Here’s an interesting fact to consider as The Walking Dead heads into its tenth season: Not counting the seldom seen RJ, there is only one significant child actor remaining on the series, Judith Grimes. Considering her reported massive payday, she’s likely to be around a while, too. Every other child actor on the series — from the little girl zombie that Rick killed in the pilot episode (Addy Miller) all the way to Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) and even Enid (Katelyn Nacon) — are all dead.
Reddit recently ran a then-and-now pictorial of all the former The Walking Dead actors, and the physical transformations are striking, which makes sense for a series that’s been on for a decade. Addy Miller first appeared on The Walking Dead when she was 10 years old, after all, and now she’s 19. Obviously, there are going to be some changes aside from the lack of zombie make-up.
What’s interesting, though, is checking in to see how others have done since their stints on The Walking Dead. Chandler Riggs, for instance, spent around a year unemployed after he was killed off of The Walking Dead, but he recently popped up in a couple of episodes of A Million Little Things on ABC. Adrian Kali Turner, who played Morgan Jones’ son, Duane, had a few acting credits, but hasn’t appear onscreen since 2015. Remember Jesse Anderson’s annoying son, Sam? He was played by Major Dodson, who doesn’t have much on his acting CV since The Walking Dead. Likewise, Brighton Sharbino, who played Lizzie Samuels (“Look at the flowers!”) has only had a few credits.
Two former child actresses on The Walking Dead, however, have managed to find good, steady work. Madison Lintz, who played Carol’s daughter, Sophia, has worked for four seasons as Maddie Bosch, the daughter of the title character in the Amazon series, Bosch.
Interestingly, Madison Lintz’s brothers, Macsen Lintz and Matt Lintz, both played Henry on The Walking Dead, before and after the time jump, respectively.
However, The Walking Dead child actress that’s probably most familiar to television fans now is Kyla Kenedy, who played Lizzie’s little sister, Mika Samuels (recall that Lizzie killed her little sister before Carol killed Lizzie). She’s actually now one of the stars of the very good ABC sitcom Speechless, which aired its season three finale earlier this month (and may return for a fourth season). She has played Dylan DiMeo on all 63 episodes of the comedy, and she is terrific.
On the other hand, don’t sleep on Katelyn Nacon. She’s appeared in Adult Swim’s viral hit, “Too Many Cooks,” and she’s already booked a role as a series regular in the second season of Hulu’s Light as a Feather.
