Andrea (The Walking Dead)

Andrea
The Walking Dead character
First appearance	Issue 2 (comics) "Guts" (television)
Created by	Robert Kirkman
Portrayed by	Laurie Holden

Andrea is a fictional character from the comic book series The Walking Dead and the American television series of the same name.

Appearances

Comics

Andrea is introduced in issue two of The Walking Dead as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. She and her younger sister Amy were picked up by fellow survivor Dale Hovarth, and set up camp together on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, where they were soon joined by others. The group learn to handle guns, and Andrea discovers that she is an excellent marksman. When zombies invade the camp, Amy is bitten. A distraught Andrea shoots her sister to ensure that she does not return as a zombie. The group move on, first to a gated community where Andrea and Dale begin a relationship, then a farm, before discovering a prison compound. One of the remaining inmates attacks Andrea, intent on beheading her. She manages to escape, but her earlobe is partially severed and she receives a facial scar. Dale and Andrea discuss the possibility of leaving the group, but ultimately stay. They become surrogate parents to twins Billy and Ben when their father Allen is bitten by a zombie and dies.

The prison's existence is discovered by The Governor – the leader of Woodbury, a nearby town of survivors. Andrea teaches other group members to shoot to prepare them to defend the prison, and travels with several others to a nearby army base to increase their arsenal of weapons. Upon their return, Andrea discovers that Dale has been bitten on the calf by a zombie. She hurries him to the infirmary, where Rick Grimes, the groups' leader, cuts off his leg to save his life. Dale is jealous when Andrea begins spending increased amounts of time with group member Tyreese, until she reveals that he was helping her make a wooden leg and crutches for him. When The Governor launches an attack on the prison, Andrea serves as a sniper and kills many of their attackers, though she is grazed by a bullet and receives a second facial scar. The Woodbury group retreat, and Dale convinces Andrea to leave the prison with him and the twins. When the prison is attacked for a second time, Andrea returns alone and again kills a number of the Woodbury group.

The prison survivors reunite back at the farm, where they meet a new group and decide to travel with them to Washington D.C.. En-route, Dale attempts to convince Andrea to again break from the group, and start a new life with Billy and Ben in an abandoned farmhouse. Andrea displays reluctance, and the suggestion becomes moot with the arrival of a herd of zombies. While on the road again, Ben murders Billy, seemingly unaware of the gravity of his actions. The group discuss killing him, and Dale suggests that the three of them leave together, but that night, Ben is shot by Rick's son Carl. Andrea is distraught, even more so when Dale disappears. She admits to Rick that she fears Dale never knew of her genuine love for him. Dale is later returned to the group missing his second leg, which has been eaten by cannibals. He reveals that he is dying, as he had been bitten by a zombie and left during the night to spare Andrea the pain of his death. She, Rick, Michonne and Abraham hunt down and murder the cannibals. She tells Dale how much she loves him, and is with him when he dies. As with Amy, she shoots him to stop him from turning into a zombie.

On the outskirts of Washington, the group are recruited by a scout for a nearby safe zone, Alexandria. Andrea becomes the town's look-out. Although she is pessimistic as to how long their safety will last, she attempts to discourage Rick from challenging the safe zone's hierarchy. She rebuffs the romantic advances of the zone's leader, Douglas, and while she later shares a flirtation with his son Spencer, she terminates their fledgling relationship when he suggests they abandon the zone while the other inhabitants are under attack from zombies. Andrea develops feelings for Rick. They share a kiss, but he rebuffs her, with the explanation that everyone he cares about dies, and he does not want to lose her. She attempts to convince him that their shared experiences make them uniquely compatible, and insists on joining him in his journey to a neighbouring safe zone, to demonstrate that he need not worry about her safety.

Television

In the television series, Andrea is twelve, not two years older than Amy (Emma Bell). She first appears in episode two, "Guts", in which she and a group of survivors become trapped in a department building while on a supply run. They are saved by group member Glenn (Steven Yeun) and newcomer Rick (Andrew Lincoln), and make it back to their camp, where Andrea reunites with Amy. Several days later, the camp becomes overrun with zombies and Amy is bitten. Andrea holds her dead sister for hours until she reanimates, then shoots her. The group take shelter at the Center for Disease Control, which is set to explode when the power runs out. A depressed Andrea elects to stay behind and die. Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) attempts to convince her to leave, and resolves to stay with her when she refuses. Unwilling to be responsible for his death, Andrea changes her mind and the two escape with moments to spare.

Andrea is angry with Dale for denying her the choice to die. This intensifies when he agrees with Rick and Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) that only those who have been trained should be allowed firearms, and confiscates her father's gun. She later approaches Shane and asks to go with him should he leave the group. Dale returns Andrea's gun, but asks her not to give him cause to regret it. The group set up camp at a farm. While keeping watch, Andrea mistakes group member Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) for a zombie and clips him with a bullet. He forgives her, and Shane helps Andrea to improve her shooting skills. The two scout out a nearby housing estate and become surrounded by zombies. After initially struggling to shoot them, Andrea makes a string of accurate head-shots. On the way back to camp, she and Shane have sex. Dale expresses his distrust of Shane, but Andrea insists that he has done more for the group than even its leader, Rick. Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Rick's wife, confronts Andrea about her contributions to the group, suggesting that her time would be better spent cooking and doing laundry than taking watch. Further conflict arises when Andrea leaves Beth Greene (Emily Kinney), the farm owner's suicidal daughter, alone, giving her the chance to die should she wish to. Beth cuts her wrist, but only shallowly. Andrea is pleased that Beth has chosen to live, but is banned from the farmhouse by Beth's sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

External links

• Andrea at AMC
• Template:IMDb character