Andrea

Appearances

Comic book series

As a main character of the comic book series, Andrea appears in every single volume. The character is introduced in issue two of The Walking Dead in the "Days Gone Bye" storyline on November 12, 2003 while her first prose appearance is issue five on February 1, 2004 as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. A former file clerk, Andrea is a head-strong and independent young woman beginning to find her place in the world. During the initial stages of the outbreak, she and her younger sister Amy are getting back from a road trip and heading towards Amy's college, when they are stranded and eventually picked up by fellow survivor Dale. They set up camp together on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, where they are soon joined by other survivors. The group members 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 moves on, first to a gated community named Wiltshire Estates where Andrea and Dale engage in sex and thus begin a relationship. Following their desertion from the community, they end up at a farm, where they enjoy temporary peace. While there, Andrea makes continued failed attempts at consoling Allen and is concerned for the well-being of his children. No sooner after their arrival are they ousted from the farm by Hershel, and soon afterward while on the road she and Dale discover a path leading to a prison facility.

In "Safety Behind Bars" (vol. #3), Andrea takes part in the clearing out of the prison. One of the surviving inmates named Thomas Richards attempts to behead her as she does laundry. She manages to escape, but her earlobe is partially severed and she receives a facial scar. In "The Heart's Desire" (vol. #4), in the aftermath of Thomas Richards' death, Andrea settles in and takes it upon herself to do others' laundry, among other household-like tasks. In addition to this, she discovers prison uniforms for the group to swap with their old clothes, and tests her sewing skills to make sure everyone has the appropriate length, ultimately becoming the group's seamstress. Dale and Andrea later 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. In the seventh volume "The Calm Before", Andrea teaches other group members to shoot to prepare them to defend the prison, and joins an expedition led by fellow group member Tyreese to a nearby National Guard station, so as 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 becomes jealous when Andrea begins spending increased amounts of time with group member Tyreese, until she reveals that Tyreese was helping her make a wooden leg and crutches for Dale. In "Made to Suffer", the eighth volume and conclusion to the first compendium, 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 retreats, 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.

Television series

Andrea, a civil rights attorney, along with her younger sister Amy are part of the quarry survivor camp outside of Atlanta. She is part of a scavenger group trapped in a department store in Atlanta when Rick Grimes arrives. After rescuing Rick, the group takes some time to plan out; during this, Andrea realizes that Amy's birthday is coming up and takes a necklace for her. Later, they are forced to handcuff Merle to pipes on the store's roof when he becomes violent, and end up leaving him there when they make their escape. The group eventually escape and make their way back to the quarry. Later, Rick and others go back to Atlanta to retrieve his gun bag. While they are gone, the quarry camp is overrun with walkers, and Amy is among those to be bitten. Andrea holds a dying Amy in her arms, putting the necklace on her, and tearfully telling her how much she loves her; however, as soon as Amy turns, Andrea shoots her, and hugs the body before she is buried with the others.

The group opts to leave the quarry and head for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in downtown Atlanta, hoping there will still be researchers there. However, only one, Dr. Jenner, remains, but he offers the group shelter. While the group enjoys the luxuries of the CDC, they learn that it is already running on emergency power and once the generators run out of fuel, the building will explode as a failsafe to kill the virulent samples it contains. While others in the group attempt to escape, Andrea and Jacqui elect to stay behind with Dr. Jenner, ready to die. Dale decides he will also stay along with Andrea to encourage her to come with him, as she still has much more to live for, Andrea was forced to come with him. They make it out of the building in time before it explodes. The group leaves Atlanta towards Fort Benning.

Due to several events, the group is allowed to take shelter on Hershel Greene's farmstead while they search for Sophia who went missing in the midst of a walker horde passage. Andrea is angry with Dale for denying her the choice to die. This intensifies when he agrees with Rick and Shane Walsh that only those who have been trained should be allowed firearms and later confiscates her father's gun. Andrea helps to keep watch over the farm. Lori Grimes also criticizes Andrea for not supporting the group through necessary chores such as cooking.

In the Greene household, Hershel's youngest daughter Beth becomes suicidal, and put on watch. During Andrea's watch, Andrea decides to leave the room, believing that Beth would come to realize that she didn't want to die by being left by herself, but Beth takes the opportunity to try to slit her wrists. Hershel and Maggie race to bandage her wounds, which were shallow and not lethal, but Maggie is furious with Andrea and bans her from the house. Despite her now-tense relationship with Dale she becomes the only one to stand with him at a group meeting against executing Randall Culver, an injured stranger who could've potentially disclosed their location to a hostile group. Dale is killed by a walker that night, leaving Andrea without her longest-surviving companion after her sister had died.

Development

Casting

Andrea is portrayed by Laurie Holden, who was cast as part of the series in 2010. Prior to the show, Holden had been in two of Frank Darabont's films, The Majestic (2001) and The Mist (2007); in the latter she starred with three other The Walking Dead cast members (Melissa McBride, Juan Pareja and Jeffrey DeMunn). Soon after being cast, she read through the comics to analyze and get a definite understanding of Andrea's character. She acknowledged her enjoyment of having a much more physical role than on some of her other past projects, as well as her excitement towards having her character gradually become a warrior like in the comics.

