Earl Sutton (portrayed by John Finn) was a supporting character through Seasons 9 and 10 of The Walking Dead. He and his wife Tammy Rose were residents of the Hilltop where Earl contributed to the community as a blacksmith, building the settlement's weaponry and some of its facilities.
History[]
Early life[]
Earl's earliest known history in the series is that he had served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He had been involved in the Tet Offensive that saw 155 members of his garrison killed. After returning home from the war, Earl slipped into depression due to post-traumatic stress and turned to alcohol to deal with his pain.
At some point after the war, Earl would marry Tammy Rose and the two would have a son who they would name Kenneth. Earl was drunk at the time of his son's birth and wouldn't remember the first time he had set eyes on him. When Ken was two, Earl got into a fight with the babysitter and drove off with Ken, drunk. He later pulled over and called Tammy to pick them up. He expected his wife to leave him, but she didn't. From that day, Earl swore off drinking, staying sober for the next twenty years.
The Sutton family's exact activities at the onset of the apocalypse are unknown, though it is believed that they were among the first residents of the Hilltop Colony.
Season 9[]
A year and a half after the war between the Militia and the Saviors, tragedy would strike the Sutton family when Earl and Tammy Rose learned that Ken had died whilst on a scavenging mission to Washington D.C.. Earl remained silent after hearing the news, but Tammy became angry towards Maggie Rhee, blaming her for their son's death. Following Ken's funeral, Earl was met by Hilltop's former leader Gregory, who offered Earl a bottle of whiskey. Tammy would drink herself to sleep, after which Earl imbibed himself, breaking his no-drinking policy.
Through his drink offer, Gregory manipulated Earl, suggesting that Maggie shouldn't be allowed to continue leading Hilltop. Under the influence of both the whiskey and Gregory, Earl attacked Maggie while she was tending to her late husband's grave. Enid, Cyndie and Alden all intervened to stop Earl. After this incident, Earl was locked up in one of the jail cells that he himself had built in Barrington House's cellar. The following night, he would be among the witnesses to Gregory's execution. Earl truly regreted his actions and asked for Maggie's forgiveness. After a month, Earl was released on Maggie's favour, who knew of Earl's struggles as a recovering alcoholic much like her own father.
Six years after Rick Grimes' disappearance, Earl had taken on the full-time role of blacksmith at Hilltop, building various tools and weapons for the community to use. He had taken on Alden as an apprentice and would soon come to take on a second in Henry, the adopted son of King Ezekiel and Carol Peletier. However, Henry's apprenticeship would be short-lived as he was locked up for misbehaviour, having snuck out in the night to get drunk with the other teenage residents. While sitting sorrowfully in his cell, Henry asked Earl for a second chance. Earl considered it, remembering his own past misdeeds and how he had been offered a second chance.
Days later, the Hilltop would be visited by a hostile group of survivors known as the Whisperers, who lived a primitive lifestyle in the wilderness. The Whisperers had captured two Hilltop residents and were willing to return them in exchange for Lydia, the daughter of their leader, the Alpha. During the negotiation at the Hilltop's main gate, one Whisperer carrying a baby was unable to quiet her child, whose cries were attracting a herd of walkers. The Whisperer left the baby on the ground while she and her pack fled. However, Tammy Rose and a few other survivors were able to rescue the baby and bring him inside. Since the baby's mother had abandoned him, Tammy and Earl decided to care for him themselves, naming the boy "Adam".
Days after the Whisperers had appeared at Hilltop, the Kingdom was hosting a trade fair as a means of reuniting the allied communities that had drifted apart following the Savior war. On the day of the fair, Earl came to the Kingdom to trade some of his blacksmithing wares, but during the event, Tammy went missing. It would later be revealed that Tammy and several other attendees had been abducted and murdered by the Whisperers, their heads planted on spikes to mark a newly-established border between theirs and the Coalition's territories. Siddiq, the only captive to have been spared, later addressed everyone in the Kingdom and told them how the captives had fought bravely for one another until the end and that they should be remembered as heroes.
Season 10[]
In the months following the fall of the Kingdom, Earl was among the Coalition members to be drafted into a new militia as a response to the threat of the Whisperers. Following a series of training exercises, he and the other militia members were enjoying a feast at Oceanside when a satellite fell from orbit, crashing into the nearby forest and setting it ablaze. Everyone took part in the effort to put out the fire before it spread and destroyed Oceanside. The battle against the fire lasted long into the night, but eventually it was extinguished with Oceanside suffering no significant damage.
After a tree collapsed and destroyed a portion of Hilltop's walls, Earl took part in the effort to repair the damage. Earl and some of the others believed that the Whisperers were responsible for felling the tree and that the border they had established only served to weaken the Coalition. The night following the tree fall, walkers invaded the Hilltop and Earl took part in eliminating the herd.
Weeks later, Earl would be working on the Hilltop's wall defences in preparation for an attack from the Whisperers and their mega-horde of undead. That day, Mary - a defecting Whisperer - arrived at Hilltop offering to help. Alden informed Earl that Mary was the aunt of Adam and that she wanted to see him, but Earl shot down this motion immediately. That night, the militia gathered to defend the Hilltop as the Whisperers led their horde of walkers to attack. The battle was long and fierce, with the undead ultimately breaching the Hilltop's defences and making it inside the walls. Earl fought as he tried to evacuate the children from the burning settlement, but what nobody saw was that he had been bitten during the battle.
Death[]
In the Season 10 episode "Walk With Us", Earl had managed to take several of the Coalition's children to an abandoned shack in the middle of the woods that was to be a rendezvous for the survivors of the battle. He kept the children calm and assured them that their parents would soon be coming to get them. He then left the room and started adjusting a table in the next room, hammering a railroad spike through the underside.
Judith Grimes then came in, suspecting that something was wrong. Earl appeared sick and feverish and he revealed to Judith a bite mark on his arm. Judith knew what this meant and asked if Earl wanted her to stay with him so that he didn't die alone. Earl assured her that he wouldn't be alone, saying that he would have his wife and son with him. He then told Judith to go back into the other room with the rest of the children and not to come near him again. Judith complied and Earl set up the table with the railroad spike protruding through the top. He then braced himself and slammed his head down on the spike, killing himself.
Minutes later, Judith came back in and saw Earl's body slumped over the table. However, while Earl had split his skull open, he had narrowly avoided damaging his brain. As such, Earl reanimated and attacked Judith, but the girl put him down by skewering his brain with her sword. She then sat beside Earl's body crying until Daryl Dixon arrived.