Rick Grimes Held An Impressive The Walking Dead Record (& Even Negan Didn't Beat It)

The body count on The Walking Dead is high through its 11-season run. In fact, the show was among the first to shockingly kill off main characters, leaving fans (and actors) aware that anyone could die at any minute.

Every person on the show is responsible for numerous walker deaths, and almost everyone at least one human death. But no one was as fierce nor had as high a body count as the show’s protagonist, Rick Grimes, who holds the record for the most human kills on the show. Yes, that even includes Negan, at least when it comes to on-screen kills, and primary and tertiary antagonists.

Rick Is Responsible for Taking Out the Most Primary Antagonists

While everyone on The Walking Dead racked up their share of human kills, the award for the most impressive record goes to Rick. Rick is responsible for killing the most primary antagonists in the series at a total of four.

It started with Shane in season two. While Carl shot the reanimated Shane, it was Rick who killed the human version of his once best friend turned foe. It was becoming clearer that he and Shane, one of The Walking Dead’s characters who was a killer before the apocalypse, were constantly at odds about who should lead and how. Add to that the fact that Shane took up with Rick’s wife after leaving him to die and impregnated her, and there was a lot of resentment between them. But mostly, Rick killed Shane because he knew that Shane had taken him out to the forest to kill him. He didn’t have a choice.

Next was Joe in season four, leader of The Claimers who Rick killed in the most gruesome, heinous way. Ripping the man’s flesh from his neck with his bare teeth, was absolutely savage, but there was good reason. Joe and his group were threatening both Rick and Carl, one man even teasing that he would sexually assault the young boy. There was no way Rick was going to let that happen.

Third was Gareth in season five, leader of Terminus. Rick and his people were drawn there thinking it was a safe community only to learn that the residents were cannibals. They were herded like cattle into a storage container and held for days, awaiting slaughter. Rick got the last laugh, however, later capturing Gareth at the church and brutally slaughtering the man with an axe as he begged for his life.

Finally, there was Pete Anderson in season five, the Alexandria doctor and alcoholic wife abuser. Rick refused to stand for that, and his brutal execution of Pete was a turning point for the character. This is especially so because Morgan returns in this very moment to see a different version of Rick from the one he first met.

Rick Killed More Tertiary Antagonists and Continued the Kill Count on a Spinoff

When examining the rest of the show, every season had tertiary antagonists as well. Of the lot of them over 11 seasons, nine of which Rick appeared in, he killed an impressive total of 19.

This includes at least one antagonistic member from every group they encountered on the show when Rick was on it. The only exception is the Governor and his militia. That character was eventually severely wounded by Michonne, who then gives his former ally Lilly Chambler the chance to deliver the final shot that kills him.

Some notable antagonists that Rick killed himself, however, include Dave and Tony, members of The Living in season 2 who Rick shoots when they try to kill him. Tomas in season 3, leader of The Prisoners, is killed via machete to the head following a confrontation with Rick. Claimer Lou in season 4 meets his end when Rick strangles him to death while trying to hide from his group. His fellow Claimer Dan is repeatedly stabbed and disemboweled by Rick after attempting to sexually assault Carl. Alex from season 4 is a member of Terminus who dies as Rick uses him as a human shield against shots fired at him.

In season 5, Albert, a member of The Hunters, is shot in the head by Rick when trying to enter the church. That season, Rick also shoots police officer Bob from Grace Memorial Hospital. Rick and Michonne work together in season 6 to kill Ethan, a member of Hilltop who tries to kill Gregory: Michonne gets his attention while Rick stabs him in the throat.

Many of Rick’s human kills were members of the Saviors. In season 6, Rick mercilessly shoots Primo in the head after he refuses to divulge information about Negan. Jiro is technically shot by Carol, after which Rick delivers the devastating final stab to the head. In season 8, as the battle with the Saviors continues, Rick kills Yago by jumping into his truck and stabbing him in the gut before he can reach the Sanctuary.

