The Walking Dead The Only Remaining Survivors From The Pilot Episode

The Walking Dead has seen dozens of important characters die over the years, with only two characters from the pilot episode still being alive.

Only two characters from The Walking Dead's pilot episode are still currently among the living. While the works of late, great iconic horror director George A. Romero will probably forever be the poster children for the zombie sub-genre, AMC hit The Walking Dead has been carrying the zombie flag proudly since 2010. The Walking Dead definitely has its detractors but remains one of the most-watched shows on cable even during its final season, and at one point was the #1 scripted program in all of TV.

As much as some love to insult it now, The Walking Dead spent quite a while earning way more acclaim than it did criticism, with many feeling it was the best thing to happen to zombies since Romero's classic Living Dead movies. The Walking Dead made zombies so popular that the flesh-eating ghouls are arguably overexposed now, whereas before the adventures of Rick Grimes and company, high-profile zombie movies and TV shows had become fairly rare sights.

To its credit, The Walking Dead even managed to blow away audiences with its pilot episode, which aired near Halloween in 2010 and was a perfect holiday treat. Most TV pilots do little more than setting up the characters, main plot, and general universe of the show to follow, but The Walking Dead pilot was feature-length and was held up by some as one of the best zombie movies in years, despite not actually being a movie. 11 years is a long time though, and today, only two characters that appeared in the pilot are still alive within the Walking Dead universe: Rick Grimes and Morgan Jones.

Of all the characters featured in The Walking Dead pilot, entitled "Days Gone Bye," only Rick Grimes and Morgan Jones remain alive. While both Rick and Morgan have left the original Walking Dead show behind, Rick will appear in upcoming movies, and Morgan jumped over to Fear the Walking Dead. Rick's former police partner Shane Walsh, his wife Lori, son Carl, and future friends Dale and Glenn have all met unfortunate demises at the hands of either zombies or other humans, as has Andrea's sister Amy.

In an odd circumstance, though, the only Walking Dead season 1 characters to still be part of the current cast are Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier. Granted, neither are eligible to qualify here, as neither appeared in the pilot. Carol began life as a background player, and Daryl as more of an antagonist alongside his brother Merle, and both were absent from "Days Gone Bye." What makes Morgan's continued Walking Dead survival more remarkable is that he vanished after the pilot and failed to appear again until the middle of season 3. Hopefully, he'll be around long enough to once again encounter his old friend Rick.