Lizzie and Mika Samuels | |
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The Walking Dead characters | |
Lizzie and Mika, as portrayed by Brighton Sharbino (left) and Kyla Kenedy (right)
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First appearance | "30 Days Without an Accident" (episode 4.01) |
Last appearance | "The Grove" (alive) (episode 4.14) "What Happened and What's Going On" (hallucination) (episode 5.09) |
Created by | Scott M. Gimple |
Portrayed by |
Brighton Sharbino (Lizzie) Kyla Kenedy (Mika) |
Information | |
Family | Ryan Samuels (father) Carol Peletier (adoptive mother) |
Lizzie and Mika Samuels are recurring fictional characters from the fourth season of the AMC television series The Walking Dead portrayed by Brighton Sharbino and Kyla Kenedy. Introduced in the fourth season premiere, Lizzie and Mika are two young siblings, and the daughters of Ryan Samuels. Following the death of their father, Carol agrees to raise the girls as her own children. The struggles of Lizzie and Mika are contrasted within the series as Lizzie, capable of taking a human life, is unable to understand and adapt by killing walkers, instead believing she can communicate with them and have an emotional connection. Conversely, Lizzie's younger sister, Mika, willingly kills walkers, but her compassion for others prevents her from taking the life of another human being.
Lizzie's psychotic behavior and Mika's innocence are addressed in the second half of the season, with the revelation that Lizzie was feeding rats to the walkers at the prison. Most notably during "The Grove" episode, Lizzie murders Mika, and intends to allow her to reanimate. Having found this out, and knowing that she also planned to kill Rick's daughter, Carol made the decision to kill Lizzie. The scene sparked controversy among critics, who continue to refer to it as one of the darkest scenes and episodes of the series.
Lizzie and Mika Samuels first appear as recurring characters in season 4, as the daughters of Ryan Samuels, a newcomer at the prison.
Lizzie and Mika are first seen in the fourth season premiere, "30 Days Without an Accident", with other children who are naming the walkers outside the fence, which leads Carl Grimes to tell Lizzie that they are not people, that they are not pets, and that they eat people, concluding with telling her not to name them. In the episode "Infected", their father is bitten when walkers get loose in the prison, and before dying he asks Carol to look after his daughters. Lizzie expresses intentions to stab his corpse in the head to prevent reanimation but is emotionally unable to. Carol does it instead, and later tells Lizzie she is weak and needs to toughen up. Mika calms down her sister by telling her to "look at the flowers". In the episode "Isolation", Lizzie gets the flu and is forced into quarantine, and Carol is disturbed by Lizzie's apparently personal connection with walkers. In the episode "Indifference", Carol talks to Lizzie before departing with Rick, and Lizzie accidentally calls her "Mom". In the episode "Internment", when some infected residents succumb to the virus and reanimate, Lizzie rescues Glenn from a walker by leading it away. After being treated with medicine, she plays with Glenn's blood. In the mid-season finale episode "Too Far Gone", when the Governor attacks the prison, Lizzie convinces the other children to help in the battle. She and Mika carry Rick's baby daughter Judith and rescue Tyreese from two of the Governor's soldiers – shooting Tara's girlfriend Alisha in the head.