Also in that season, he saves himself against an attack by Evan by pushing the Savior into the path of walkers, who devour him alive.

The one major villain Rick spared is Negan in one of The Walking Dead’s best season finales. Rick technically delivers a fatal knife to the throat that would have killed Negan had Rick not ordered his people to save his life in the nick of time. Hearing Carl’s voice whisper in his ear “My mercy prevails over my wrath” makes Rick unable to bring himself to kill Negan.

His kill record continues in the spin-off series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which centers around Rick’s time at the Civic Republic Military (CRM) and Michonne’s journey to find him once she discovers that he is still alive.

Rick kills Major General Jonathan Beale to finally put an end to the tyrannical ruling of the CRM. He then also kills Jadis, a former foe turned friend turned foe again, who served as the tertiary antagonist of that series as well as season two of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

How Do the Others Stack Up?

While Rick has the highest human kill count of everyone on the show, there are others who come close. Daryl Dixon took out quite a few people on the show, including Officer Dawn in season five, in retaliation for Beth’s murder. He is also the one who flips the switch that leads to the death of former Hilltop leader Gregory in season nine. With the character having appeared in all 11 seasons of the show and continuing in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, he could potentially surpass Rick.

Carol Peletier is not one to trifle with either. Her first human kills seemed like they would be the most controversial as she took out two allies who were sick, believing it was better to kill them to prevent them from dying, turning, and harming others. She secretly burned their bodies in a move that horrified Rick and caused him to banish her. She is also responsible for the execution of young Lizzie in one of the most shocking scenes in The Walking Dead. The mentally unwell young girl murdered her own sister and had proven to be a danger to baby Judith. Also appearing in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Carol killed primary antagonist Marion Genet in season two, so her count continues.

Morgan Jones killed so many people through the course of the show that he had a breakdown and completely changed his ways because he could no longer deal with the bloodshed. In fact, he outright refused to kill for a time until he realized it was necessary. The character continued to kill once he moved on to the spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead, adding even more human antagonist kills to his resume.

Michonne tried her best not to kill humans, but one of her most heart-wrenching moments is when, pregnant with RJ, she runs into an old friend from the world before, named Jocelyn. She realizes when it’s too late that Jocelyn is no longer the same woman and has developed a cult-like mentality with a team of children she has trained to kill. After killing Jocelyn, Michonne tries to reason with the kids. But when she realizes the kids will relentlessly pursue her and Judith, there’s only one thing she can do: slaughter all the brainwashed children who are clearly a danger to others.

Of course, Negan killed plenty of humans both before fans were introduced to him on the show and after. From his own doctor to Spencer Monroe, Glenn and Abraham in one of the saddest TV episodes of all time, and, of course, Alpha, Negan valued human lives as much as he did walkers. With his story continuing in The Walking Dead: Dead City, he might eventually run circles around Rick.

Alpha is another killer on the show with a high body count. In one fell swoop, she was responsible for the death of several main characters, decapitating them and mounting their severed heads on sticks to send a message. She likely didn’t do the acts herself, but her people were so devoted to Alpha, she didn’t even need to get her hands dirty.

It's also worth noting that when Rick and his group first retaliate against Negan, many of them sneak into the Saviors' rooms at night and drive knives through their heads, killing them in their sleep. This would add to the kill counts of many of the group members, with a total of about 20 Saviors savagely killed by the lot of them. The final explosion that kills many Saviors through their guns blowing back at them also adds to Eugene’s human kill count since he is the one who rigged the guns.

The bottom line is that almost every character on The Walking Dead and its spinoffs shed blood and were responsible for human deaths. The only characters who never killed another human were Dale, Andrea, and Lori, all of whom appeared at the beginning of the season.

But Rick showed that he was not afraid to kill anyone who he felt was a threat, living or dead. And he is the person who delivered the final deathly blow to some of the biggest villains of the show.