"I Can't Believe It's Over" — Laura's TWD Death Explained, & Why Lindsley Register Was As Sad As I Was

Laura (Lindsley Register) was tragically killed off in TWD, and the actress seemed as blindsided as the fans themselves. Over the 11 seasons of The Walking Dead, numerous characters have come and gone, and in a world filled with ravenous zombies and immoral, psychotic killers, even the most heroic of protagonists suffer brutal and disrespectful deaths. Sometimes, it even feels a little mean-spirited the way the show cruelly dispatches with fan-favorite characters, but that's the world of The Walking Dead. It comes with the territory.

After so many seasons of shocking deaths, you would think we would become numb, but then characters like Laura are killed, and we're just as upset as we were the first time beloved characters died. Laura first appears in season 7, episode 3, "The Cell," as one of Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) most loyal followers. She's a bit of a contradiction. While she seems to have no problem with the violence Negan inflicts, she has a code and softened throughout the series, making her a fan favorite for a time.

Laura Was Killed By Beta While Trying To Protect Mary

Beta Wanted Revenge On The Traitorous Gamma

After the Saviors suffer huge casualties, Laura surrenders to the Militia and embraces the idea of peace with the other communities. She may have been violent in the past, but that was a survival method, and when offered another way, she gladly takes it. Laura shifts to gardening and seems to find some comfort in peaceful work, even treating former enemies with respect. Over a year after Negan is defeated, Laura is basically a mediator between the Saviors and the other communities, refusing to raise a violent hand against another. 

Even when some of the Saviors return to their violent ways, Laura, at one point the most loyal of all them, stays in Alexandria and becomes a member of its leadership council. However, things would not stay peaceful for Laura, and in season 10, episode 10, "Stalker", Beta (Ryan Hurst) infiltrates Alexandria to kill a traitor Whisperer, Gamma "Mary" (Thora Birch). When Beta reaches the prison basement and tells Mary to come with him, Laura suddenly appears and rushes to Mary's aid. She tells Mary to run and jumps on Beta to stop him from chasing her.

Though she succeeds in buying Mary enough time, Beta easily overpowers her and swings her into the prison bars and onto the ground, eventually breaking her neck. There have been some disappointing deaths in The Walking Dead, and while Laura at least got to go out as a hero, hers was a bummer, and there were some problems with it. For one, as a hardened survivor and wielding an ax at the time, she should have put up more of a fight.

Worse, however, is that the scene did not focus on her death afterward, making it seem like she was just knocked out. Laura left the show with a fizzle. It's unfair for a character who had shown so much growth throughout the series and could have very easily fit into the main cast of the series if the showrunners had wanted it.

Lindsley Register Was Upset That Her Character Was Killed Off

Register Responded To Fans On Twitter About Her Sudden Exit

As much as it was a bummer for us to see Laura killed off The Walking Dead​​​​​, actress Lindsley Register was equally upset. After the episode aired, Register Tweeted,

She also responded to posts by fans who went online to express their disappointment. Register said to them (via Twitter),

"Thanks for sending love. It's tough closing this chapter. https://t.co/cv97KaknqS"

The fact that Lindsley Register appears to be upset about her character's departure makes it hurt all the more. Register having a "tough time closing this chapter" could suggest that she was as surprised as we were by Laura's ending. It's an abrupt death, and one that could have been shared by anyone. It's not as if Laura had a particular connection with Mary or Beta, and it feels like she was just in the wrong place at the right time, or the right place at the right time if you're Mary.

It's bad enough that the audience doesn't get much closure about Laura's death; the fact that Register hasn't really had closure either is a bit frustrating. You have to assume that someone forewarned Register that her character was on the chopping block, but if not, it makes it seem like Laura's death was as poorly planned as it looked.

Fans Didn't Know Laura Was Officially Dead Until Talking Dead

Most Talking Dead Episodes Feature Important Characters From The Previous Episode

Audiences were further confused by Lindsley Register not showing up on Talking Dead, the live TV aftershow which began after the encore presentation of the second-season premiere of The Walking Dead. With such little fanfare for Laura, it wasn't even clear that she had been killed until the Talking Dead after the episode, when she appeared in the standard "In Memoriam" section. Usually, important characters from the previous episode appear in the Talking Dead follow-up, but not with Register. One Twitter user, @WriteFromBoston said,

There's a case to be made that if it was announced that Laura was going to be a guest on Talking Dead, it would be too great of a hint that she was going to die. However, she could have simply been a surprise guest in that case. The fact that she wasn't on it and the circumstances of Laura's death suggest that the showrunners did not have the same esteem for the character as the fanbase. To them, she was just another redshirt to be killed off by the big bad, but she was much more than that,

Lindsley Register's Post-The Walking Dead Career

Register Had A Recurring Role In The Military Drama Series Six

After The Walking Dead, Lindsley Register primarily continued working in television. She appeared in small roles in shows like Outcast, Unbridled, and The Haves and the Have Nots. Her most notable post-TWD role came in the military drama series Six, about SEAL Team Six. She has a recurring role as Dharma Caulder. Register also has some film roles in movies like Scorn as Zoe Webster and Juanita as Candice. While Register doesn't have any upcoming projects at the moment, when she does, hopefully, they will give her character a more suitable exit than the one Laura got on TWD.