Characters come and go on The Walking Dead, meaning a lot of guest stars have paid their due time in the zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead was like the Grey’s Anatomy of apocalyptic shows, where actors would star for one or two episodes until they met their fictional death. A lot of these actors were already pretty big in the industry before signing on, and for some, The Walking Dead was their big break.

The Walking Dead didn’t start attracting notable guest stars until around Season 6, likely because of the critically acclaimed fifth season. Once the main cast started getting into the double digits, often making it too hard to count, the deaths started racking up. But to be on The Walking Dead for a short time was a rite of passage for a lot of actors, and a fun time to experiment with gory death scenes.

10Noah Emmerich Played Dr. Edwin Jenner

Season 1, Episode 5, “Wildfire” – Season 1, Episode 6, “TS-19”

The first notable guest star on The Walking Dead takes it back to the beginning, all the way to the end of Season 1. The series already had recognizable names in the main and supporting cast, but it also didn’t skimp out on the smaller roles. Noah Emmerich was in Episodes 5 and 6 of Season 1 as Dr. Edwin Jenner, the last scientist still working on a cure at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

Emmerich is best known for his role as FBI agent Stan Beeman on The Americans from 2013-2018. His roles before The Walking Dead included Beautiful Girls and The Truman Show. Despite him nearly killing all the survivors that entered the CDC for protection, Jenner was such a popular and impactful character that he returned for the post-credits scene in The Walking Dead: World Beyond finale.

9Robin Lord Taylor Played Sam

Season 4, Episode 4, “Indifference” – Season 5, Episode 1, “No Sanctuary”

DC fans will recognize Robin Lord Taylor as one of Batman’s most iconic villains: The Penguin. Though he didn’t play The Penguin from the acclaimed 2024 HBO series, he did portray the character in another DC series that’s worth watching: Gotham. Other noteworthy projects of his are John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, You and Kevin Can F*ck Himself.

The Walking Dead was almost Taylor’s breakthrough, even in just one episode in Season 4. Rick and Carol meet his character, Sam, and his girlfriend on a run. In the Season 5 premiere, Rick and Sam cross paths again at Terminus, but Sam is killed by the cannibals in their line-up.

8Ethan Embry Played Carter

Season 6, Episode 1, “First time Again”

Ethan Embry’s role as Carter is more of a “blink, and you miss it” moment, given a lot that is going on in the Season 6 premiere. The episode experimented with black-and-white color grading to depict flashbacks as opposed to the colorful present day storyline. There were also other new characters introduced, such as Heath, and The Walking Dead had to find a way to integrate Morgan back into the mix.

Ethan Embry, however, does have a significant part in this one episode as Carter, an Alexandrian who expresses doubt over Rick taking over as the leader of the community. To no one’s surprise, Rick and Carter get off on the wrong foot, but Rick mercifully kills him when Carter is bitten by a walker on the cheek. Outside of The Walking Dead, fans can find Embry in the Showtime series Brotherhood and the upcoming untitled Christy Martin film starring Sydney Sweeney.

7Merritt Weaver Played Denise

Season 6, Episode 2, “JSS” – Season 6, Episode 14, “Twice as Far”

Merritt Weaver’s time on The Walking Dead is a lot longer than other actors on this list, lasting 12 episodes. But with such a large ensemble in Season 6, Weaver’s character Denise was still only a smaller part in the larger story. Before The Walking Dead, Weaver had an even bigger part on Nurse Jackie from 2009 to 2015 as Zoey Barkow, which she earned a Primetime Emmy Award for.

After Pete’s death in the Season 5 finale of The Walking Dead, Denise was promoted as the new medic of Alexandria. However, she was riddled with anxiety about her new position and often doubted her ability to help others in a life-or-death situation. Her death in “Twice as Far” was the catalyst for Alexandria’s fatal confrontation with Negan in the Season 6 finale.

6John Carroll Lynch Played Eastman

Season 6, Episode 4, “Here’s Not Here”

It only makes sense that a character who leaves a lasting footprint that carries into the spinoff Fear the Walking Dead is played by such an unforgettable actor as John Carroll Lynch. In a bottle episode of Season 6, Lynch plays Eastman, a man who teaches Morgan Jones a pacifist way of life. Eastman’s teachings would be the guiding force for Morgan’s philosophy in later seasons of The Walking Dead, and eventually, Fear the Walking Dead.

