The Walking Dead has now been off our screens for four months, and there is no time better than the present to rank all the villains the main cast encountered over the show’s 12-year tenure. With nine separate sets of villains to discuss, strap yourself in for a bumpy ride; from ruthless individuals, decapitating governors, and cannibalistic cliques.
9. Shane
Shane, Shane, Shane, you do really have to be a horrible person, to willingly impregnate the wife of your best friend who you left behind death-bound in a coma. Even though he was a nasty piece of work, Shane did not want to kill his group, but his way of thinking and him being a hothead led to the ex-cop always putting his friends in unwanted danger.
One of the most shocking moments during Jon Bernthal’s time as Shane was when he and Otis, one of the farm hands, went on a dangerous trip to the school. While getting medical supplies, both Otis and Shane picked up leg injuries. This is where a major turning point occurred for Shane as he purposely shot Otis and sacrificed him to the Walkers so that he was able to escape, making it one of the most sadistic Walking Dead scenes early on in the show.
8. The Wolves
The Wolves never really lived up to the hype on the TV show, with there being so much more they could have done with the group. But alas they make eighth on the list as they were a supporting and primary antagonist for multiple seasons.
They were foreshadowed a few times before officially joining the show, with their graffiti tagline “WOLVES NOT FAR” seen around the surrounding towns in the build-up to their introduction. However, it was their way of murdering and branding that is the reason they are remembered. After killing or making someone into a walker, The Wolves would carve the letter ‘W’ into their forehead. The Wolves became no more as Morgan eventually killed their leader Owen after he turned into a Walker.
7. Terminus
More of a place than just a group of people, Terminus is where nightmares became reality. A plain old, abandoned train yard in the middle of Georgia was the home of Terminus, where the leader Mary and Gareth were to reside. The real horror within was that the group at Terminus were cannibalistic monsters feeding on the people who refused to join their flesh-eating ways when captured.
They may not have appeared in too many episodes, but they do take the medal for one of the darkest and most horrific episodes the show ever aired. After being captured by the Terminants a few of the series’ main characters are lined up along a pig trough as people around them had their throats slit, with the blood trickling along in front of them. Luckily for them, they escaped with their lives.
6. The Reapers
The Reapers could very easily have been the best villains we had ever seen in The Walking Dead, but they were just never given enough time to develop their story. In the end, they were just revealed as a generic religious cult and all but disappeared after eight episodes.
They may have been a small group, but under the leadership of Pope, Leah, and Brandon, they were extremely formidable. With his followers willing to suicide bomb for gratification from their commander, the Reapers were a really messed up, brain-washed group. However, their main storyline was really the love life between Leah and Darryl from the main group of survivors, which wasted what could have been the rise of a truly terrifying enemy.