Characterization

Andrea, as she appears in the comic series, is described by The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd as "a key member of the survivor group who has a proficiency with a sniper rifle and falls for a man twice her age." Showrunner Scott M. Gimple (season 4–present) describes Andrea in the comic as having an "interesting evolution". He said: "There was a certain brashness and cockiness that she had. We've seen her mature." In the television series, she attempts suicide at the end of the first season, but Dale talks her out of this. Comic co-creator Robert Kirkman explained that her ensuing desire to protect herself would begin her evolution into her comic counterpart, "the fearless sharpshooter". On television, Andrea's motivation shifts following Dale's death. Holden allowed the event to color her portrayal, and for the remainder of season two, before each scene she filmed, she thought "Andrea, you must honor Dale." She explained that "every move that Andrea makes from that point forward is about honoring Dale, and that means being a leader, having a stronger moral compass, being compassionate and really lending her hand more so than she would have before." Former showrunner Glen Mazzara deemed Andrea the only character who could "hold [her] head up" after Dale's death, as she alone supported him against killing Randall and is "the one person who feels that she stood by him at the end."

Relationships

In the comic series, Andrea has a physical relationship with Dale. Holden was surprised to discover this while researching her role, but in March 2011, stated her intention to "honor the relationship well". However, Mazzara and Kirkman decided not to incorporate the relationship into the television series, and Dale was killed much sooner in the television series than he was in the comics. Holden was dismayed by his departure; she commented that she "love[d] the Dale-Andrea dynamic and ... felt like [they] had so much more story to explore together". For Kirkman, the effect of Dale's death on the continuing plot was worth sacrificing their relationship. He expressed his approval of the differences between the series and its source material, and advised viewers interested in the relationship storyline to read the comics.

Also in the comics, Andrea and Rick eventually become romantically involved within their time at the Alexandria Safe-Zone community. Their relationship, while genuine and affectionate, was initially shown to be strained, as Rick struggled to get over the deaths of his past lovers and Andrea found herself constantly at odds with some of Rick's decisions in life-threatening matters. Later, especially near the end of the war and two years later, Andrea and Rick's relationship is very intimate and close, as Carl looks to Andrea as a maternal figure, referring to her "mom".

Though Shane dies in the comics before the group reaches the farm, he remains alive longer in the television series. This resulted in alterations to the ensuing plot, including the creation of a relationship between Andrea and Shane. In season three, Andrea begins flirting with the Governor, the leader of a town she and Michonne are staying at, before she enters into a full-fledged romantic/sexual relationship with him.

Departure from show

The death of Andrea (Laurie Holden) in the television series marks one of the biggest departures from Robert Kirkman's source material in which Andrea played an active role within the series beyond this for a total of 13 years. In an interview published March 31, 2013, TVLine asked Holden how long in advance she knew about her character Andrea's death. Holden replied, "I didn't get the official word until a few days before we began [shooting] the finale. It was a shock to everyone. It was never part of the original story docs for Season 3. And it was rather unexpected." Robert Kirkman said: "The comics still exist and I'd urge those people to continue reading the comics where Andrea is still alive. Just know the show is something different and we are telling different stories. It doesn't mean we're not going to see a lot of the big stories and big events from the comic book in the TV show eventually; it just means those things will be a little bit altered from time to time. Hopefully it will be exciting, new and fresh just like it was the first time you read the comic, which is really the goal." Kirkman also said: "It's something that was debated quite a bit. There was a lot of opposition in the writers' room. I bounced back and forth between 'We really shouldn't kill her' and 'this is a good idea.' In the end it all came together and we decided to go for it. It was definitely something that divided the room to a certain extent."

Holden expressed desires of wanting to continue Andrea's story but she was grateful for the end result: "Do I wish we could've seen and explored more of the comic-book-Robert-Kirkman Andrea? Yes. Absolutely. Do I wish that I had more scenes with Michonne showing that friendship? Yes. Absolutely. But at the end of the day, I don't think I could ask for a better death. I feel like her life mattered, and she died trying, and her heart was in the right place. I feel grateful for that. You can't have it all."

Glen Mazzara said the decision to kill off Andrea occurred organically throughout the season, and talks of it emerged half-way through. He also addressed that he never planned to faithfully follow the comic book source material anyway, regarding the negative feedback from comic book readers. On the significance of Andrea's death, he said:

I thought it was important that we always show that no one is safe. It's also important to show the effect that these deaths have on our other characters. Andrea's death, for example, I knew Rick was going to finally open up the gates of the prison after a season in which he's trying to hide away from the world and lock everybody away and keep them safe. He realizes what that means -- that our group is now becoming isolated and will be picked off, that his own son is on the road to becoming the Governor (David Morrissey), so he has to open up the gates and let other people in and be compassionate. At the end of the finale, he brings in these women, children and elderly people and the group is going to transform. There needed to be a blood sacrifice for that, and there had to be a price that was paid. Andrea paying that price was important. She is unable to re-enter the group. In a way, a lot of what she did was bring the two groups together. But she's never able to enter the prison and be reunited in a full way with Rick's group. That was an ultimate sacrifice that was worthy of the season finale.

