Jessie Anderson

Jessie Anderson (née unknown) is a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. She is a resident of the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Jessie is the former wife of Pete and the mother of Ron and Sam. Following her husband's execution, she develops a romantic but short relationship with Rick Grimes.

Overview
Jessie was a smart, charming, warm-hearted woman and a loving mother with a "bohemian spirit". She cared deeply for those around her and would do almost anything to protect them. She understood the personal struggles of other people and did her best to encourage them and see a brighter future.

However, she had a vulnerable side to her, having lived for years in fear of her abusive husband Pete. She kept the emotional and physical pain to herself, not wanting anyone else to get hurt. That is until Rick came along and personally encouraged her to fight for her survival which had a notable effect on Jessie giving her the courage to finally stand up to her abusive husband.

After Pete's death though initially shattered her, she remained firmly protective of her two sons. She became aware of the harsh reality of the world and encourages the other Alexandrian's to fight for their survival mirroring Rick's wisdom bestowed onto her. She adapted quickly, learning how to defend herself and acquiring the knowledge needed when it comes to handling walkers. Of all the Alexandrian's, Jessie was the closest with Rick, as she was the sole resident who helped Rick adjust into the community. The two shared a bond that eventually became romantic until her death.

According to Andrew Lincoln who has spoken about Jessie's relationship with Rick - "she unlocks a part of him that hadn't been touched since the death of Lori. She was hugely important in the rebuilding of Rick and his future at Alexandria".

Virginia
Very little is known regarding Jessie's early childhood, other than around her early teens, she attended art college where she presumably studied Sculpturing, it was during this period where she met Pete upon where the two eventually fell in love together, it was through their relationship where Jessie eventually became pregnant with Ron at a young age; Jessie then married Pete several months later where around the time of their late 20's the two would later have another child Sam.

Following this, Jessie later became employed as a hair stylist amongst twelve other jobs, however due to Pete attending Medical School in order to provide for her eventually caused their relationship to suffer and thus Jessie and her two sons became victims to Pete's physical and mental abuse causing Jessie to lose her previous affection for him; however she never acted on this due to her fear of Pete.

Death
While making their way through a horde of walkers, Sam panics when he sees a little boy walker in the distance which causes him to freeze up and after Jessie, Rick and Ron fail to calm him down, he gets devoured by walkers.
 * Killed By
 * Carol Peletier (Indirectly Caused)
 * Sam Anderson (Indirectly Caused)
 * Herself (Caused)

Completely devastated by her son's death, Jessie starts sobbing hysterically; screaming out her son's name which begins to attract nearby walkers. She won't let go of Sam's hand and quickly becomes paralyzed in a state of shock as Carl attempts to encourage her to come with them. A walker soon latches onto Jessie's shoulder to which she doesn't react to and suddenly she is swarmed and devoured while still gripping on to Carl's hand. Seeing this, Rick hacks her hand off to save his son's life, letting Jessie get dragged to the ground to be completely devoured.
 * Zombies

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims that Jessie has killed:

This list shows the victims Jessie haEs killed:
 * Betsy (Zombified)
 * Herself (Indirectly Caused)
 * 1 unnamed Wolf
 * Numerous counts of zombies

Relationships
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Rick Grimes

 * "You heard about that? I wasn't saying there wasn't a future. There's got to be. Tell me there's more."
 * —Jessie to Rick before he kisses her[src]

Jessie and Rick had met the day Rick arrived at the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Jessie brought clean clothes to Rick after he had cleaned himself. She offered to cut his hair, to which Rick accepted even though he is uncertain of what he had just said. While Jessie was styling his hair, the two talked, getting to know each other. Jessie told Rick that she has two boys, Sam and Ron, living in the community with her along with her husband, Pete. The two then met a while later, when Rick panicked after losing Carl and Judith when they went strolling around the community. Rick stumbled upon her house and accidentally broke a statue that Jessie and her sons were trying to build, which the two joke about later on. Jessie then asked Rick about whether Carl could meet Ron, who is pretty excited to meet Carl. Rick allowed Carl to go with Jessie, showing that Rick trusted her.

