Glenn Rhee

Before the world ended, Glenn delivered pizza. Now he's the one who can slip into overrun Atlanta and back out again with supplies nobody else could get, using speed and nerve instead of muscle. Quick with a joke to cut the tension, he's the group's unlikely lifeline, and the first friendly face Rick meets.

He's introduced as comic relief and immediately proves indispensable, which is the trick: the show keeps underestimating him so you don't, and Steven Yeun plays that gap with easy charm and real competence underneath the jokes. Watching Glenn grow from scrappy survivor into someone others rely on is one of the show's steadiest, most rewarding arcs.