Spencer Monroe was a supporting character and later antagonist in AMC's The Walking Dead. A resident of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, he was the son of Reg and Deanna Monroe who had established the community. He was portrayed by Austin Nichols.
History[]
Pre-apocalypse[]
Nothing is known about Spencer's life from before the zombie apocalypse, except that he was originally from Ohio and was with his family when the initial outbreak occurred. He, his brother Aiden and their parents were responsible for establishing the community of Alexandria and were able to maintain a stable life for years, remaining largely ignorant of the situation beyond the town's walls.
Season 5[]
Roughly two years since the outbreak, Rick Grimes and his group of survivors arrive at Alexandria and are welcomed into the community. Spencer and his family try to help Rick's people adjust, though this proves difficult for Rick's group as they have spent so much time struggling to survive without shelter and barely minimal supplies. As time goes on, Rick's people begin to contribute to Alexandria's prosperity, sharing their skills with the residents who have had little to no experience surviving outside the walls. However, Spencer's brother Aiden, his father and Alexandria's resident surgeon Pete Anderson all die within days of Rick's arrival, which come to affect Spencer's attitude toward Rick later on.
Season 6[]
Not long after his father's death, Spencer is assigned by Rick to aid in the defense of Alexandria as a mega-horde of zombies is making its way towards the town. Carter, one of the original residents, brings Spencer to a meeting with a small group of other Alexandrians to discuss how to get rid of Rick, since numerous people have died since he arrived. Even though his father and brother were among the lost, Spencer disagrees with Carter.
Later, while Rick is directing the herding of the zombie horde, Alexandria is attacked by a band of marauding survivors calling themselves Wolves. The attackers pillage what they want and savagely kill several people, though Spencer tries picking them off with a sniper rifle. He also shoots a Wolf driving a truck towards the wall, and as a result the truck crashes and its air-horn blares constantly, the noise attracting half of the zombie herd back in the town's direction. After all of the Wolves have been killed off (save for Owen whom was captured by Morgan Jones), Spencer asks Rosita Espinosa how she is able to carry on living in the face of such despair, to which Rosita explains that her friends give her something worth dying for.
Hours later, Rick returns to Alexandria, but an army of zombies have followed him and have gathered outside the walls. Unable to leave to go on runs, the townsfolk begin to worry about their supply situation and many of them begin looting the pantry. Spencer steps in to stop them, reminding the others that he killed the truck driver that was heading straight for Alexandria that was aiming to destroy the walls and that, without him, they would not be standing there. Spencer also tells the others to think about the other Alexandrians that need food as well. The Alexandrians consider Spencer's words and put back their excess food. Deanna looks on in pride of her son's actions, but her pride turns to shame when she later discovers that Spencer had looted some alcohol and food from the pantry immediately after everyone had left.
The next day, Spencer attempts to lure the herd of walkers away from the walls. Using a grappling line, he tries to crawl over the horde and reach a car near the woods and use that to lure the undead swarm away. Unfortunately, his plan goes awry and Rick, Tara and Tobin have to save him. Rick berates Spencer for not consulting him about the plan first, but Spencer argues that Rick wouldn't have gone with it anyway. Hours later, the bell tower collapses and destroys a segment of the wall, allowing the walkers to flood the streets. Although a number of people die, Rick's group attempt to liberate Alexandria by slaying every last walker in the town. Their boldness inspires the other residents of Alexandria to join them in expelling the undead from their home and after fighting all through the night, they finally take back the town.
Though Alexandria is saved, Spencer loses his mother Deanna who turns into a walker. Two months after the battle, Michonne finds Spencer wandering the forest alone and later learns that he was out there searching for his mother in order to put her down. Michonne tries to reassure Spencer that even though Deanna, Reg and Aiden are gone, he still has a family with the rest of the people in Alexandria. Over the following days, Spencer appears to form a close relationship with Rosita, though this is only because Rosita was dumped by Abraham who had developed feelings for Sasha.
Season 7[]
Alexandria becomes the latest community to be dominated by the Saviours, a group of survivors that use violence and thuggery to subjugate others. After Abraham and Glenn are viciously murdered by Negan, Rick is forced to swear allegiance to him and so Alexandria must provide new resources for the Saviours. At this time, Spencer comes to realise just how much he resents Rick, blaming him for Alexandria's enslavement and for every other tragedy that has occurred since his group arrived.
When the Saviours come to Alexandria for their first offering, Spencer briefly meets with Negan at the front gate, but Negan disregards him. While the Saviours are in town, they take all of the community's weapons, though they discover two handguns are missing from the armoury. Negan almost kills Olivia for failing to keep track of inventory, but Rick finds the missing guns in Spencer's house. After the Saviours leave, Rick reprimands Spencer and calls him weak.
Death[]
In the episode "Hearts Still Beating", Negan visits Alexandria again. Having become completely disillusioned with Rick's leadership, Spencer formerly meets with Negan and the two end up playing a game of pool in the street while discussing Rick. Spencer tries to convince Negan that Rick is a poor leader and that everyone would be better off if Negan killed Rick and put him in charge. Negan, however, disagrees with Spencer's plan, stating that even though Rick hates him, he is still putting his hatred aside and getting things done, whereas Spencer is being a coward by trying to get Negan to do his dirty work. Stating that Spencer has "no guts", Negan draws a hunting knife and slashes Spencer's belly, causing his intestines to spill out.
Rick then returns to Alexandria after a scavenging run and finds Negan gloating over his handiwork. Negan tells Rick what Spencer had been planning and said that he did Rick a favour by killing him. As Negan and the Saviours leave, Spencer's corpse reanimates, snarling at Rick. Without hesitation, Rick draws his knife and stabs Spencer through the brain, killing him permanently.