Sophia Grimes (née unknown, Sophia Peletier in television series) is a fictional character from the comic series The Walking Dead and was portrayed by Madison Lintz in the television series of the same name. She is the daughter of Carol, who is fiercely protective of her, as is Carl Grimes, with whom she becomes close friends during the zombie outbreak. She becomes a major focal point in both media, despite her limited involvement in many of the central conflicts faced by the other characters.
In the comics, Sophia is a member of the Atlanta refugee camp and becomes close friends with Carl, with whom she spends most of her time – eventually becoming his girlfriend. Later, after her mother's suicide, she begins viewing Maggie and Glenn as her parents while remaining close to Carl. Sophia chooses to break up with Carl because of the overrun world around them and their conflicting personalities, although they remain close friends and Carl is shown to be extremely protective of her. Sophia also becomes a resident of the Alexandria Safe-Zone and later the Hilltop Colony. She is the comic's longest-surviving female character.
In the television series, Sophia is abused by her father Ed, as is Carol. After Ed's death and the departure from the Atlanta camp, Sophia goes missing near the Greene farm and her rescue becomes the driving force of the first half of season 2. She is missing for a while until they open the barn on the farm and find Sophia inside, as a walker. Rick is then forced to shoot her in the head, killing her.
Appearances Comic book series Sophia is introduced in issue #2 at the initial camp established by survivors of the outbreak on the outskirts of the city of Atlanta, now overrun by walkers. She is seen playing with Carl Grimes and a pair of twins named Billy and Ben, and witnesses Carl and his mother Lori reunite with his father, Rick. With the group under Rick's guidance following Shane's death, they arrive at an abandoned, gated community named Wiltshire Estates. The group begins to settle there, and Sophia, her mother Carol, and the rest of the group briefly enjoy living in houses and sleeping in beds (as opposed to Dale's crowded RV in which the group had spent the entire winter). However, the group soon discovers that, upon closer examination, the area is itself overrun; the death of Ben and Billy's mother Donna occurs as a result. They are briefly welcomed onto the farm of Hershel Greene after Carl is shot by his neighbor Otis and taken there to be operated on. Following Carl's recovery, the group leaves Hershel's property and again presses their luck on the road.
After spending a good deal of time traveling, the group comes upon an abandoned prison, which they clear of walkers and subsequently settle into. Sophia moved into a cell with Carol and her lover Tyreese, whom the group had rescued a while before discovering Wiltshire Estates. One day, while Sophia is playing cards with Carl, she asks him a question about his card and then if he would like to be her boyfriend. He rejects her offer, and the two continue on playing. When a newcomer named Michonne arrives at the prison, she begins to develop feelings for Tyreese, which Carol notices with great discomfort. Soon, they engage in sexual intercourse, as Carol sadly discovers from a distance. Because of this, Sophia receives very little attention from her mother and is subsequently traumatized when she attempts suicide directly in front of her.
Carol's downward spiral ultimately reaches a breaking point, which causes her to attempt suicide once again. She approaches and begins talking to a walker another newcomer named Alice had been using for research, and then steps closer and allows it to bite her. She is put down by Andrea, and later buried in the prison yard, where Sophia mourns her mother's loss. Sophia remains in a catatonic state for a long time afterward. As life becomes increasingly dangerous for the group, Andrea and Dale break away from the group, taking Sophia, Ben, Billy, Hershel's daughter Maggie and Glenn along with them. Following this decision, a rival community named Woodbury, which wants to take the prison for itself, storms an attack on the group and successfully kills everyone except Rick, Carl and Michonne. The three of them return to Hershel's farm to discover the rest of the group living there. While reunited, Sophia refers to Maggie as her "mother" to Carl, much to his confusion.
A group of survivors soon shows up on the farm, one of them claiming to be a scientist who knows how he can stop the outbreak and is on his way to Washington, D.C. to develop the cure. This sends the group on the road again. On the way, the scientist, Eugine, is revealed to have been lying about knowing a cure (having only made it up so that he would be protected). They are met by a man named Aaron, who claims he can take them to a safe community in Alexandria, nearby Washington, D.C. Rick trusts him, and soon they are all allowed to live in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Sophia shares a house with Glenn, Maggie, and Andrea. She adjusts well to her new environment and even participates in a Halloween event put on by the community's leader, Douglas Monroe. During this time she also begins to call Glenn her father; however, when she overcomes her fears established by the world outside, she admits to him and Maggie that she knows they aren't her real parents, and also begins to acknowledge Carol's previous existence.