Later at the welcoming party, the two bonded further, with Jessie even being allowed to hold Judith. When Rick took Judith back, he gave her a kiss on the cheek, something she did not try to stop, suggesting an attraction between the two.

In "Try", the two seemed to reach a disagreement in regards to how Pete treats Jessie at home and how to deal with the problem, straining their relationship. She began to completely understand the reason behind why Rick cared for her so much, and became indecisive when he offered her his help. When he confronted her a second time, he again offered his help, and confirmed that he would not do the same for anyone else, showing that he considered her to be a special person and directly implying his feelings for her. Eventually, she accepted his assistance, showing that she trusted him.

The next day Rick checks up on Jessie, she thinks it wouldn't be good if people saw them talking after what happened. Rick says he doesn't regret what he did and he is worried about her bruise (thinking he accidentally hit her during the fight), but she assures him it was Pete and she also tells him he was right before he walks away.

In "Conquer" Jessie has a brief conversation with Rick but lets him know she agrees with him about what happened the day before.

in "First Time Again", during a flashback, Jessie is seen in the armory as Rick walks in to get a box of flares. She starts explaining what happened with Ron and agrees that he should not have been out on his own, but she also berates Rick for speaking to him the way he did. Rick defends his decision and offers to teach her how to use a firearm, however, she turns him down, stating that Rosita is already doing so.

In "Now", she is among the crowd listening to Rick's speech about remaining quiet in hopes that the herd of walkers outside the walls lose interest and move on. Rick then witnesses her attempting to bury the Wolf that she killed in her home. He stops her and explains that killers are not to be buried within the walls and then goes on to explain that they will wait until the herd has thinned out before going outside and getting rid of them. Later on, Rick finds her in her garage and spills his feelings about what's going on. She makes him feel better by explaining that everyone is more than likely OK and will be back soon. She goes on to say that she believes in a future. She subtly asks Rick what he thinks the future holds for them and the community, to which Rick answers by kissing her. She accepts it and kisses him back.

In "Start To Finish", Jessie saved Rick's group before allowing them to hole up in her home. Later, as Rick explained his plan of using walker guts to their advantage, Jessie was shown to trust him wholeheartedly, even when a few of the group were uncertain.

In "No Way Out", both Jessie and Rick worked together to try and help Sam from his shock. As she was devoured alongside her son, Rick showed great sorrow and remorse before tearfully hacking off her hand to save Carl.

Pete Anderson
Pete's relationship with Jessie started very well. Jessie and Pete met at Art College where they both fell in love with each other and Pete had impregnated her. After Pete left to attend Medical School, he promised Jessie he would provide for her and their soon-to-be child. He kept his promise and went on to marry Jessie and have two kids with her. But he began to abuse her which went on to become a domestic abuse issue which he never really grew out of, even after the dead started to rise. After this, their relationship began to get very strained and Jessie fell out of love with him but continued to keep the abuse to herself and her family due to her fear of Pete.

Following Rick's arrival, she knew that she had a protector and began to become more confident and stood up to Pete more, though it resulted in worse beatings. After Rick came to talk to Pete and try and resolve the issue by telling him it was over between Jessie and Pete, Pete began to get volatile towards Rick, due to his relationship being broken because of her confiding to Rick. Jessie was horrified to see Pete kill Reg but her reaction to Rick executing him remains unseen.

In "First Time Again", she is seen huddled with Ron and Sam as they grieve over Pete. She watches as Ron storms off.

In "JSS" she speaks to Ron about getting a haircut, which he refuses. She states that she believes that he is angry because of Pete's death. He argues back and she asks him to lift his arm. He doesn't bear a reply and she asks him the reason he can't, indicating that Pete had severely injured Ron before Rick and the survivors arrived. Ron questions the relationship between her and Rick; she tells him that they are friends and that him killing Pete was the right thing to do because he had killed Reg and was a danger to everyone, which causes Ron to storm out.

