Shane (full name in the television series: Shane Walsh) is a fictional character from the comic book series The Walking Dead and was portrayed by Jon Bernthal in the American television series of the same name.
In the comic series, Shane is portrayed as a Cynthiana Sheriff's Deputy, as well as the longtime friend and fellow police officer of series protagonist Rick Grimes. After Rick is shot and put into a coma, and the zombie outbreak occurs, he rescues Rick's family and leads a group of survivors, becoming romantically involved with Rick's wife, Lori. When Rick returns to his family alive, Shane grows increasingly jealous of their relationship, as well as Rick's role in the group.
In the television series' first season, Shane leads the survivors until Rick's arrival, then becomes Rick's right-hand man. The reunion is not completely amicable; in the second season, Shane develops into an antagonistic character, becoming more aggressive and unpredictable, due to his growing obsession with Lori and subsequent jealousy of Rick. He also becomes willing to abandon or kill those he deems liabilities to the group and has no moral conscience for outsiders. This puts Shane at odds with Rick's moral leadership, as he believes that Rick is ill-equipped to lead and that he would be a better leader. Lori and Carl become his only true concern, as opposed to the group itself.
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Appearances
Comic book series
Shane was a police officer in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and best friend of the town's deputy sheriff, Rick Grimes. After Rick is shot and put into a coma, and after the dead begin to rise, Shane accompanies Rick's wife, Lori Grimes, and Rick's son, Carl, to a purported safe zone in Atlanta, Georgia. They later form a group of survivors living on the outskirts of the city, with Shane repeatedly telling them that the government will one day return to save them. During this time, Shane and an emotionally destitute Lori share a night of sex, something that Shane had wanted for a long time.
Shane is first overjoyed when Rick joins the group, but gradually becomes jealous of Rick and Lori getting back together. Eventually, Lori brushes off Shane's advances and says that their brief romance must stop. Sent into an emotional meltdown by Lori siding with Rick, Shane leaves in a rage. Rick follows and Shane attempts to murder him, stating that he has nothing left to live for other than Lori. Carl happens upon the scene and shoots Shane through the neck, mortally wounding him. Rick later returns to the grave site and finds out that Shane has reanimated; he shoots him in the head to finally put him to rest, but does not rebury him. Shane's reanimation confirms that it is not necessary for someone to be bitten to turn, something that was previously witnessed at the prison. Shane coming back also confirms that this is not an isolated effect.
Television series
Prior to the zombie apocalypse, Shane is Rick Grimes's partner in the King County Sheriff's department. Rick is knocked into a coma after trying to capture escaped convicts, and Shane quickly gets him to a hospital.
During the initial onset of the apocalypse, as military forces indiscriminately kill anyone alive at the hospital, Shane tries to revive Rick, but he remains in a coma, and instead Shane secures his hospital room door to keep him hidden from the military. He then helps Rick's wife Lori and son Carl evacuate towards Atlanta. They join the group that camp in a quarry near Atlanta when they find that Atlanta has been overrun. During their time at camp, Lori presumes Rick is dead, and starts a romantic relationship with Shane. Shane is mentioned to have told Lori that Rick is dead and appears to have genuinely believed that. Shane securing Rick's door despite this belief appears to be the thing that kept him alive and protected from both the zombies and the soldiers who were killing everyone in the hospital.
Rick eventually wakes from the coma and makes his way towards Atlanta, and ends up meeting a scavenging group from the camp in the city. They bring him back to camp, both to Lori and Carl's elation and to concern to Shane. Lori ends her affair with Shane and warns Carl from being around Shane, fearing that Rick would take her brief affair with Shane poorly. Further, with Rick's presence, Shane's role in the group's leadership wanes, causing him to lose his temper and self-control. When Rick decides that they should head towards the CDC's Atlanta compound, Shane tries to ask Lori to convince Rick to change his mind, but Lori backs her husband. Dale sees Shane contemplating shooting Rick, and keeps his eye on him. The group meets Dr. Jenner, the last remaining researcher at the CDC, who allows them to stay. During the night, Shane gets drunk and attempts to rape Lori, but she fights back. The group learns that the CDC is running on emergency power, and will be destroyed when the fuel runs out as a means to destroy the infectious samples, and they are forced to flee just before that happens. Rick decides to lead the survivors towards Fort Benning.
The group is stopped on the road by a massive car pileup on the highway, and further waylaid when a walker horde passes, which ends up with Sophia Peletier running off on her own for safety. The group starts searching for her, and Shane quietly tells Lori he plans to leave the group soon. Rick, Carl, and Shane look for Sophia when Carl is accidentally shot by Otis, a farmhand from Hershel's farm, and they rush him back to the farm, where Hershel attempts to operate and remove the bullet. However, due to the severity of the wound, Hershel knows he will need more medicine, and Shane offers to go with Otis to recover this from a FEMA trailer located at a nearby school. At the school, the two recover the supplies, but both end up hurting their legs. While trying to limp to safety from a walker horde, Shane shoots Otis in the leg, using him as bait for the walkers so that he can get away. Back at the farm, Shane brings the necessary medicine and claims Otis didn't make it. The others seem to accept Shane's tale, but Shane proceeds to shave his head mostly to hide a patch of hair that Otis had ripped out after being shot. Dale and Daryl later confide that they both suspect Shane of playing a larger role in Otis' death and suspect that Rick is aware as well.
