Paula (TV Series)

### Cause of Death

Shoved onto a pike by Carol Peletier and impaled then devoured by a nearby walker (Alive) Stabbed in the head by Maggie Greene (Zombified)

### Portrayed By

Alicia Witt

**Paula**is an antagonist in AMC's The Walking Dead. She is a high ranking member of the Saviors.

## History

### Background

Paula was born in the mid 1970s where she grew to be a family woman living with her beloved husband and four daughters in Washington D.C.. She worked as a secretary under an unappreciative boss which put a heavy strain upon her lifestyle and essentially made her a burned-out employee trapped in a cubicle working a thankless occupation. To cope with her depressive life and move forward through the turbulent times, she would spend her free time reading several inspirational email stories, watching inspirational pictures and funny cat-meme pictures.

During the onset of the outbreak, Paula was present at her workplace when the military arrived, however, to her misfortune, only essential government employees and members of congress were being evacuated while everyone else was ordered to stay indoors wherever they were, effectively leaving Paula in her workplace alongside her boss. However, her boss, being a businessman with no fighting or survival skills was surely getting both him and Paula killed and this would have prevented Paula from returning home to her family so she killed her boss and returned home, but by the time she arrived back to her house she tragically discovered that her husband and four daughters had already died.

At some point after the event, Paula eventually came into contact with Negan and subsequently joined his group, the Saviors. Due to her keen intellect and resourcefulness, Paula was appointed as one of Negan's personal lieutenants; during which she developed a somewhat romantic relationship with her fellow Savior Donnie. She aided in terrorizing other survivors and communities into subjugating to Negan's will, during which she committed several horrific acts in order to do so including murdering innocent people. At some point after discovering the Hilltop Colony, they demanded half of their supplies in exchange for leaving the farming community unscathed, upon where they demonstrated their methods through executing Rory, a 16 year old member of Hilltop.

### Season Six

Paula is heard through Primo's walkie-talkie, ordering Rick Grimes and his group to lower their weapons after their attack on the Saviors compound. She refuses to show herself to Rick, but agrees to talk to him, revealing that she is holding his people Carol Peletier and Maggie Greene hostage.

Paula watches through binoculars as Rick's group beats up a fellow Savior, Primo. She contacts Rick on Primo's walkie-talkie and tells him that she has Carol and Maggie. Rick offers to trade Carol and Maggie for Primo, but Paula instead takes Maggie and Carol away while calling for backup. Paula's group brings Maggie and Carol to a slaughterhouse, where they're gagged and bound in a makeshift cell.

Carol hyperventilates and Maggie is concerned, unsure whether it's real or Carol is pretending. Upon Maggie's insistence, the Saviors remove Carol's gag and look pitifully at her as she gasps for breath and prays. Carol begs them not to hurt Maggie and the baby and asks Molly, a Savior, to refrain from smoking on account of the pregnancy. Michelle, one of the Saviors, surprisingly backs Carol up however Donnie, the Savior who Carol shot in the woods, shrieks with pain and threatens to kill Carol. Paula orders him to leave Carol alive as insurance until backup arrives in 30 minutes. Donnie smacks Paula and Maggie trips him as he goes for Carol, and they fight. Paula knocks Donnie unconscious with the butt of her gun and instructs Michelle to interrogate Maggie in another room. In the other room, Carol thanks Paula for helping her and Maggie with Donnie.

Paula calls Carol pathetic and Rick then radios Paula, asking if she's considered his proposal to trade hostages. Paula delays her decision and ends the transmission. Carol explains to Paula that her group killed the people at the outpost because the Saviors ambushed Daryl Dixon's group on the road, instilling them with a fear of Negan. Paula tells Carol that her boss was the first person she killed after the fall and she says she stopped feeling bad about killing people when her body count reached double digits. Carol accuses Paula of living among killers, but Paula counters that Carol's people are killers too, making Carol a killer. After Carol tells Paula that she'll die unless she makes the trade, Paula eventually radios Rick again and tells him to meet her in a nearby field. Afterwards, she worries that the absence of static on the walkie means that Rick's group is close, possibly already outside the slaughterhouse.

Paula contacts her reinforcements, who are now only minutes away. She and Molly leave Carol alone in the cell and in their absence, Carol sharpens the crucifix on the rosary beads and uses it to cut herself free. Maggie and Carol find a hall full of impaled but living walkers, designed to slow them down or trap them. From behind, Paula fires at them until she runs out of bullets. Carol aims her gun at Paula and orders her to run, despite Maggie's insistence that Carol kill Paula. A walker attacks, causing Carol to shoot Paula in the shoulder. Maggie kills the walker, then races over to fight Michelle. During their struggle, Maggie's abdomen is nearly slashed, but Carol manages to shoot Michelle dead. Maggie and Carol find Paula injured on the ground.

Paula asks what Carol is so afraid of when she's capable and Carol replies to that she was afraid of Paula's death by her hands. Paula lunges at her but Carol shoves Paula into a speared walker, and the walker tears off a good portion of Paula's cheek. Paula's screams of agony are shortly drowned out as she chokes to death on her own blood and dies from blood loss and/or trauma. Later, when Maggie and Carol are making their way to the kill floor to attack the remaining Saviors, the former puts down all the walkers used in the trap, including the reanimated Paula.

## Personality

Paula is cool, controlled and formidable, having faced tragedy and trauma and come out stronger and harder. However, she became colder and less outwardly emotional; she avoids attachments and maintains a toughly pragmatic, nihilistic worldview.

## Relationships

### Negan

Paula is one of the high ranking members of the Saviors and she shows an amount of loyalty for Negan. Her death was avenged when Negan personally kills Abraham Ford, a member of Rick Grimes's group.

### Carol Peletier

Paula and Carol Peletier had a very negative relationship and she constantly mocks Carol because of her apparent fear of the Saviors as well as her faith. Carol, while she dislikes her, gives Paula a possibility to escape alive, which she ignores and continues to taunt her. When Carol shoves Paula into a pipe and gets her killed, she is shown to be shocked by the act.

### Molly

Paula and Molly have shown to have a good relationship or at least on steady grounds as they are seen helping each other out. When Carol asked them who Negan is, both Molly and Paula protected Negan's identity. Paula seems to be shocked and angered by Molly's death and tries to kill Carol and Maggie Greene to avenge her only to meet her own demise.

### Michelle

Although not seen interacting that much, it is assumed that Paula and Michelle have a good relationship. Michelle seems to respect Paula as the leader of her own group while Paula entrusts Michelle enough to interrogate Maggie. It is assumed that Paula doesn't know who Michelle is as she is not among her fallen allies and isn't mentioned by Paula.

### Donnie

Donnie and Paula are shown to have a rough relationship and after Donnie gets shot in the arm by Carol, he begins to get emotionally uncontrollable and intends to kill Carol angrily. Paula stops him, which causes Donnie to lose control and hit on Carol as well as Paula, so Paula knocks him out with her pistol. Paula's negligency causes Donnie to die out of blood loss and infection. After finding out about Donnie's death, Paula gets infuriated and attempts to kill Carol and Maggie for their actions.