia Correctional Facility with her family sometime between the Season 3 finale and the Season 4 premiere.
Post-Apocalypse
Season 4
"30 Days Without An Accident"
Lizzie is first seen in the prison courtyard, with other children, naming the walkers on the fence, when Carl Grimes and Patrick approach them and Carl says that they shouldn't name walkers because they are not people and because they kill people. Lizzie then argues that people also kill people and they still have names. She also brings up the fact that she herself has witnessed the turning process of her mother. Lizzie accompanied Mika, Patrick and the other children for storytime and Carol's lesson on knives and how to be safe with them.
"Infected"
Lizzie is first seen running and shouting out of the prison, notifying others for help, as walkers have breached the cell block. She is later seen when Carol brings her and her sister, Mika, to speak with Ryan, their father, before he dies and he tells Lizzie to look after her sister, before passing away causing the two girls to be saddened by the loss. At first, Lizzie wants to make sure that Ryan doesn't reanimate, but Carol ends up doing it herself, while Mika tries to calm Lizzie down. Later, the two girls are at the fences, where Carol comes to talk with them and tells the two that Ryan asked her to look after them, before telling Lizzie that she is weak. Lizzie then runs off crying because Nick the walker has been killed. At some point after that, Carol comes to the two girls again and tells Lizzie how she has to be strong, before putting a flower in the girl's hair, while Lizzie takes Carol's knife and puts it in her belt.
"Isolation"
Lizzie comes over and tells Carol that she isn't feeling well. She asks if Carol can tuck her in, but Carol realizes that she might get infected herself. Heartbroken, Carol gives her a hug and sends her inside the cellblock to find Glenn Rhee, telling her that he can tuck her in instead. After closing the door, Carol tears off her mask and begins to cry.
"Indifference"
Lizzie appears briefly at the beginning of the episode, as Carol talks to her before departing on a run with Rick Grimes. Carol tells Lizzie that she has to be strong since she will be gone and Lizzie accidentally calls Carol "mom". Carol makes sure that Lizzie has her knife on her at easy reach. Carol tells her to do what she has to do if a tragedy occurs.
"Internment"
Lizzie is quarantined in Cell Block A with Luke. She saves Glenn by distracting the newly reanimated Henry away from him by calling out to him and walking down the upper-level corridor. While luring Henry, Lizzie trips and the walker falls on her, attempting to bite her, but Hershel saves her. Lizzie tells Hershel she called Henry "nice" and he didn't scratch Glenn so she believed him harmless. Hershel locks Lizzie in Luke's cell and lures the walkers away before killing them. As Hershel and Maggie treat Glenn, Lizzie approaches and asks if its over to which Maggie responds "I hope so." As Lizzie watches them, she purposefully rubs her boot in a pool of congealed blood.
"Too Far Gone"
Lizzie is shown to have made an almost-full recovery from the flu. When the prison assault begins, Lizzie tries to convince Mika, Molly, and Luke to be strong like Carol told them to, and not to be scared and weak. Later, she and her sister, Mika, gun down Alisha and another soldier, saving Tyreese Williams' life. They then run back to the prison at the sight of walkers, as the bus with the survivors left them behind, with Tyreese chasing after them telling them its the wrong way.
"Inmates"
Lizzie is shown to be traveling with Tyreese, Mika, and Judith. Mika laments that she misses Carol and that she's afraid, and Lizzie tries to reassure her. During the episode, Lizzie displays some psychopathic behavior as shown when she mutilates a group of rabbits. When Tyreese leaves Mika, Lizzie, and Judith alone, Lizzie covers Judith's mouth to stop her crying and appears to be trying to smother her to death. Lizzie is so focused on the smothering that she doesn't hear Mika asking for help. Carol finds the girls and they meet up with Tyreese.
"The Grove"
Lizzie is seen talking with Carol and keeping watch, while Tyreese sleeps on the rails. Lizzie and Carol talk about Sophia, Carol's daughter. Carol then orders Lizzie to rest with Tyreese and Lizzie hugs Carol and tells her that she loves her. Lizzie stops Tyreese from killing a mutilated walker that is immobilized on the train tracks, telling him that she understands that they have to be killed sometimes, but sometimes they don't.
When the five of them stumble upon a pecan grove in the woods, Tyreese and Carol go inside to clear it out, and Lizzie sullenly realizes that they will kill any Walkers that are inside. Just then, a walker falls over a railing and begins crawling rapidly towards Lizzie. Unable to kill it, Lizzie freezes in fear with Judith in her arms. Carol shoots the walker in the head, saving their lives. Lizzie cries at the death of the walker, and Carol tells her to look at some nearby flowers and count to three, just as she had before Carol killed Ryan to prevent his reanimation at the prison.
