I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

The Walking Dead: Characters We Love And Hate 




Andrea (Laurie Holden)


Andrea's character was the hardest one I had to try to pin down, which is strange, since when the series first came out, there were 'character tests' you could take to tell you which TWD character you were most like, and I always got Andrea (even though I wanted Daryl). So why am I having a hard time describing her?

Maybe because she's complex. She really is. When we first meet Andrea in the first season, it's the second episode, Rick has just been rescued by Glenn and Andrea, madder than hell that Rick shot a bunch of the Walkers and brought their attention to the people stuck inside a department store, has her gun in Rick's face, ready to blow his head off. But this really isn't Andrea. At least according to the TWD character test. It says that Andrea is tough but loyal, ready to help anyone but at the same time sticking to her guns.

Andrea is part of the survival group of which Shane is currently the leader. Her baby sister Amy is also part of this group. She is just now getting to know Amy, having been grown and out of the house while Amy was still a kid. So she has a particular soft spot for the sister she never got to know until the world fell apart. And getting back to her is so important, she's willing to blow Rick's head off for jeopardizing that chance. Now that she is getting to know Amy, the world better watch out if they think she's going to let Amy be jeopardized by anything living or undead. Both she and Amy are staying in the RV with Dale Horvath, and we get the idea that he thinks himself as sort of a father figure to them both, maybe a little overprotective which sometimes frustrates her, but I think at the same time she appreciates someone who really cares for them both. When later in Season one Amy is wounded by a Walker, Andrea holds her through the whole night, as for some reason Amy dies quickly but does not rise until daylight, when Andrea is forced to shoot her. She makes everyone else stay far away, even Dale, until this is done. The loss of the sister she has just started to get to know makes her will to live wilt and when the CDC turns out to be a lost cause and the remaining employee prepares to blow the whole thing up, she wants to stay. Dale reasons hard with her, but she's a bit stubborn and he is NOT her father, nor her protector, she reminds him. However, reason and I believe a real bond she has with Dale convinces her at the end to leave with the group.

Being a complex creature (I really DID have a hard time trying to get into her head) she is grateful to Dale but also blames him for making her feel guilty, convincing her into surviving, robbing her of her free will, she believes. Although she can handle a pistol, she doesn't know much about them, and wants to learn, but certain ones in the group (mostly Shane) wants only those who know about guns to carry them, making her even madder at Dale for some reason. When she overhears that Shane and Lori had been together and that Shane should go off on his own, she confronts him and asks him to take her with him, as she wants away from the group at this point. She even has a brief tryst with Shane, probably more out of spite of the other men (and Lori) than anything else.

As the group looks for poor Sophia in Season two, Andrea pairs up with Shane in looking through a neighborhood and is confronted with the necessity of shooting Walkers. After a shaky start, she realizes that she has both the courage and the skill to do it. I believe this strengthens her quite a bit, and I think that's why she decided to now stay with the group, feeling more needed than before. She still is not sure of her chances or her willingness to continue on in this world however, telling Dale "I don't know if I want to live or if I have to or if it's just a habit." So she's still very conflicted and very confused by exactly what her role in the group is. But she has toughened up considerably, even insisting on taking her turn as watch for the Walkers along with the others. She also seems to have more compassion, being especially kind to Carol, whose loss of both her husband and daughter has made her despondent and unsure of her own future. I think Andrea relates, since she lost her baby sister despite her best efforts, and her compassion tempers her attitude about living and the future. She also noticeably pulls farther away from Dale, maybe not wanting a father figure or moral guide as much as she thought she did at first. When Dale is killed however, she mourns as much if not more than the rest of the group.

As Season two comes to a close there is chaos - Walkers converge on the farm and everyone is scrambling to get out and survive. Andrea ends up under a Walker - not injured, but temporarily stuck. She is presumed dead by the panicked group and is left behind. She spends the entire night running through the woods, just ahead of a group of Walkers who are pursuing her. The sun is beginning to rise and she is just about done in... when a hooded figure dispatches the Walker about to rip her to pieces. Yes, Andrea is the lucky one to first meet the mysterious Michonne, who we get to learn about in Season three. And I have a feeling Andrea is going to learn a lot from her and her character will grow even more as she becomes more and more independent.

Laurie Holden is another familiar face in both television and films, but is also among the multi-talented for whom acting is just one of the things she does well. Holden was named as one of the top 100 Most Creative People in Hollywood in Entertainment Weekly's It List and One of Ten Actors to Watch by Variety. She also won The Look of The Year Elite model search in Toronto and was nominated in 1996 for a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series for Due South (1994). She was nominated in 2011 for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in Television for the series The Walking Dead. She was also nominated in 2011 for the Scream Award for Best Supporting Actress. Laurie is a Founding Board Member of the Canadian Somaly Mam Foundation (it combats the slave sex trade taking place in many countries) and an Advisory Board Member of The Somaly Mam Foundation in the U.S.

Her other acting work is familiar to all - along with the characters who play Dale and Carol she was in The Mist. Other works include The X Files, Silent Hill, Fantastic Four, and a whole list of others. May she stay with The Walking Dead for a long time. Especially if I'm supposed to be most like her - I could stand to learn a few things.