Development and reception
Shane Walsh was created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, the writer and original artist of The Walking Dead comic book series. The character first appeared in the first issue of the comic book series in October 2003, but was expanded upon greatly in the television show adapted from the comics in 2010. As a result, Shane lives much longer in the chronology of the story in the show than he does in the comics. Kirkman described the comic book version of Shane's character as a short and quick "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" arc compared to that of his counterpart in the television series. Kirkman said he preferred the show's version of Shane and that the differences between the two versions of the character illustrate the ability to explore and evolve elements from the comic book in different ways on the show.
Jon Bernthal portrayed Shane in the television series, marking the actor's most high-profile role to that date. Bernthal and Andrew Lincoln, who was eventually cast as protagonist Rick Grimes, auditioned for the show together and were the first to be chosen for the regular cast. Series creator Frank Darabont had all actors audition for the role of Rick, including Bernthal, and then brought back the actors under close consideration to audition for Shane and other roles. Bernthal, however, wanted to portray the part of Shane from early on and fought for the part, despite knowing that the character would die early in the series.
Robert Kirkman said Shane's death was planned for the TV series adaptation "before the first episode of season one was shot." "Frank Darabont had actually planned to do it at the end of the first season before he knew that the first season was going to be six episodes. Once the show was given a six-episode order it was decided that we would hold Shane’s death for the second season. But from the very first day of planning the second season it was mapped out that Shane would be kicking the bucket at the end of this season." Bernthal said he liked playing a role he knew would end early because it allowed him to craft a full story arc from beginning to end and "really show the colors" of the character.
Bernthal grew very close to Darabont and publicly voiced his disappointment when Darabont was forced out of the series. This led to speculation that Bernthal asked to be written out of the series due to Darabont's departure, but Bernthal stated that this was not the case. Kirkman said he loved Bernthal's performance as Shane and hated to see him leave the series, but felt it was necessary for the story. Likewise, Bernthal agreed with that direction for the character, and said he saw his role as "being a soldier for the story". Shane's death at the hands of Rick was the last scene Bernthal filmed for the show. The filming lasted all night until sunrise, and the entire cast attended out of respect for Bernthal, including Jeffrey DeMunn, who at that point had already left the series and flew in specifically to be there.
Characterization
In the comics, Kirkman resolved the love triangle between Lori, Shane, and Rick very quickly, but in the TV show he decided to spend more time exploring this relationship. Bernthal said of the character in the first season, "I love the way that he feels about Rick [...] I love the friendship there. I love the way he uses this unbelievable dialogue that Frank [Darabont] wrote to be a good friend to Rick and to be by his side. Any time you can have a character that starts in one place and go somewhere completely different, that's the journey that we're mostly hungry for."
By the second season, Shane becomes the show's antagonist as his character grows darker and he finds himself at greater odds with Rick Grimes. He deteriorates throughout his run in the series, going from a confident leader who keeps the group of survivors under control to an increasingly desperate man whose actions become increasingly reactionary and morally ambiguous. However, Frank Darabont and the series producers did not seek to establish Shane as a villain because they wanted the characters to be authentic and complex rather than black-and-white.
Robert Kirkman and Jon Bernthal have rejected the classification of Shane as a "bad guy" as too simplistic, noting most of his actions stem from good intentions even when they seem dangerous or irrational. They argue that Shane is primarily driven by his desire to protect the other survivors, particularly Lori, Carl and Lori's unborn child. Shane believes he has the most pragmatic view of the post-zombie world, and thus is best qualified to both lead and protect the survivors. Bernthal feels that the character becomes more and more antagonistic as he starts to lose control of the group and, in his mind, losing his ability to protect them. Shane becomes combative with Rick out of frustration upon ceasing to be the group's de facto leader. But Bernthal also feels it stems from Shane's genuine belief that Rick is too virtuous and not pragmatic enough to lead the group, and thus is a hindrance to their safety. This difference in philosophy between the two characters is illustrated in the episode "18 Miles Out", when Shane tells Rick, "You can't just be the good guy and expect to live. Not anymore."
Bernthal argued that Shane better recognized the reality of the world after the zombie outbreak and was able to adapt to it in a more severe and arguably better way than other characters like Rick. Shane shed such concepts of guilt, shame and moral correctness in favor of the concept of survival for himself and those he cares about at any cost. From that perspective, Bernthal argued Shane's killing of Otis could be interpreted as the correct course of action in this world because, by slowing Shane down, Otis was negatively affecting Shane's ability to protect the other survivors. However, Bernthal also believes Shane recognizes on some level that shutting down all emotions is an impossible task, even in a zombie-infected world, which makes the character that much more complex and multi-layered. Bernthal called Shane "probably the most emotional character on the show".