Lizzie screams at Carol after she kills a walker that Lizzie was playing tag with, calling the walker her "friend" and even asking Carol, "How would you like it if I killed you?".
Later, Lizzie runs back to the walker that's trapped in the tracks and opens a box that contains a mouse. She picks it up by its tail and feeds it to the walker. As Mika runs up to her, she says that 'you will understand' and raises the hand to the walkers mouth in an attempt to reanimate into one. Before she can do so, a group of burned walkers begins to chase them. Mika grabs Lizzie and they run away together. The two scream, attracting the attention of Carol and Tyreese. Lizzie reluctantly kills a few of the walkers alongside Mika, Carol and Tyreese, until all of them are dead.
Later, she and Mika help Carol cook pecans. As Carol and Tyreese leave them, she stabs Mika in the chest in an attempt to show Carol and Tyreese that walkers aren't different. As Carol and Tyreese return, they see her with a bloody knife in her hand, Mika dead behind her and a guiltless look on her face. Lizzie explains that they will see that for themselves and Mika won't hurt them, and that she was just about to do the same to Judith. Fearing for Judith's life, Carol talks Lizzie into giving her gun to her and convinces her to allow Tyreese to take Mika away to reanimate, although her real intention is to prevent it.
After deciding with Tyreese on how to handle the situation, Carol later takes Lizzie away from the house to the grove. Along the way, Lizzie notices that Carol is upset and starts crying. Lizzie asks if Carol is mad at her for pointing her gun at Carol and Tyreese, pleading for Carol to not be mad at her. As she is crying, Carol tells Lizzie to look at the flowers. While she is, Carol takes her gun out and shoots her in the head. Tyreese and Carol then bury her in the yard of the house they were staying in. Tyreese and Carol leave yellow flowers on the graves and Carol mourns the loss of both Lizzie and Mika.
Season 5
"Consumed"
Lizzie appears as a corpse in a flashback, along with her sister, Mika, about to be buried in the graves Carol dug.
"What Happened and What's Going On"
Lizzie, along with her sister, appears during a hallucination of Tyreese assuring him that "It's better now". Lizzie reappears with Mika after Tyreese has been bitten, now with their wounds (Mika with stabbing wounds and Lizzie with a gun shot wound). Finally, during the car journey at the end of the episode, Lizzie along with Mika, Bob, and Beth appear smiling and reassuring him that everything is going to be okay.
Season 10
"Ghosts"
Carol looks at the cover of a textbook and hallucinates seeing herself at the head of a table with Lizzie, Sophia, Mika, Sam, and Henry with blood over their necks sitting around the table.
Death
- Killed By
After realizing that no one is safe around Lizzie due to her inability to perceive the difference between the living and the dead, Carol takes Lizzie out under the ruse of picking flowers for her sister Mika.
Lizzie begins to cry, believing Carol is mad at her for pointing a gun at her earlier. In order to calm her down, an emotional distraught Carol tells her to "look at the flowers", then lifts her gun and fires a fatal shot into the back of Lizzie's head, killing her.
Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Lizzie has killed:
- Martinez's Camp Resident 3 (Alive)
- Alisha
- Mika Samuels (Alive)
- Several animals (Caused and Direct)
- A few zombies (Caused and Direct)
Relationships
Ryan Samuels
Ryan and Lizzie seem to have a close relationship. He is first seen with them during storytime in "30 Days Without An Accident". When Lizzie and Mika find out Ryan had been bitten during "Infected", they both cry and don't know what to do. Carol tries to calm them down and tells them to wait outside if they wanted to, but they decide to stay inside. Carol is about to stab Ryan in the head, but Lizzie stops her. Carol says that they have to do it. Mika backs away and says she cannot. Lizzie tries, but fails, as she gets frightened. Carol finally kills Ryan, resulting in the sisters starting to cry again. Mika Samuels
Lizzie and Mika have a close sister-sister relationship. After their father had been bitten, Mika comforts Lizzie and tried to calm her down. Mika counts to two with Lizzie as Carol is about to euthanize their father. Lizzie later convinces Mika and the other children to grab guns after the prison came under assault from the Governor and his militia. She and Mika both gun down one of the Governor's militia men and Alisha. When they escape from the prison together and go to the woods, Mika suddenly heard something from the bushes and ran. Lizzie asks what it was and Mika said she would not understand. In "The Grove" Mika argues with Lizzie about killing walkers. When Lizzie becomes upset after Mika kills a walker, Mika calms her down by telling her to look at some nearby flowers. Later, Mika catches Lizzie feeding a mouse to a walker that is stuck in the railroad tracks. Mika gets angry with Lizzie for this, but she does try to stop Lizzie from letting the walker bite her. While they are running from a group of a walkers, Mika trips and Lizzie saves her sister from being bitten. The next day, Lizzie murders Mika with her knife so that Mika can come back as a walker. This frightens Carol and Tyreese when they discover what Lizzie has done. Right before Carol shoots Lizzie dead, Lizzie does not seem to show any remorse about killing her sister, Mika. This is most likely due to Lizzie's misunderstanding about walkers. Carol Peletier
