5 best sidecar villains featured in AMC's The Walking Dead

One of The Walking Dead’s crowning achievements is its wide array of characters. Many are nuanced, falling somewhere on the spectrum of morality. Others appear to outwardly express their true nature within. Such is the case for villain types as much as it is for those with honorable intentions.

The role of Big Bad isn’t accessible to everyone, but that fact didn’t diminish the contributions of the show’s agents of disorder. If Negan or Alpha or simply chaos incarnate gripped the handlebars down the road to villainy, the following characters undoubtedly sat sidecar, battle weapons at the ready.

Shane and Lori: a love/hate story

There’s no getting around it. The toxicity oozing out from the Rick/Lori/Shane love triangle was as dangerous as it was infuriating. For two seasons, viewers nursed wounds of whiplash while Lori’s loyalty ping-ponged between Rick and Shane. In fact, during that time, Shane and Lori posed a threat greater than any walker or outsider crossing the group’s path.  

It would be all too easy to condemn Shane or Lori individually. Shane lost his head the second Rick emerged, resurrected, at the group’s Atlanta campsite. Knowing that he no longer had claim to Lori and Carl, he went on to sabotage every major decision with a thinly veiled quest for vengeance.

Thus, because she opened that door for him, he insisted that he would fight for his claim to Rick’s family because Rick wasn’t up to the job. And even though his mentality was the direct result of Lori keeping him in her pocket, she all but told Rick he would have to kill Shane because he was dangerous. Valid, yes, but she seemed unable or unwilling to acknowledge that she was partly responsible for that danger. Therefore, while Shane and Lori were not stereotypically villainous, they were undoubtedly the show’s greatest antagonists during their time together.

Paula is her own Savior

The Walking Dead saw no shortage of strong women, forging their own way through the world of the dead. However, most of them were at the very least morally complex, if not generally honorable. The same cannot be said of Paula, the outpost Savior and captor of Carol and Maggie.

While holed up in a slaughterhouse, Paula showed almost no humanizing qualities. Carol, although hardened after taking lives reflexively, struggled emotionally with that realization. Paula mistook her eye watering and chin quivering for weakness, for fear of dying. Through pity or disgust or likely both, she divulged to Carol her background story, beginning with an anecdote about her time as a secretary, “reading stupid inspirational emails.

Her gaze of disgust returned once more to Carol before saying, “I am not like you. I’m still me, but better. I lost everything, and it made me stronger.” Although Paula’s actions were no more gruesome than any other Savior, or any other foe for that matter, her remorseless embodiment of “me first” persisted through the hostage trade negotiation with Rick and through the eventual showdown with Carol, who inevitably proved the two to be more alike than she thought. Paula was perhaps unremarkable compared to other sidecar villains, but her unwavering sense of self-preservation made her just as intimidating and dangerous.

Leah, Pope, and their Reaping

Much like Paula, Leah exhibited an unyielding drive for survival through force. Unlike Paula, Leah was inhibited by one weakness, Daryl. That was, unless she was in the presence of Pope, ruthless leader of the Reapers. Although her loyalties waffled between the two, she was ultimately under Pope’s command in the end. Just as Shane brought out the worst in Lori, so too did Pope amplify Leah’s villainous leanings.

After witnessing the entrapment of Leah and Daryl in a burning building and the callous, scorching death of a “brother” Reaper, it’s not hard for viewers to see how seamlessly Pope kept his Reapers under his thumb. Even Daryl’s stoicism appeared to falter, if only slightly, in the face of Pope’s brutality. For that reason alone, the Reapers, and especially their leader, merit a seat next to the most villainous foes.

Forever Beta, never Alpha

Speaking of terrifying brutality, none looked or played the part better than Beta. The country music star turned walker-tamer was as formidable as they came. The most terrifying quality of this brute was his silence while doling out violence. Unlike any of the show’s other villains, he offered no long-winded justification for his misdeeds. He followed blindly (and mutely) one of the show’s most gruesome agitators, seemingly for no reason other than the fact that she was there and ready to sow chaos.

One would be justified in asking why he didn’t assume power for himself, being a much larger and destructive force. Indeed, the idea was posed directly to him by Alpha herself. The fact that he remained firmly in his beta status confused many, perhaps further solidifying the power of fear elicited by the unknown. Regardless of the reasoning behind Beta’s predilection for wreaking havoc, his aptitude for it was terrorizing all on its own.

Savior Simon: Number 2’s attempted rise to Number 1

Although Simon never achieved Number 1 status of the Saviors, he does rank at the top of this list. His presence was every bit as intimidating as Negan’s when it came to keeping everyone in line. From his first appearance, menacing and taunting Rick and company, to his final moments, he managed to exude a threatening aura despite his casual speech and posture. With a playful tone and a smile on his face, Simon masterfully endeared himself to subordinates, comrades, and audience alike while simultaneously imposing an air of impending danger.

He displayed so many of the qualities that made Negan a fearsome leader without having to dirty his hands quite as much. Had Negan not come back from his showdown with Rick or from his captivity by Jadis, Simon would undoubtedly have kept the Savior powerhouse running just as effectively. Alas, his undoing was the result of his overreach. As long as Negan was alive, Simon would always be Number 2, a fact Simon certainly understood.