Luke Abrams was a supporting character in the survival-horror TV series The Walking Dead. First appearing in Season 9, he was a member of a group of five apocalypse survivors that were taken in by Alexandria after Judith Grimes saved their lives. Although it took some time, Michonne and Alexandria's council came to trust Luke and his group, and they would later move to the Hilltop. Since then, Luke would share his passion for the arts with his newfound friends and would prove instrumental in the Coalition's victory over the Whisperers.
Overview[]
Luke is a fatigued survivor who understands there is safety in numbers. He values what is beautiful and hopeful and makes people uniquely human. He’s more on the artist’s spectrum of personality, preaching the love of music as a necessity to maintain humanity during chaotic times. Among his group, he is the most jovial and friendly. While so many other people have become hardened survivors, Luke maintains a refreshingly upbeat and optimistic personality.
History[]
Early life[]
Nothing is known about Luke's pre-apocalypse, except that he was a music teacher before the outbreak. Initially surviving the outbreak on his own, he would later meet up with Magna, Yumiko Okumura, Connie and her sister Kelly. The quintet would survive together for several years, coming to see one another as family. Their group was initially larger, but several members died over the years of moving between different communities.
Season 9[]
Ten years into the apocalypse, Luke, Magna, Yumiko, Connie and Kelly were running from a large group of walkers only to find themselves surrounded. However, the group was saved by the timely intervention of young Judith Grimes, who shot several of the walkers and created a gap for the group to escape through. They ran through the trees where they met their young saviour, who led them back to her community of Alexandria.
Prior to the arrival of Luke and his group, Alexandria had stopped taking in new people for some time and Michonne Grimes was hesitant to let them stay. While it took some time, which was complicated by disagreement from Magna over staying, it was eventually decided that Luke and the others would be allowed to stay at Alexandria. Luke was eager to contribute to the community in any way he could, leaning towards sharing his love of music and the arts with everyone, stating that remembering the art and culture of the old world was instrumental in re-establishing civilization.
Season 10[]
Following their initial encounters with the Whisperers, the Coalition began training a new militia down at Oceanside in order to prepare for a likely conflict. During this time, Luke met a woman from Oceanside called Jules Butler and the two began subtly flirting with one another. Later, following the crashing of a satellite in the nearby forest, Luke joined the effort to combat the forest fire that had started as a result of the satellite's impact.
Following the satellite fall, the Whisperers resumed hostilities against the Coalition, conducting minor strikes against Hilltop, such as felling a tree and causing damage to the settlement's walls. Luke was involved with defending Hilltop from invading walkers, both on this occasion and later when the Whisperers launched a massive offensive against the settlement. Although most of Hilltop's residents survived the Whisperer attack, the settlement itself was destroyed. Not long after the attack, the Whisperers' Alpha was assassinated by Negan.
After Alpha's death, Beta launched a retaliatory strike against the Coalition, leading a massive zombie horde towards Alexandria. However, the settlement had been evacuated beforehand, with the survivors taking shelter in an abandoned hospital in a desolate town. Beta's horde surrounded the hospital, but Luke came up with a plan to divert the undead and give everyone a chance of escape. Salvaging a sound system with several electronic speakers and securing it to a wagon, Luke planned to lure the horde away from the hospital with music and divert them towards a cliff. Despite the Whisperers attacking the wagon and destroying the sound system, the plan proved to be a success as the horde was diverted from the hospital and Carol and Lydia were able to draw the horde the rest of the way by themselves. Luke's plan ultimately helped the Coalition defeat Beta and put an end to the Whisperer threat.
Following the Whisperer conflict, Luke decided to move to Oceanside to be with Jules, bidding his old companions goodbye before setting off.
Season 11[]
Several months following the Whisperer War, Oceanside was invaded by the Commonwealth Army, who quickly took over the settlement. Luke and Jules were the only ones to escape alive and they would run into Aaron, Lydia, Jerry and Elijah in the woods several days after their escape.
As the group tried heading for Alexandria, they were almost spotted by Commonwealth soldiers. Seeing a large herd of walkers nearby, the group covered themselves in walker guts to blend in with the horde, not being recognized by the soldiers or the undead. Jerry and Elijah would be separated from the others, pushed along by the horde as the others were forced to take shelter in an RV. During this period, Lydia was bitten on the arm while trying to reach for Elijah. She was forced to have her arm amputated before the infection could spread. After Lydia had time to recover from the amputation, the group exited the RV and continued travelling among the horde, which was heading towards the Commonwealth.
After the Commonwealth's east gates were opened due to variant walkers climbing the walls and attacking the guards at the gate controls, Luke and the others entered the city along with the horde. They soon reunited with their Coalition friends who were fleeing from Commonwealth soldiers, but they were all trapped within a barricaded street along with many walkers. As the survivors fought for their lives trying to hold off the undead horde, Jules was bitten on the arm and then swarmed. Luke tried reaching for her, but the horde pulled her back and enveloped her, completely devouring her. In attempting to save Jules, Luke was also bitten on the leg.
Death[]
In the series finale "Rest in Peace", Luke was bitten on the leg while fruitlessly trying to save Jules. He was pulled away from the horde by his friends and after Carol cleared a path for them, they ran towards the Commonwealth's hospital. When they arrived, the hospital was deserted; all of the staff had fled to the Estates, taking all of the essential equipment and supplies with them. Luke had his leg amputated in order to save him from infection, but without any gauze or medication available, he was doomed to die from blood loss.
In his last moments, Luke had Magna, Yumiko, Connie and Kelly gather around him. Yumiko removed Luke's harmonica from his pocket and Luke made them promise to keep the music alive. Seconds later, Luke succumbed to blood loss and died, his found family gathered around him weeping over his passing. To ensure that Luke didn't reanimate as a walker, Magna took a knife from Kelly and slid it into his brain.