Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) died a sad death during The Walking Dead season 3, but a deleted scene turned her into a decayed walker.
The Walking Dead season 3 saw Lori Grimes was sadly eaten by a walker, but a deleted scene also turned her into a zombie. Played by Sarah Wayne Callies, Lori was an original member of The Walking Dead cast, appearing in every episode of its first two seasons. Wife of series lead Rick Grimes, Lori never really seemed to get her due from fans. Some might cite poor characterization for that, and others poor writing but whatever the reasons, Lori’s death was actually applauded by her many detractors.
For those who enjoyed Lori’s presence and interplay with husband Rick, son Carl, and temporary lover Shane, season 3 brought the sadness in a major way early on. Rick’s group had by that point reached the prison where they would spend the entirety of season 3 and much of season 4, and where the final battle against the forces of The Governor (aka Philip Blake) would one day be fought. Lori was pregnant with daughter Judith, who Rick would ultimately raise as his own, despite the later reveal she was Shane’s biological child.
Sadly, at one point early in The Walking Dead season 3, walkers rush the prison and Lori ends up going into labor during the siege. Maggie performs an improvised c-section surgery on her that saves Judith, but Lori dies in the process. Carl then ensures his mom won’t re-animate before a tearful Rick learns what happened. It’s a horrific situation all around, but a deleted scene from season 3 made things even worse by turning Lori into a walker after all, joining a long line of major Walking Dead characters turned zombies.
Rick, quite understandably, doesn’t take the tragic death of his wife well. Going forward in season 3, Rick starts to lose his grip on reality and begins to see Lori’s ghost. Early in the season 3 episode “Home,” Rick sees Lori’s ghost in the fields outside the prison fences. He heads out and even touches her face lovingly. While Michonne seeing it from inside the fence and doing a double take is somewhat comedic, the almost angelic score and Lori’s bright white dress lend an odd beauty to the scene, making it an effective illustration of loss and grief.
In the deleted scene though, this sequence sees Rick actually kiss Lori’s ghost, only to be confronted by her now sporting a decayed, zombified walker visage. Naturally, Rick is terrified, stumbling backward and yelling, freaking future Walking Dead movie co-star Michonne out even more. While it’s cool to see Lori as a walker, and she looks suitably upsetting, at the same time, this sudden jump scare ruins what in the final cut is an emotional sequence that furthers Rick’s mental journey. Beyond that, Lori’s walker face appears CGI-assisted, and doesn’t look nearly as convincing as The Walking Dead‘s practical effects zombies.