Departure from comic book series

The death of Andrea in the comic book series came four years later in "Issue #167" after the war with Negan and the Whisperers. Robert Kirkman issued an apology for killing Andrea and said, "“I'm sorry. I'm sorry to my fans and to myself and to Andrea. I feel like I killed a close friend. The deaths in this series are never taken lightly, they're never done with a sense of glee. They weigh on me the same way they weigh on you. These characters are very real to me, and their deaths are upsetting even to me. I plotted this issue out during a plane ride a few months ago. I plot my stories down with a pencil and paper, and there I was in my seat, blocking out scenes and writing dialog notes, surrounded by strangers who probably thought I was jotting down a shopping list. As I was writing some of the moments from this issue, I started crying. I found myself glancing around, wiping my eyes, hoping no one would notice. I've been living with this death for months now…and I don't like it. I had plenty of time to change my mind. I had plenty of time to just not do it. I am in control of this story after all. But honestly, sometimes it feels like I'm not. This was one of those times. I don't like this. I don't want this. I want Andrea to live. I want to write more stories with her. I want to see her and Rick grow old together, watching Carl grow up and have kids of his own. I want that kind of happiness for these characters. And yet, here we are. Andrea is dead and the story moves on. I don't know why this had to happen…but I know it did. I know this is another important turning point in the life of this series. I know Andrea's death will mean something, that will resonate in the stories moving forward for years to come. But I still don't like it. It still upsets me. I loved Andrea and I will truly miss her.”

Reception

Comic book series response

The Weekly Crisis listed Andrea as #2 in their list of The Ten Best Characters in The Walking Dead, describing her as "Rick's real right hand, and she's definitely no man", commenting on her expert marksmanship, loyalty and positively calling Rick and Andrea a "power couple".

Television series response

Holden's performance as Andrea was well-received, particularly in the first and second seasons. Her character's role in the third season, however, was often criticized by critics and fans alike. Many praised the sisterly bond between Andrea and her sister, Amy (Emma Bell), her relationship with Dale and Andrea's grieving process and transformation into a skilled fighter by the end of the second season. For her performance in the first season, in 2011, Holden received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress on Television for her portrayal of Andrea. Her portrayal as Andrea in "TS-19" was particularly well received by MTV's Josh Wigler, who said she "delivered great character work." Similarly, Alan Sepinwall of HitFix ultimately cited the performance of Laurie Holden as an episode highlight.

For her performance in the second season, she was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Scream Award. For the season 2 premiere "What Lies Ahead", Derek Boeckelmann of the Daily Nexus praised the performance of Holden, saying that she "continues to be the strongest of the show's players, consistently putting forth exceptional performances as the grieving Andrea." Critics applauded the growing relationship between Andrea and Shane in the episode "Secrets". Despite describing them as an "unlikely pairing", Scott Meslow of The Atlantic asserted that it was superior to the storyline between Andrea and Dale. "There's something to be said for the occasional post-apocalyptic tryst, which allows two characters who've experienced almost nothing but misery to have, even for a moment, something that resembles joy," he articulated. Meslow retorted that it was wise to underplay the tryst between Shane and Andrea, which he predicted would not lead to anything serious.

The character development of Andrea produced uniform praise among critics in the season 2 finale, "Beside the Dying Fire". Writing for Paste, Josh Jackson felt that it served as the episode's highlight, and further assessed that she emulated actress Linda Hamilton. "After a season of whining, there had to have been at least a few fans pulling for the walkers in her early scenes, but she quickly became Linda Hamilton-badass, braining zombies with her foot," he said. Likewise, Kine asserted that "the badass she has tried so hard to convince us all she is finally came across." Ryan thought that Andrea's struggle to survive was a strong way to build up the exodus of the group. She spoke of her scene with Michonne: "She'd fought so hard to live that I wanted Andrea to fend off that final batch of walkers successfully. When it appeared she might not live, I was, quite rightly, on the edge of my seat. And the appearance of the caped figure—towing two armless walkers, no less—was as dramatic as could be."

Merchandising

Among the various action figures released by McFarlane Toys, Andrea is featured in two line-ups. In the series 3 line-up of figures for Skybound's The Walking Dead comic book series, she wears a tank top and has two facial scars. Other accessories include her signature scoped rifle, along with a pistol and a knife. The figure is 5 to 5 1/2 inches in scale, and also has a black and white bloody version. Her television series counterpart also appears in the fourth line-up of its 4 to 4/12 inch figures. The figure comes with a pistol with leg holster, sniper rifle, and pitchfork from Hershel's farm.