Beth’s death in The Walking Dead was one of the harder-hitting ones in the series. Despite this, with so many major characters dying or departing the show in the journey to the final season, it can be hard to remember all the way back to when Beth was a central focus of the story (especially when we’re nervous about more potential deaths). So we’ll recount how Beth died in The Walking Dead below and give a bit of her background to help jog those memories.
How and when did Beth die in The Walking Dead?
Beth died from a gunshot wound to the head in season 5 of The Walking Dead. She’s killed by Officer Dawn Lerner, who led the survivors at Grady Memorial Hospital. Beth stabbed Dawn with a small pair of scissors when Dawn refuses to let Noah leave. When she’s stabbed, Dawn reflexively pulls her gun and shoots Beth in the head. Dawn immediately realizes she’s made a terrible mistake and tries to tell Rick and his group that she didn’t mean to do it. However, it’s too late. Seconds after killing Beth, Dawn is in turn shot in the head by Daryl Dixon in retaliation.
At the time of her death, Beth was one of the longer running cast members. She joined the cast in “Bloodletting” (S2E2) and was Maggie Greene’s half-sister and Herschel’s daughter. She was a focal point of the plot after the group was forced from prison, and fans loved her and Daryl’s exploits. However, her kidnapping by the group at Grady Memorial Hospital would be the last plotline of which she was part. After she died, she’s seen in a few flashbacks, but she’s seldomly mentioned after that. It’s hard to even think back that far after the huge death toll during the wars with the Saviors and the Whisperers.
Of all the deaths on the show, Beth’s was one that outraged fans the most as she proved to be a very popular character. However, she wasn’t the first significant player to die in The Walking Dead, and she certainly wasn’t the last.