Sam Anderson
Jessie and Sam have a stable mother-son relationship. According to Sam, he tells his mother everything, indicating that they are close. Sam also mentions that he wants a gun for someone who needs it, because the person is in "danger", referring to Jessie, showing that he cares deeply for her safety.

Later on, after witnessing Pete's death, she can be seen holding Sam in her arms as they mourn in their living room. They both watch Ron walk away in frustration.

After the fight with the Wolves, Jessie calls for Sam as she holds a plate of cookies. He refuses to come down and walks back into his room, leaving a saddened Jessie alone.

Once the herd pours in from a breach in the wall, Jessie tries her best to calm Sam down and to help him through his fears. Despite her and Rick's efforts, Sam is unable to cope with the stress and, as their group heads out toward the armory, ends up blowing his cover and getting devoured. After losing her son, Jessie is caught in a state of emotional distress, which leads to her own demise.

Ron Anderson

 * "Your father was dangerous!"
 * —Jessie to Ron about Rick killing Pete[src]

Before Pete's death, it can be assumed that Ron and Jessie had a stable mother-son relationship. However, after Pete's demise at the hands of Rick, their relationship is strained. When she tries to talk to him, he refuses to interact with her because she continues to be friends with Rick and seems to be holding a grudge against her. When he returns to see Jessie stabbing a Wolf to death, he seems shocked and disturbed.

After the walker herd pushes through the community wall, Jessie encourages her son to partake in Rick's proposed plan of heading to the armory. After Jessie and Sam are devoured by the herd, Ron goes into a state of shock before attempting to murder Rick for the death of his entire family.

Carol Peletier
While not shown interacting together, Carol shares a natural caring for Jessie, as she had been a victim of abuse by the hands of her husband Ed as well; she is the first to notice and inform Rick after her previous attempt to talk to Jessie resulted in Pete closing the door.

When Carol notices Morgan and Denise walking together, she becomes suspicious and goes to Jessie's home. She asks her to watch after Judith while she investigates, which Jessie happily agrees to do.

Deanna Monroe

 * "I don't see him here, Deanna, so you're just saying what someone said... Did you tape him?"
 * —Jessie to Deanna questioning her dialogue with Gabriel Stokes[src]

It is possible Jessie's relationship with Deanna could be strained as she has ignored Jessie's problems with Pete all along. At the meeting, Jessie implies the woman is lying when Deanna says Rick and his group are dangerous as Father Gabriel is absent and she has nothing to prove it.
 * }
 * }

Appearances
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Season 5

 * "Remember"
 * "Forget"
 * "Spend"
 * "Try"
 * "Conquer"

Season 6

 * "First Time Again" (Flashback)
 * "JSS"
 * "Now"
 * "Heads Up"
 * "Start to Finish"
 * "No Way Out"
 * }
 * }

Trivia

 * The casting call for this character used the name Samantha.
 * Jessie was described as "An attractive, strong, smart, charming and articulate woman with a vulnerable side. She's a mother with a bohemian spirit, and a talented artist."
 * Upon being cast as Jessie, Alexandra Breckenridge explained: "I didn't know anything. I hadn't watched the show before. I'd watched the pilot a long time ago, which I enjoyed, but I wasn't into the blood and guts at the time so I didn't continue watching for that reason. When I got the part, I watched all four seasons in a week and was having zombie nightmares. It was like cramming for an exam. I hadn't read the comics and when I first had my meeting with Scott Gimple, he suggested not read the comics because the show and characters aren't always exact to the comics. If you've seen the comics, my character has short black hair with bangs and wears a headband — and she's a meek; she's a weaker character than I'm playing on the show, which is great because I enjoy playing a stronger character."
 * Breckenridge confirmed that Jessie and Pete both met in Art College and fell in love, but she got pregnant with Ron at a very early age, prompting Pete to attend Medical School in order to provide for his family, which caused their relationship to suffer.
 * Jessie possesses several tattoos, including a tri-spiral like tattoo on her left shoulder as well as another one located on her right arm which appears to resemble an owl-like figure.
 * Jessie is the second main character to be killed off in a mid-season premiere, the first being Tyreese in "What Happened and What's Going On" and the third being Andrea in "Honor".