The character was introduced in the first season as a member of the group that series protagonist Rick Grimes encounters in Atlanta.

On the roof of the department store in which they have holed up, Merle Dixon, a virulent racist, attempts to assert his leadership over the group and beats T-Dog.

Rick Grimes subdues Merle and handcuffs him to a pipe, leaving him under the watch of T-Dog while the rest of the group look for a way out.

In the rush to escape, T-Dog accidentally drops the key to the handcuffs down a drainpipe, leaving Merle trapped on the roof.

In the season premiere "What Lies Ahead", T-Dog and the remaining survivors begin travelling to Fort Benning when they encounter a blockade of abandoned vehicles, and Dale's RV breaks down.

In the episode "Chupacabra", when Daryl returns to camp after searching for Sophia, Andrea spots him in the distance but confuses him for a walker and shoots him.

In the episode "Judge, Jury, Executioner", T-Dog is seen attending the group debate over Randall's fate, and later witnesses Daryl mercy killing Dale after he had been ripped open by a walker.

In the season premiere "Seed", after several months on the road, the group discovers a prison complex and they clear out all the walkers there so they can settle in and make it their new home.

"[1] Singleton found it liberating as an actor to be cast in a role that was not based on a character in the comics, because "you start with a clean slate.

"[1] Singleton said that he did not talk with Robert Kirkman, Frank Darabont, or Glen Mazzara on how to develop his character, so "T-Dog basically had my life story.

Club commented in his review of "Guts" that IronE Singleton was "wildly overacting" and that T-Dog "isn't much more than a clown".

[3] IronE Singleton reprised his role as T-Dog in the second season premiere, "What Lies Ahead", and was promoted to the recurring cast.

"[5] Paste's Josh Jackson felt that the side-plot of T-Dog's injury takes a backseat to the events with Rick's family at the farmhouse in "Bloodletting".

[6] Ology writer Josh Harrison commented that T-Dog finds the news that he might die of blood poisoning "morbidly funny",[7] and Nate Rowlings of Time added that "in a moment of meta-realization, he muses on how he's the only black guy in the group—which typically means imminent death in most horror movies".

I forgot about him, much as the writers apparently did";[11] Time journalist Nate Rawlings said that he would "like to see T-Dog play a more active role in the next half season and perhaps learn a little bit about his past";[12] and Starlee Kine hoped that new writing staff on the show would bring "perhaps even a sentence or two for T-Dogg" [sic].

[13] Nate Rawlings, in his review of "Judge, Jury, Executioner", added: "Until the writers give T-Dog something interesting to say, we’re going to track how long it’s been since he’s had anything but a throw away line.

The last time T-Dog said anything that remotely added to the plot was Episode 4 of this season, "Cherokee Rose" when he helped pull the disgustingly bloated walker out of the well.

"[14] Digital Spy's Morgan Jeffrey noted in his review of the season finale "Beside the Dying Fire" that each of the major characters "gets their moment to shine - even T-Dog (Irone Singleton), who's barely said a word for the past six weeks".

"[21] Robert Kirkman commented that he and Mazzara decided to kill T-Dog because they "really wanted to put Rick and the group back on their heels.

"[22] Even though he stated that T-Dog died "a hero's death", Michael Rapoport of the Wall Street Journal concluded that Lori's "gut-churning" demise was the more memorable.

[23] Ted Pigeon of Slant Magazine felt that the episode's "strong emotional undercurrents" were "a result of the sacrifice in both T-Dog's (IronE Singleton) final stand and Lori's decision to give birth despite the certainty that she won't survive the delivery".

When he started objecting to Rick's plans about the two remaining prisoners, it was shocking to simply hear him expressing an opinion of any kind.

"[27] The Washington Post entertainment journalist Jen Chaney commented on his death by saying, "T-Dog, we hardly knew ye.

And that makes your death a real shame",[28] and Bex Schwartz said farewell in her review for Rolling Stone magazine: "So long, T-dog.