Tara Chambler

Tara Chambler
The Walking Dead character
Tara Chambler, as portrayed by Alanna Masterson in the television series.
First appearance	"Live Bait"
Created by	Scott M. Gimple
Portrayed by	Alanna Masterson
Information
Occupation	Police Academy student Alexandria Supply runner
Family	David Chambler (father) Lilly Chambler (sister) Meghan Chambler (niece)
Significant other(s)	Alisha Denise Cloyd

Tara Chambler is a fictional character from the horror drama television series The Walking Dead, which airs on AMC in the United States and is based on the comic book series of the same name. The character is based on Tara Chalmers from The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, a novel based on the comic book series and the past of the Governor. She is portrayed by Alanna Masterson. She is the first LGBT character to be introduced in the series.

Tara's family encounters the Governor, under the alias "Brian Heriot", and they invite him into their apartment complex. Later, Tara's sister, Lilly, forms a relationship with him, although Tara remains fiercely protective of her sister and her niece. Eventually, after her father dies, the Governor and Tara's family leave the apartment complex and find Martinez's camp. As the Governor coerces the people of the camp to attack the safe haven prison, Tara discovers his true brutality and the vendetta he maintains, and is traumatized when he murders Hershel. After the downfall of the prison, Glenn comes to Tara for help in finding his wife, Maggie, who escaped during the gunfire. Tara reluctantly follows him on his quest and, eventually, becomes a member of Rick Grimes's group after he forgives her for being part of the Governor's militia. She remains an active part of the group when they reach the Alexandria Safe-Zone where she sparks up romance with Dr. Denise Cloyd, and becomes one of Alexandria's primary supply runners.

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor

Tara Chalmers lives in Atlanta with her sister April and her father David in an apartment building that they have secured. April saves a group of people, including the man later known as the Governor, from a large herd of undead. The elderly David later dies and turns into a walker without having been bitten. After Philip kills David, tension grows between him and Tara. Philip sexually assaults April. The morning afterwards, April is nowhere to be found, and Tara forces the group, at gunpoint, to leave the building.

Television series

Tara Chambler is Lilly's sister, David's daughter, and Meghan's aunt.

Season 4

Tara Chambler is introduced in the episode "Live Bait". After welcoming the Governor (who addresses himself as "Brian Heriot") into their apartment, Tara seems to trust him relatively sooner than her sister and quickly seems to see him as a friend. She is briefly disoriented by his bloody smashing of David's skull after David reanimates and tries to bite her; however, she later accepts and agrees with the decision, and realizes that all people who die turn, whether they have been bitten or not. She and the others leave the apartment after David's burial, in search of shelter elsewhere. While on the road, a group of walkers forces them to flee. They are stopped once again when Brian and Meghan fall into a pit full of walkers, all of which Brian successfully kills before any harm can come to himself or Meghan. In the episode "Dead Weight", Tara begins a romantic relationship with Alisha, at Martinez's camp. In the mid-season finale "Too Far Gone", Tara joins the Governor in attacking the prison, using Hershel and Michonne as leverage, and believing the prison occupants to be bad people, as Brian tells them. However, when Rick Grimes tries to reason with the Governor for the sake of his people. Tara begins to question Brian's plan, especially when Brian holds a sword to Hershel's neck, despite Rick offering to welcome them in. Rick, seeing that Tara doesn't want to be there, tries to personally reason with Tara but she is too conflicted to answer. When the Governor decapitates Hershel, Tara tries to retreat from the battle in shock. Alisha tries to get her to fight back but Tara is disgusted with the Governor and ultimately walks off, traumatized.

In the mid-season premiere "Inmates", in the aftermath of the prison attack, Glenn finds Tara hiding within the gates and tells her that he needs her help to escape the prison and find his wife, Maggie, Hershel's daughter. Tara is too disgusted with herself for trusting the Governor and reveals that she saw Lilly die and questions why Glenn wants her help; he states that he doesn't want it, but needs it. After fighting off walkers, Glenn collapses with fatigue and Tara is left to attack the walker who tried to bite him. She is encountered by Abraham Ford, Eugene Porter and Rosita Espinosa, who are impressed by her skills and ask her to accompany them. In the episode "Claimed", she travels alongside the trio until Glenn forces them to stop the truck as Abraham explains that their mission is to get Eugene to Washington D.C. to cure the outbreak. However, Glenn still insists on finding Maggie; Tara and the others accompany him after Eugene accidentally rips the truck's fuel line, and she begins to bond with Abraham. In the episode "Us", Tara and Glenn enter a tunnel on the road to Terminus, where Glenn believes Maggie might be, and they find evidence of a fresh cave-in, as well as many trapped walkers. Glenn insists he needs to see the faces of the walkers to ensure none of them are Maggie, and Tara helps. When the two set a diversion with a flashlight to sneak around the swarm of walkers, Tara slips and gets her ankle stuck in the debris. She tells Glenn to leave her, but Glenn, tired of losing people, fires on the walkers until he runs out of bullets and tries to commit suicide by telling them to get him. They are then unexpectedly saved by Abraham, Eugene and Rosita, who have found Maggie. Glenn introduces Tara to Maggie but says that he met Tara on the road, avoiding any mention of the Governor. Tara later agrees to join Abraham in his mission to Washington D.C., and they reach Terminus. In the season finale "A", it is shown that they were forced into a train car with the rest of the group. Rick recognizes Tara from the prison but says nothing on the subject.

Season 5

In the episode "No Sanctuary", Tara crafts a makeshift weapon to use in the escape attempt, but it fails and she is left inside. She encourages the group and is confident that they will be able to survive their break-out. When Rick opens the boxcar for everyone to escape, Tara helps kill walkers on their way out and aids in protecting the group. In the episode "Strangers", Tara speaks to Rick about her involvement with the Governor; he tells her that he was aware of her hesitation to be there and that is why he tried to talk to her. After they resolve their differences he accepts her as part of his family. Later, the group follows Gabriel Stokes to his church. She goes on a supply run with Glenn and Maggie, and forms a close bond with Maggie. Later, Tara reveals the truth to Maggie that she was with the Governor during Herschel's murder at his hands. After Tara explains herself, Maggie forgives her and they hug. In the episode "Four Walls and a Roof", upon hearing of Gareth's return, Abraham demands that the group leave for Washington right away. As part of a bargain to make him stay and fight, Tara promises to go with him tomorrow regardless of what happens. She joins Rick's posse to help trap Gareth's group inside the church, and then watches as Rick, Michonne, Sasha and Abraham brutally slaughter the Terminus cannibals. The next day she is with the others bidding farewell to Bob before he dies from infection, and then following Abraham in the church bus to Washington. In the episode "Self Help", she helps keep Eugene safe when the bus crashes, and promises to keep his secret about sabotaging the bus. She is not happy when Eugene reveals he lied about knowing a cure, but still defends him when an enraged Abraham nearly punches him to death.

In the episode "Remember", when the survivors arrive in Alexandria, Tara is assigned the job of a supply runner. In the episode "Spend, Tara is tasked with looting the warehouse for parts needed to restore power to Alexandria, along with Nicholas, Aiden, Glenn, Noah, and Eugene. Inside the warehouse, Aiden accidentally shoots a grenade on a walker, leaving Tara knocked unconscious by the blast. Eugene looks after Tara and, when the walkers begin to close in, he summons up the courage to carry her out to safety inside the van and Tara is taken back to Alexandria. In the season finale "Conquer", after days of being unconscious, Tara wakes up in Alexandria with Rosita by her side.

Season 6

In the season premiere "First Time Again", Tara is still recovering in bed while Maggie and Rosita check up on her. She is soon able to walk around and helps with building a wall barrier, to help guard the walkers that are stuck in the quarry. She and Maggie discuss how Nicholas caused Noah's death and Maggie reveals to her that Nicholas tried to kill Glenn. Maggie then reminds her she too used to be on the enemy's side when The Governor attacked, and the two hug. In the episode "JSS", Tara is first seen in the infirmary with Eugene. Tara meets Denise and asks why hasn't she met her yet. Tara asks Denise if she can help her with a headache. As the wolves attack Alexandria, Tara, Eugene and Denise stay in the infirmary. An injured Holly is brought in who has been stabbed. Tara notices Denise being reluctant to help a dying Holly and pressures her to help. Despite Denise trying her best to save Holly, she passes away due to blood loss. Before Tara leaves the infirmary, she quietly reminds Denise to destroy Holly's brain so she will not reanimate. In the episode "Now", Tara encourages Denise not to give up hope on Scott. Denise tells her later that he will make it and kisses her. In the episode "Heads Up", Tara saves an Alexandrian, Spencer (Austin Nichols) by shooting at walkers after Spencer falls into a herd for trying to use a zip-line to crawl across. Despite saving his life, Rick is angry at her for wasting bullets and she flips him off. Rick apologizes but says that she didn't need to save him. In the mid-season finale "Start to Finish", Tara is first seen helping drag Tobin to safety when the walls fall down and the herd enters Alexandria. She and Rosita then rescue Eugene and take refuge in a nearby garage, trapped in there by the walkers. Rosita is beginning to give up hope but Tara encourages her to keep going and the trio start working to escape the garage. Later on, they escape and stumble into the same room The Wolf is holding Denise captive, with Carol and Morgan unconscious on the floor. He forces them to surrender their weapons and Tara watches helplessly as he takes Denise with him as a hostage. In the mid-season premiere "No Way Out", Tara joins Rick and the rest of the town in wiping out the walkers. In the episode "The Next World", two months later, it is shown that Tara and Denise (who managed to survive the event) are now living together as a couple. In the episode "Not Tomorrow Yet", Tara accompanies the group to the Saviors' compound to infiltrate and kill them. Both Jesus and Father Gabriel comfort Tara, who is feeling guilty for lying to Denise. She later kills two members of the Saviors. Heath and Tara then leave to go on a two week supply run.

Development and reception

Masterson was promoted to the main cast for the renewed fifth season.^[1]

Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club commented positively on the character, saying "Tara is pretty great."^[2]

References