Carol was shown to care about Lizzie and her sister, Mika. Carol took a role as their guardian since Ryan died entrusting Carol to protect them. She read storytime for them in "30 Days Without An Accident" and helped them with taking care of Ryan, their father, when he had been bitten and had reanimated. As Ryan was dying, he told Carol to take care of them for him. Carol came to check up on the Samuels sisters twice while they were by the fence, to make sure that they were okay. Carol was also distraught when Lizzie showed the same symptoms like the others did. Carol saw Lizzie like a daughter by that time. Lizzie also saw Carol as a sort of adoptive mother. She accidentally called Carol "Mom" and quickly apologized, but Carol said that it was ok. Lizzie took Carol's words to heart during the prison assault by the Governor and his militia when she convinced Mika and the other children that they should not run away, that they should be strong, and get some guns to join the fight. Carol was utterly distraught after she discovered that Lizzie murdered Mika. Carol then forced herself to execute Lizzie for the safety of everyone else. Tyreese Williams
Lizzie and Tyreese had little interaction, but in "Too Far Gone", Lizzie and Mika saved Tyreese's life by shooting Alisha and another member of the Governor's militia to death, who were pinning Tyreese down with their own gunfire. Tyreese was grateful to Lizzie and Mika, and later said that they have to escape. When he and the girls reunite with Carol and they find an abandoned cottage, Tyreese enjoyed their time together, even suggesting they settle down there. Later, when Carol and Tyreese see that Lizzie has murdered her sister and is about to kill Judith, Tyreese is horrified. He then assumes that she killed Karen and David because of her psychotic tendencies, and agreed with Carol when she suggests that Lizzie should be executed for the safety of everyone else. He buried Lizzie and Mika in the grove before he, Carol, and Judith return to the road and towards Terminus. After the events at the grove, Tyreese was emotionally drained. He was unable to kill walkers and preferred to stay behind and care for Judith instead of fighting. When he was asked by Rick Grimes how it was getting to Terminus, he said, "It killed me," emphasizing the toll that the incident with the girls took on him. Weeks later, as he was dying, he hallucinates of Lizzie and Mika, indicating his guilt over their deaths. He had repeated flashbacks to the tracks leading to Terminus, lending weight to his statement to Rick back at the church, and, as he was being carried away to safety, he had a flashback of Carol executing Lizzie at the grove. As he succumbed to death, he was accompanied by the hallucinations of Lizzie and Mika, who told him, "It's not just okay. It's better now." Rick Grimes
Lizzie and Rick were never seen interacting with each other on-screen. However, it can be assumed that he cared for her to an extent, as he did not want Carol to take her on the road with her on account of her illness, and he promised Carol that he would take good care of Lizzie and Mika. Due to Carol and Tyreese keeping the demise of Lizzie and her sister Mika a secret from everyone when they reunited, it can be assumed Rick thought Lizzie died during the prison assault. Carl Grimes
Carl was seen with Lizzie, Mika, and other children at the outside of the prison while they stared at the walkers. Carl argued with Lizzie about her idea on giving names to the walkers. Carl exclaimed that the walkers have no personality because they are dead; all they do is eat people. Lizzie told Carl that walkers are not dead, just different. Judith Grimes
Lizzie and the other children would interact with Judith once in a while. Lizzie helped the other children watch over Judith during the assault on the prison from the Governor and his militia. In "Inmates" Lizzie interacted with Judith and tried to stop her crying, however, it is uncertain whether Lizzie was just trying to keep Judith quiet, or smother her to death instead. In "The Grove" after Carol and Tyreese discovered that Lizzie murdered Mika, Lizzie pointed her gun at them. Lizzie told Carol and Tyreese that she wanted to also murder Judith so that both Mika and Judith can come back as walkers. Carol then talked Lizzie out of murdering Judith and convinced her to give up her weapons. Hershel GreeneHershel and Lizzie interacted on numerous occasions. When Lizzie was sick, Hershel took care of her by making her tea, letting her read and play, and even saving her from a walker that attacked her. When Glenn was suffocating, Lizzie bought Hershel some time to figure out a way to save Glenn by distracting the walker that was heading towards Glenn. Lizzie was not present when Hershel was killed by the Governor. It is uncertain if she found out about Hershel's demise. Maggie Greene
Maggie and Lizzie were only seen interacting once, but it can be presumed that they had a stable relationship. It is unclear whether or not Maggie was aware of Lizzie's role in saving Glenn's life. Bob Stookey
In a deleted scene [1], Bob and Lizzie are shown to have been acquaintances. When Lizzie walked into Bob crying in his cell, Lizzie asked if he's sad. Bob responds saying that it was just a bad dream and Lizzie then explained how she had bad dreams but she forgot them when she wakes up. Bob said that she's lucky, and Lizzie reminded him about the supply run. Bob thanked Lizzie for doing so, and patted her on the head before heading out. |
Appearances
TV SeriesSeason 4
Season 5
Season 10
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| Episodes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
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| Season 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | ✔ | ✔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 10 | ✔ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 11 |
| ✔ | Appears | ✔ | Voice is heard |
| 👁 | Appears with no lines | ✔ | Appears in a flashback |
| ✔ | Appears as a walker | 🖼 | Appears in a photograph/video |
| ✔ | Appears as a corpse | ✔ | Appears in a hallucination/dream |
Trivia
- Lizzie is the first child to become an antagonist in the TV series.
