The Walking Dead Shocker: Who Died in the Season Finale?

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead. Read at your own risk!]

The Walking Deadtook a shocking turn in Sunday's Season 3 finale, killing off a character who is still alive in the comics more than 100 issues in. Sure, the show has taken liberties with character deaths before, but this particular death is such a departure that one must question whether this will alienate fans of the comic books.

Again, spoiler warning.  

The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker "relieved" by Merle's fate

The surprising death was... Andrea (Laurie Holden), who met her maker after The Governor (David Morrisey) left her tied up in a room with Milton (Dallas Roberts), whom he had just stabbed in the stomach. The Governor's goal, of course, was for the traitor Milton to turn into a walker and kill Andrea. Fortunately, Andrea was able to free herself! Unfortunately, it wasn't in time.

After The Governor and his fighters from Woodbury raided what appeared to be a deserted prison, the group was able to drive them out with booby traps and gunfire. Thwarted, The Governor gunned down all of his own people, save for two loyal lackeys. Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) then headed to Woodbury, but along the way, they discovered The Governor's dead group, except for one woman who had hid from The Governor's attack. Thanks to her, the group is able to get into Woodbury safely only to discover that Andrea had, in fact, been bitten by Milton before she was able to put him down.

The Walking Dead: Who's going to die before Season 3 ends?

Following the surprisingly emotional death of Merle (Michael Rooker) last week, Andrea's goodbye was an entirely different beast. As she sat there with Michonne before she took her own life, we pondered how underused this duo really was. There are still plenty of story lines to mine here, so why does Andrea have to die? Her future story lines in the comics are actually interesting! Executive producer and comic book creator Robert Kirkman has always said that he'd stray from the comics, but is this departure pushing it too far?

In keeping with the theme of the season — there can be no peace — The Governor simply got away, leaving the door open for him to return and wreak some other kind of havoc. Rick does still have both of his hands, after all, and a lot more mouths to feed with the remaining residents of Woodbury coming to the prison.

What did you think of The Walking Dead finale? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

The Walking Dead returns for Season 4 in October.