Denise Cloyd

Denise Cloyd is a fictional physician and a supporting character featured on the AMC survival horror series The Walking Dead. Played by actress Merritt Wever, she was introduced in the second episode of season six, "JSS".

Biography
Denise Cloyd was a young blonde-haired woman and a resident at the Alexandria Safe-Zone in Alexandria, Virginia. She had studied medicine in college, but was by no means a practicing physician. However, after the town's resident doctor, Pete Anderson, was killed by Rick Grimes, Denise found herself in the unenviable position of becoming the town's new medic. Though untrained, she proved a quick study and learned how to respond accordingly in crisis situations.

Denise narrowly survived an attack on the town by a group of psychopaths called the Wolves. The leader of the pack, Owen, captured Denise and used her as a shield in order to escape from survivors such as Carol Peletier and Morgan Jones.

Owen took Denise out into the town after the walkers had broken through the barricades and invaded. Owen was bitten, but Denise promised that she could save his life. He defended her against oncoming walkers, but was ultimately shot to death by Carol Peletier.

Denise made her way back to her office, where she was forced to adapt to another crisis situation. Young Carl Grimes had been shot in the eye, and Denise delegated orders to those around her to save Carl's life.

Denise later approached Daryl Dixon and gave him a list of medical supplies to pick up during his run with Rick. Among the items on the list was "pop" soda, which she wanted to get for Tara.

Denise later recruits Daryl and Rosita Espinosa on a mission to retrieve medical supplies from a local apothecary. After getting the medicine, Denise takes a risk to retrieve a small cooler full of sodas from a car, killing a walker in the process and grabbing another "pop" for Tara after the last one was busted when Rick and Daryl had a scuffle with Paul Rovia. While on the road, she gives a speech about how brave Rosita and Daryl are and that she recruited them as they have been inspirations to her and she was sick that Rosita and Daryl weren't trying. During this speech, she is shot through the back of the head with an arrow by Dwight but manages to finish her sentence before dying. She is later buried at Alexandria by Daryl.

Notes & Trivia



 * In The Walking Dead comic book series by Image Comics, Denise Cloyd is one of three physicians in Alexandria, Virginia. The character was introduced in issue #71 of the series, cover dated April, 2010.


 * Playing the role of Denise Cloyd is actress Merritt Wever's first work in the horror genre. She is also known for playing the role of Zoey Barkow on the dramedy series Nurse Jackie.


 * Denise is the fifth LGBT character introduced in the series following Tara Chambler, Alisha, Aaron and Eric.