Karen (The Walking Dead)

Karen
The Walking Dead character
First appearance	"The Suicide King"
Last appearance	"Infected" (Alive) "Isolation" (Corpse) "Indifference" (Flashback)
Portrayed by	Melissa Ponzio

Karen is a fictional character from the American television series The Walking Dead portrayed by Melissa Ponzio. She is an original character and has no comic counterpart.

Television series

Fictional character biography

Season 3

Karen is a resident of Woodbury, and one of The Governor's enforcers tasked with protecting the wall. In the episode "The Suicide King", Karen is seen trying to leave Woodbury when conditions worsen. Andrea calms Karen and the other residents down, and they stay in Woodbury. In the episode "Home", Andrea asks Karen for Martinez and The Governor's whereabouts; she tells Andrea the two left Woodbury but dodges further questions. In the episode "I Ain't a Judas", Karen becomes angry when the asthmatic adolescent, Noah, is forced to join Woodbury's army. In the episode "Welcome to the Tombs", Karen is among The Governor's soldiers who attack and fail to take over the prison. When the army rebels against returning to the prison, The Governor shoots all of them, except his top henchmen (Martinez and Shumpert), and Karen, who hides under a body and survives. She is found by Rick, Michonne, and Daryl hiding in a truck, and is among the citizens of Woodbury who are taken to the prison.

Season 4

In the season 4 premiere episode, "30 Days Without an Accident", Karen has begun a relationship with Tyreese. However, in the second episode, "Infected", when an illness similar to the flu is found to be the reason that another survivor, Patrick, died and began killing others inside the prison as a reanimated walker, Karen starts coughing often enough to be considered infected with the disease. Despite Tyreese's protests, the Council (Daryl, Carol, Hershel, Glenn, and Sasha) orders for Karen and a man named David (whom Karen informed the Council was also repeatedly coughing) to be quarantined in another cell. At the end of the episode, when Tyreese is bringing her a bouquet of flowers, he finds the cell empty and a trail of blood leading out of the cell into the nearby courtyard. Upon entering the courtyard, he finds the burned bodies of Karen (recognizable due to her metal bracelet) and David, with a can of gasoline next to them. In the episode "Isolation", Tyreese shows the corpses to Rick, Daryl, and Carol. Shortly after, Carol admitted to Rick to have murdered and burned both of them under the pretense that it would stop the disease from spreading. In the episode "Indifference", in a flashback Rick imagines Carol killing Karen with a knife and dragging her corpse out of the infirmary.