- Lizzie was shown to have mental instability and adjustment issues:
- She named and talked to the walkers at the fence, insisting that they are still people and that they just wanted a friend.
- She fed live rats to walkers. The feeder was unknown for a long time, but Tyreese confirmed that Lizzie confessed to it, who claimed to be 'just having fun'.
- A small dissected animal was found tied to a board in the prison, and it was later found that it was Lizzie's work.
- She seemingly tries to suffocate Judith by blocking her mouth and nose as she cried.
- She also tried to kill Judith again shortly after Mika's death, but Carol and Tyreese arrive in time to stop her.
- On both occasions, Carol stopped her from killing Judith.
- She admitted to Carol that she didn't mean to shoot Alisha in the head because she wanted her to be able to come back as a walker.
- She allowed a walker to chase her and flies into a rage when Carol killed it. She insists she was playing with it and that it wouldn't hurt her because it just wanted a friend, as with the walkers at the prison fences.
- She showed a symptom of psychosis when she admitted to her sister that she can "hear them" while looking at an incapacitated walker, explaining why she understands them. She then almost allowed herself to be bitten to "change".
- Her actions also indicated she may be a amoral sociopath who suffers from delusions which might be caused and influenced by the outbreak and the survivors she'd been around.
- She murdered her sister Mika to show Carol and Tyreese that when she came back she will be the same, similar to when Ben murdered Billy in Issue 61 of the comic series for the same reason.
- After murdering her sister, she assumed that the reason Carol wanted to talk to her in private is because she is mad that Lizzie pointed a gun at her, rather than because she murdered her own sister and was going to do the same to Judith.
- Her family seemed to be aware of her mental health instability. This is shown not only by Mika's conversations with Carol, but also by the fact that everytime she had a breakdown, her sister told her to look at the flowers, to see something beautiful, which was a type of anesthesia for her anger and pain.
- Ironically, nearly every person that she indicated to want them to turn, either by mentioning it indirectly (Alisha) or indicating it in a breakdown (Ryan, Mika, Judith), ended up not turning, even the ones that were already undead (Nick, Griselda).
- Out of all those people, the only one that survived her murder attempts is Judith, the only one whom she tried to kill twice.
- The only person she intended to kill and did reanimate was the unnamed soldier.
- Lizzie's character mirrored many traits of the comic series character Ben.
- Lizzie had several qualities that make her distinctly different from her sister:
- Lizzie had no difficulty killing living things, including people, but was unable to kill the undead or people who will soon reanimate, while Mika would only kill the undead.
- While younger, Mika was more rational and mature than Lizzie.
- Lizzie often ran directly into danger, while Mika usually preferred to run away from it.
- This may not have been overseen as brave nor mature, while she was still as childish as her sister.
- Lizzie was often pedantic and irrational, especially in regards to the idea of killing walkers, while Mika was usually calm and level-headed until she and those around her were put in danger.
- It is unclear if she was truly sick with the flu. She may have faked her sickness so she could watch the other survivors turn.
- Lizzie's death is similar to that of Lennie from "Of Mice and Men":
- Lizzie was responsible for the death of Mika, like Lennie being responsible for the death of Curley's wife (albeit Curley's wife's death was an accident).
- Carol made sure to comfort Lizzie before her death, telling her to "Look at the flowers", similar to how George retold the future of their farm with the rabbits being the thing Lennie talked of most frequently.
- Lizzie was also shot in the back of the head by Carol from behind whilst in some sort of comfort by their executioner, similar to how George shot Lenny in the back of the head whilst telling him the future of their farm.