The Walking Dead Characters: Gregory

The Walking Dead Characters:
Gregory

"The Walking Dead" will enter its seventh season on October 23, and after leaving on a massive cliffhanger, excitement and anticipation are at all time highs. 

For the next few days I will be posting articles about the main characters you will see in the upcoming season, from faces we've seen since the first season to ones we'll be introduced to once season seven begins.  

**THERE WILL BE SHOW AND COMIC SPOILERS!**

You have been warned.  If you want to keep reading, do so in knowing that I will be divulging comic book and television show spoilers.  Information was derived from personal comic book readings, show watching, The Walking Dead wiki and imdb.com.

 

 

**SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS WILL ABOUND 

FROM HERE ON OUT**

Gregory: The Comics

Gregory is the vain, self-absorbed leader of the Hilltop Colony who often forgets peoples' names and is cowardly, but refuses to believe it.  He cracks easily under pressure, consistently flirts with women, and is very fearful of Negan, so much so that he turns against the alliance with Rick and Ezekiel to side with Negan, explaining to Maggie that he betrayed them because Rick was the real enemy, and Negan could be reasoned with. 

When Rick's group arrives at Hilltop, Gregory meets them but their meeting is cut short when Ethan returns with bad news: Negan has killed two of their members and taken a third hostage, and won't release them until he delivers a message.  Gregory asks what the message is, and Ethan responds by stabbing him in the abdomen, after which Rick tackles and kills Ethan.  While he recuperates, Gregory talks with Rick and Rick offers to take care of the Saviors in exchange for supplies to help his people, and Gregory agrees.

After Negan kills Glenn, Gregory renigs on the agreement and refuses to help, but Jesus forms an army of Hilltop colonists to join Rick and Ezekiel.  Gregory tells Negan this, so when Rick's army arrives Negan is ready for them.  Negan appears with Gregory on the roof and Gregory tells the Hilltop colonists to turn back and go home, to which only eight do.  Angered at the small number, Negan calls Gregory pathetic and kicks him over the ledge and off the roof.  Gregory arrives back at Hilltop and after Maggie grills him, he tells her that Jesus tricked his men into a suicide mission but he was able to rescue them.  Knowing Gregory was only out for himself, Maggie punches him and leads a rebellion against him.

Maggie overthrows Gregory and becomes the leader of the Hilltop, making Gregory a regular citizen.  He gathers some families together in hopes of killing Maggie and taking back leadership, and to achieve this he poisons her, but does so incorrectly.  Maggie gets deathly ill, but Jesus arrives and takes Gregory to prison.  After much deliberation and fears for her safety and the safety of the other Hilltop people, Maggie sentences Gregory to death, hanging him in front of the entire town.

Gregory: The Television Series

On the series, Gregory is extremely narcissistic, egotistical and self-absorbed, feeds off the superiority of being in control, often forgets peoples' names, and has the charisma of a car salesman.  After FEMA abandoned Hilltop, he took over as their leader, and when the Saviors arrive and show their dominance by killing a 16-year-old kid, Gregory agrees to give half their supplies to them.

When Rick's group arrives, Gregory meets with them and has a private meeting with Maggie (who he calls Natalie), when she brings up an idea of starting a trade agreement between the two colonies.  Gregory becomes flirtatious to which Maggie doesn't reciprocate, and Gregory kicks her out of his office.

Not soon after, Ethan returns with bad news: some Hilltop colonists are dead and his brother was taken hostage by Negan, and would be released if Ethan gives a message to Gregory.  Ethan then proceeds to stab Gregory in the abdomen, and Rick tackles and kills him.

While he recuperates, Gregory talks with Maggie, and she offers to take care of the Saviors in exchange for half of Hilltop's supplies, to which he reluctantly agrees.


So far it seems that Gregory is heading for the same fate as his comic book counterpart.  He has the same disposition in both, and in both he's stabbed after meeting Rick and his group.  The only difference is that he meets with Rick in the comics, but Maggie on the show, already establishing a power struggle between the two.  This is mostly why I think Maggie will survive the start of season seven, because she has a huge character arc in the comics with taking over Hilltop and her struggle with Gregory, and it looks like it's heading in that trajectory.  He could be facing the wrong end of the noose either near the end of this season or the eighth season.

Gregory: The Actor

Xander Berkeley plays Gregory, and he was born December 16, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York.  At an early age he had a love for the theater, and participated in several school plays and joined the Community Theater.  A theater troupe took him in when he was 16 and taught him a lot about acting, and he attended Hampshire College and moved to New York City and worked under private teachers from the Royal Academy of the Arts, the Moscow Arts Theater and HB Studios.

Berkeley moved to Los Angeles and spent time with Lee Strasberg from "The Actor's Studio" and worked in the Regional and Respertory Theater.  He's appeared in big-budget films such as "Terminator 2," "Gattaca," "Taken," "Air Force One," "Candyman" and the television series "24."