Lynch’s role as Eastman earned him a nomination for a Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television. But aside from The Walking Dead, Lynch made a name for himself for his acting roles in American Horror Story, Fargo and Zodiac, and made his award-winning directorial debut with Lucky.

5Alicia Witt Played Paula

Season 6, Episode 12, “Not Tomorrow Yet” – Season 6, Episode 13, “The Same Boat”

In Season 6, Rick and his crew make a risky choice to take out the Saviors in their sleep to prevent a problem before it starts, and it ends up backfiring on them. A small group of Saviors led by a woman named Paula (Alicia Witt) takes Carol and Maggie hostage. Paula stubbornly refuses to let Maggie and Carol go, despite negotiations with Rick over a walkie-talkie, and atrociously goes out by a walker bite.

Sci-fi fans may recognize Witt from her debut role as Alia Atreides in David Lynch’s 1984 film Dune. She continued her partnership with Lynch by starring in an episode of Twin Peaks. Most recently, Witt was in the 2024 horror film Longlegs as Ruth, the religious mother of Maika Monroe’s Lee.

4Rutina Wesley Played Jocelyn

Season 9, Episode 14, “Scars”

Before Rutina Wesley was surviving the Cordyceps apocalypse on HBO’s The Last of Us, she was surviving the zombie apocalypse on The Walking Dead. Wesley was only in one episode of the HBO series’ first season as Maria, Tommy Miller’s wife and co-leader of a community in Jackson, Wyoming. Similarly, she had a very small part to play on The Walking Dead, but ended up making such a huge impact on Michonne’s life.

Wesley portrayed Jocelyn, Michonne’s former best friend before the apocalypse, in Season 9, Episode 14, “Scars.” While she seemed appreciative of Michonne’s hospitality at first, Jocelyn kidnaps Judith Grimes and several other children. A pregnant Michonne is forced to kill her and the children of Jocelyn’s group, psychologically scarring her. Following this incident, Michonne cuts off Alexandria’s communication with Hilltop, Oceanside and the Kingdom, creating animosity with her former friends.

3Thora Birch Played Gamma / Mary

Season 10, Episode 2, “We Are the End of the World” – Season 10, Episode 12, “Walk With Us”

Thora Birch is a former child star known for Hocus Pocus who came into prominence as an adult actor in American Beauty. Several years later, Birch played Mary in the tenth season of The Walking Dead. Mary was the third-in-command of the Whisperers, being rewarded the title of “Gamma” after killing her own sister to save Alpha’s life.

Mary would go on to strip herself of her Whisperer identity and use her own name again, redeeming herself in the Coalition’s eyes. In her last moment, Mary sacrifices herself to distract a herd of walkers away from her baby nephew, Adam, and is killed by Beta when she’s distracted.

2Robert Patrick Played Mays

Season 10, Episode 19, “One More”

When Season 10 was airing on AMC, the COVID-19 pandemic forced television productions to shut down for safety purposes. As a result, The Walking Dead‘s Season 10 finale aired six months later than intended. To make up for the delay of Season 11, The Walking Dead released a set of bonus episodes that are considered “Season 10C.”

The episodes gave a chance for well-known actors to take part in the series for a single episode, one of them being Robert Patrick. The actor has been in so many projects that it’s hard to pinpoint the best of the best. But some of the highlights include Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The X-Files and The Sopranos. In The Walking Dead, Patrick embraced the terror of humanity’s undoing as Mays, who forces Aaron and Gabriel to play a game of Russian roulette.

1Hilarie Burton Morgan Played Lucille Smith

Season 10, Epiosde 22, “Here’s Negan”

In the standalone episode, “Here’s Negan,” The Walking Dead uncovers who Negan was before the leader of the Saviors. Negan had told the story of his wife, Lucille, in passing and why he named his infamous barbed wire baseball bat after her. But it’s not until “Here’s Negan” that audiences actually get a glimpse of who she was.

Lucille was actually played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan, who is also an accomplished actor on her own. Burton Morgan portrayed Peyton Sawyer on One Tree Hill for six seasons, which is still her biggest role to date. She may have only been on The Walking Dead for one episode, but the emotional gravity she brought to Lucille made “Here’s Negan” one of the most memorable episodes of the series.

The Walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix.