Alicia Witt played a great villain in The Walking Dead, but why was she only in one episode? In the latter half of The Walking Dead’s sixth season. Rick Grimes and his group had taken over leadership of Alexandria and were allying with the Hilltop community, through which they learned of the existence of Negan and his not-so-merry band of Saviors. While the man himself may not have made his first appearance until the season 6 finale, groups of his Saviors were gradually introduced after the mid-season point.
Rick’s decision to ambush the Saviors’ satellite outpost in The Walking Dead's “Not Tomorrow Yet” very nearly had grave consequences for two of his nearest and dearest when a mysterious woman radioed his group at the end of the episode to inform them Carol and Maggie had been captured. The following episode “The Same Boat” revealed the mysterious voice belonged to Paula, a high-ranking Savior played by Alicia Witt (Cybill) who had kidnapped Carol and Maggie alongside fellow Saviors Donnie, Molly and Michelle.
Unlike a lot of Walking Dead characters introduced for just one episode, Paula was given quite a bit of backstory. Through her conversations with Carol, Paula revealed she’d lost her husband and four daughters when the zombie apocalypse hit and the experience had unsurprisingly hardened her. After linking up with Negan and company, Paula entered a toxic relationship with fellow Savior Donnie and – in her own words – stopped counting how many people she’d killed when she hit double figures. But why did a character with such a meaty backstory only stick around for one episode?
Well, the obvious answer is because Alicia Witt’s character Paula died in the very same Walking Dead episode she made her debut in. After Carol and Maggie get the upper hand over their captors, Carol impales Paula on a spike after which she’s devoured by a walker and later put down post-reanimation by Maggie. Behind the scenes, however, Paula was only intended to appear in one episode – most likely a character included to draw obvious parallels between herself and Carol.
Even though Alicia Witt’s time on The Walking Dead was limited to just one episode, her character Paula nevertheless made quite an impact and her performance was rated highly by many reviewers who cited “The Same Boat” as a powerfully female-focused bottle episode. Still, as one of the best of the show’s few female villains to date, it’s a shame Alicia Witt didn’t get a little more screen time.