Carol is introduced in the third issue of the comic's first volume, "Days Gone Bye", and the third episode of the first season of the television series, as a meek housewife and mother of Sophia at the survival camp in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the television show, she is shown to be a stern, pragmatic and compassionate individual who has been gradually building inner strength, becoming much more capable and emotionally stable than her comic book counterpart.

In the television series, Carol evacuates her home with her abusive husband Ed and her daughter Sophia in hopes of a safe haven in Atlanta, where they join a camp of survivors.

The trio meet up with Tyreese and find safety together, when the mentally unwell child Lizzie murders her sister in a psychotic delusion, forcing Carol to make another challenging decision.

She frequently avoided confrontation with her husband Ed in attempt to stifle his anger, though she secretly prayed to God that he be punished for abusing her and for his sexual interest in their young daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz).

In the episode "Wildfire", while the group cleans up the camp in preparation to leave, Carol destroys Ed's corpse with a pickaxe, venting the inner rage she had toward him and his years of violent abuse.

In the season finale "TS-19", the group takes shelter at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), but they soon discover the facility is set to explode after the power runs out.

In the episode "Cherokee Rose" Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) gives Carol a flower, which inspires hope in her to stay strong and believe in Sophia's survival.

He carries her off in his arms and in the next episode, "When the Dead Come Knocking", the group happily reunites with her; however, things once again take a sad turn when she realizes that Lori has died in childbirth.

In the episode, "Infected", Carol begins caring for two girls, Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Mika (Kyla Kenedy), after killing their father, Ryan, who was bitten by a walker.

Carol talks more about her past, revealing her late husband had pushed her down the stairs on at least three occasions and that she learned how to fix a dislocated shoulder because she was too afraid to go to the hospital.

In the season premiere, "No Sanctuary", Carol and Tyreese witness a herd drawn to gunfire at Terminus and capture Martin, stopping him from setting up fireworks to divert them.

Interviewed by congresswoman and town leader Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh), Carol crafts a facade of being an inexperienced apocalyptic survivor who acted as the "den mother" to the group.

She tells him that if he mentions it to his mother, "the monsters" will come and eat him alive as he is tied to a tree outside the walls, but if he is silent, she will give him lots of her homemade cookies.

She witnesses Rick directly address the Alexandrians about how they need to change or they will die, after he shows up with a dead walker that he had killed inside the walls earlier that night.

In order to demonstrate this point and advance their agenda, Carol discreetly tells Rick not to intervene when a drunken Pete shows up with Michonne's katana, which results in a fatal attack on Reg.

Though Carol has no qualms about killing to defend Maggie, she begs Paula — a formerly submissive woman who became an unrepentant killer after losing her family — to run, but is forced to impale her on a walker trap, where she dies.

Henry later tells Earl that he saw Carol cry for the first time in his life that day, and seeing her break down in such a way ultimately led to him making his own mistakes.

In "The Calm Before", Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers group, murders Henry, Tara, Enid, and several other residents of the Kingdom, to punish Carol and Ezekiel for entering her territory.

Carol's decision to blow up the cave where Alpha keeps her horde nearly results in the death of herself and her companions, causing a rift with Daryl after Magna and Connie get trapped and are presumed dead.

Any hope of reconciliation with Ezekiel is apparently ended when he departs to meet Eugene's contact Stephanie and also reveals that he has developed thyroid cancer, a condition which is almost certainly terminal in a world lacking modern medicine.

Daryl's rage at Connie still being missing creates a growing rift between the two best friends, and other people are wary, angry, and distrusting of Carol due to the damage that her unilateral decision to release Negan caused.

Returning to Alexandria, Carol distracts herself by spending time with Dog, becoming obsessed with trying to catch a rat in her house, and attempting without success to make soup, before finally breaking down.

Lance keeps his end of the bargain and Ezekiel's cancer is successfully treated by Yumiko's long-lost brother Tomi, who was a thoracic surgeon before the world changed.

Despite initially appearing to have similar personality qualities such as being dependent and dominated by others, as well as coming from a background of domestic abuse, Carol in the television series is shown to be more stern and pragmatic, making questionable and difficult decisions other characters could not deal with.

"[34] Alongside Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn and Juan Pareja, McBride was among the cast members of Frank Darabont's production of The Mist to be hired for the television series.

[36] Melissa McBride explained in an interview with Rolling Stone: "[Producer] Glen Mazzara called to tell me that he was planning on killing Carol last season.

In "No Sanctuary," Carol strides around in a poncho that makes one wonder if Hollywood shouldn't remake Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" trilogy of Westerns starring McBride instead.

He called her "someone special", and said while Rick had a transformation from "idealistic lawman to ruthless killer", the transition was "dictated more by his position as nominal protagonist—he swung back and forth simply because the writers needed to give him something to do."

[67] Despite constant praise from critics[68][69][70] and heavy fan campaigning,[71] McBride has yet to receive a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series since her breakout year in 2014 (particularly with "The Grove").