After a man who calls himself "Jesus" arrives and proposes organizing a trade with the Alexandria Safe-Zone with his thriving community on a hilltop, the group heads up there, only to be stopped by a group of hostile people who refer to themselves as "The Saviors" and their leader, Negan. Since Rick's group had killed so many of his men (albeit, in self-defense), Negan demands a sacrifice of one of their people. He ultimately chooses Glenn, and brutally beats him to death with his baseball bat which he calls "Lucille". He tells them they have one week to give him half their supplies or risk repeating the tragedy that has just unfolded. Devastated, Maggie repeatedly punches Rick in the face for not doing anything; this prompts Carl to point his gun at her so she would stop, which in turn causes Sophia to lash out at him and bite his arm. Carl walks up to Sophia later on and apologizes for her "dad's" death. She begins to believe it is somehow her fault that everyone in her family dies, but Carl assures her that that's "just the way it is" now.
Glenn's body is buried at the Hilltop Colony, where he and Maggie had previously discussed moving to with Sophia and their soon-to-be-born child. Sophia gives Carl a tearful goodbye and hugs him, and she and Maggie ultimately do move to the Hilltop Colony while the others return to the Alexandria Safe Zone. She later expresses displeasure with the idea of remaining at the Hilltop Colony long-term to Maggie; however, this seems to change after she befriends the (currently unnamed) son of Hilltop resident Brianna (a new friend of Maggie's).
Sometime later, Maggie becomes the de facto leader of the Hilltop Colony (having overthrown the previous leader, Gregory). She brings the majority of the people from the Hilltop to Alexandria, including many children (Sophia being among them), only to learn that much of Alexandria has been destroyed in an attack by the Saviors.
Sophia is still alive and well to date at the Hilltop Colony, and is also the only remaining survivor of the Atlanta group, besides Rick and Carl. After Rick's death, she becomes Carl's wife and begins a family with him.The Walking Dead #193
Television series Sophia, along with her mother Carol (Melissa McBride) and her father Ed (Adam Minarovich), are staying at the camp formed by a relatively large group of survivors outside of Atlanta. As it was revealed in a flashback in the season two episode "Chupacabra", Ed brought Carol and Sophia with him while moving toward a "safe zone" on the outskirts of the city. They meet up with Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal), Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies), and her son Carl (Chandler Riggs), whom Sophia quickly becomes close friends with. The six of them decide to make it together, and stumble upon the camp set up by Dale Horvath (Jeffrey DeMunn). She and Carl befriend two children named Louis (Noah Lomax) and Eliza (Maddy Lomax), the son and daughter of a man known as Morales (Juan Gabriel Pareja) and his wife Miranda.
Season 1
Sophia is first introduced in the episode "Tell It to the Frogs", where it is revealed that Ed abuses Carol, slapping her across the face for not coming with him right away. Disgusted, Shane beats Ed to a pulp and threatens to kill him if he lays his hand on Carol, Sophia, or anyone else in the camp. In the next episode, "Vatos", Ed's injuries are revealed to have confined him to his tent, and so during dinner, he implores Sophia to stay with him and keep him company in an inappropriate, quasi-sexual manner. However, Carol stands up for her daughter and says that Sophia wants to join everyone else. Towards the end of the episode, a herd of walkers kills several people, including Ed and Amy (Emma Bell), before Shane and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) destroy them.
In the episode "Wildfire", Rick decides to lead the group away from the current site and travel to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) because of its assumed security and to possibly find a cure for Jim (Andrew Rothenberg), a survivor who had been bitten when the camp was attacked. Morales announces that his family will be leaving the group to find family in Alabama. Sophia, who had befriended Eliza, is saddened by her leaving, so Eliza gives her her doll as a goodbye present. Sophia and Carol appear to have become more enthusiastic and open members of the group following Ed's death. They travel with the rest of the group to the CDC.
In the first-season finale "TS-19", the sole remaining CDC worker, Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich), reluctantly agrees to let them all in. While there, Sophia and the others are briefly introduced to the many luxuries the CDC has to offer, such as delicious food, hot showers, and a recreation room full of games and toys she and Carl can play with. However, it is soon revealed that Jenner had locked them inside the CDC, which was going to self-destruct when a timer ran out. Sophia immediately begins to cry, and Carol pleads with Jenner to let them all go, saying that Sophia does not deserve to die in such a manner. Jenner finally lets them go with just minutes to spare.
Season 2
In the premiere, "What Lies Ahead", the group is stopped on a vehicle-jammed highway, where they stop to loot abandoned cars for supplies and new clothes. In the process, a massive herd of walkers forces the group to take cover underneath the cars. Sophia is separated from Carol and is discovered by two walkers. She runs away from them, with Eliza's doll in her arms. Rick runs after her and carries her to a safe spot in the nearby woods so he can go and kill the walkers. He does so successfully, but when he comes back, Sophia is nowhere to be found. The group goes on a search for her, but finds no trace of her. They come upon a church, and while there, Carol stops and prays to the figure of Jesus on the Cross. She says that even though she prayed for Ed's death for abusing her and "looking" at Sophia, her punishment should not be Sophia's death. This implies that Ed had incestuous feelings toward his daughter, although it is left ambiguous whether he acted on them.