‘The Walking Dead’ adds to huge death toll

Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) react to a gruesome sight on Sunday's episode of AMC's 'The Walking Dead.'(Photo: Jackson Lee Davis, AMC)

Spoiler alert: This story contains significant details from Sunday's episode of AMC's "The Walking Dead."

The death toll jumped significantly on "The Walking Dead" Sunday, shocking even viewers familiar with the AMC drama's frequent bloodshed.

As famous fan Carrie Underwood, likely speaking for many viewers, tweeted: "The. Walking. Dead. Holy moly! Didn't see that coming!@TheWalkingDead #StillProcessing #GonnaBeAWhile"

Near the end of the episode, 10 characters, including somesignificant ones, were found by Daryl, Carol and Michonne in gruesome fashion, their disembodied heads on pikes.

Long-running shows past their peak often shake up their casts, but the "Dead" mayhem follows, with some casualty changes, a plot in the popular comics books on which the show is based.

The dead include Tara (Alanna Masterson), who had grown into a leadership position at Hilltop; Enid (Katelyn Nacon), now the doctor at Hilltop; Henry, loved like ason byCarol and King Ezekiel; and Tammy Rose (Brett Butler), a woman from Hilltop.

Masterson, who's now listed fourth in the credits after the departures earlier this season of Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan, was the highest-profile casualty. At one point in the episode, it looked like the lives of the three main characters, Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), might be lost, but they survivedan ambush by this season's main villains, the dead-skin-covered, zombie-imitating Whisperers.

Tara was a long-running character, having first appeared in Season 4, while Enid, initially a potential love interest for now deceased Carl Grimes, arrived during the following season.

The death of Henry, who is not as high-profile as Tara, may resonate the strongest because of his connection to Carol, who has been with the show since its start, and Ezekiel (Khary Payton), another major character.

Sunday's episode of 'The Walking Dead' began in a festive mood but it ended with disastrous results for these characters imprisoned by The Whisperers.(Photo: Jackson Lee Davis, AMC)

The deadly revelation came at the end of what had started as a celebratory episode, with the various human communities finally coming together for a fair at The Kingdom that had long been dreamed of by Ezekiel.

Although the deaths are not seen on screen, it was clear that something was amiss when Alpha (Samantha Morton), the leader of The Whisperers and the season's main antagonist, was seen in disguise this time as a living human instead of a dead walker wandering around the fair.

Characters mourned the losses at the end of the episode and there likely will be more tears in next Sunday's Season 9 finale (9 EDT/PDT).

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'The Walking Dead' adds to huge death toll