Bill Taylor (Rise)

William "Bill" Taylor is a survivor of the outbreak in Rise, and is a main character in the first and second seasons of the series. He is the husband of Emilio Vasquez, and served as the Deputy Mayor of the city of Cheshire, Connecticut before the apocalypse. Retiring from politics after the end of his service as the Deputy Mayor of Cheshire, Connecticut, Bill was accompanying his fiance Emilio and his running mate Franklin Carter on the campaign trail during his fiance's run for the position of Governor of the state of Connecticut at the start of the outbreak. After accompanying Emilio and Franklin to the hospital that held the most amount of victims from the factory explosion that likely started the outbreak, he is caught in the midst of a horde when he and his group manage to hide away from the horde before escaping the building and retreating to an abandoned dentistry office a few streets away. Bill and his group took refuge at the dental offices before hearing cries of help from a group near the outside of the office, eventually rushing out with Emilio and Franklin to assist the group, which turned out to be Meghan Chapel and Alicia Haven trying to fight through a horde in order to get through and save John Callis after a car accident left him unconscious. After joining the group in driving to the Callis Family neighborhood, as well as Emilio joining John is search of his wife Jessica Callis, Bill assisted the remaining members of the group in fortifying the neighborhood and defending it from incoming monsters. Bill and the group continued to fortify the neighborhood before hearing and assisting Salem Ailwood and her group from a large horde of monsters. After the group splits into two, Bill is a part of the group with Meghan, Janice Garnett, Tyler Garnett, and Amy Callis that departs the neighborhood, being forced to leave the remainder of the group behind at the neighborhood at the end of the first season. Bill would eventually develop brain cancer, which would be revealed to Emilio in the episode, "Leaders of the New, Free World." Following a poor reaction to this revelation, Bill would commit suicide by shooting himself through the head, preventing himself from succumbing to cancer and reanimating. Emilio would soon find Bill after the act, Bill's death dealing a massive blow to his husband's drive to live.
== Representation ==
Bill is shown as the moral compass of the group, trying to reason with people making irrational solutions and trying to persuade them into thinking about the bigger picture. His devotion to Emilio and Franklin show that he trusts the people that he cares about and is around, featuring Bill to be a person that remains loyal to the people that he finds himself to trust.
== Appearances ==
=== Season One ===
* Day Zero - Part One
* Day Zero - Part Two
* Hearts Beat for a Reason
* Novocaine
* King of the Clouds
== Trivia ==
* Series creator Zachary Serra confirmed that during the writing process for the first season of the series, he modeled the Bill Taylor character off of Keith Allan. Allan is known for portraying the role of "Murphy" in the post-apocalyptic television series "Z Nation."