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Given what he did to our beloved Glenn, you'd think that Negan would've wound up The Walking Dead's most hated character, but anyone in the fandom – whether they agree or not – knows it was really Andrea who riled viewers up the most. Now, though, fans seem to be coming out in her defense, thanks to a recent Reddit post.
"I saw someone do this with Lori and thought it'd be significantly harder with Andrea so have at it," Strangemarvelaf wrote on the discussion board, encouraging everyone to "tell me one good thing about her" and prompting hundreds of positive replies.
"She saved Carol when the Hershel farm was full of walkers. She stands up and protects Carol against Ed," one replier began. "She loves her sister Amy so much that she still remembers her birthday, and thinks about her birthday gift, even though the world [fell] apart. She sided with Dale not to kill the living before Dale Died."
"She was brave, she loved her sister and she called Lori on her bullshit... 'She just has to look on the bright side!' I like Andrea," another added.
"I appreciated that she wanted peace. She'd seen enough death when the apocalypse hit and she didn't want to see anyone else die so she tried to broker peace between the prison & Woodbury," a third continued. "I loved the early seasons when characters were flawed, sometimes made mistakes and generally acted as fucked up as we'd all be 30 days into an apocalypse where people are eating our family member's faces."
Played by Laurie Holden, Andrea appeared in the first three seasons of The Walking Dead before meeting a grisly end at the hands of David Morrissey's Philip Blake AKA The Governor. In those early days, the story revolved heavily around Rick, Shane, and the other male characters, but Andrea was one of the more vocal women of the group – a trait that rubbed some fans up the wrong way. Unlike Lori and Carol, who seemed to be fine with washing and cooking while the men scavenged and killed zombies, Andrea insisted on being taught how to fight and carrying a gun.
Over the years, many have spoken ill of her misguided decision to trust The Governor and encouraging Rick and co to strike up some sort of deal with him, but it's hard to know you wouldn't make the same mistakes were you in her shoes. (Funny how we tend to blame the woman for being tricked and not the man doing the tricking, huh?)
It's worth noting that once she learned of The Governor's schemes, she tried to warn Rick and the gang, too, but was caught in the process. It's also worth noting how people rarely said the same about Tara, who was similarly duped by Blake and inadvertently helped him to attack the prison...
"She was annoying a lot of the time, but when she had her moments they were bomb," another Redditor commented, while others pointed out that she was our introduction to fan favorite Michonne, and for that, they'll always be grateful.
"She never sat back and just let everything awful happen, she did something about it," said one more, as others referred to her as "badass" and "strong". "She put herself out there and kind of [refused] to be relegated to some stereotypical gender norm role. I really appreciated that about her."
Others on the post argued that Comics Andrea was better, and there's no real way to argue that considering how different they are. In Robert Kirkman's graphic novels, Andrea ends up getting romantically involved with Rick and becoming one of the main characters. Funnily enough, though, her death, which comes much later than in the series, is very similar: she's bitten in the neck by an infected.
For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead franchise in order or our breakdown of every upcoming Walking Dead spin-off. If zombie apocalypses aren't your thing, have a peruse of our list of new TV shows heading our way instead.
