Before Weapons, Austin Abrams Had His Breakout Role as the Perfect Antagonist for Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead

The 2025 film Weapons, director Zach Cregger's follow-up to Barbarian, is the most talked-about movie right now because of its genre-bending story that addresses how grief can be weaponized against oneself and the innocent. The film has drawn analyses of its commentary on school shootings, given the inciting incident of a classroom of children going missing with no explanation, though Cregger has denied the existence of this allegory. For a film built on quite a dark tragedy, however, star Austin Abrams manages to bring a sense of humor to his surprisingly important portion of the film.

In Weapons, Abrams portrays a local, James, in the same town the children disappeared in. James has substance-abuse problems and lives in a tent in the woods, eventually getting into trouble with Alden Ehrenreich's Paul Morgan, a police officer. James becomes embedded in the mystery surrounding the children's disappearance when he accidentally stumbles onto their location, cutting the tension with his wonderfully humorous reaction to a strange discovery. Abrams is no doubt a scene-stealer in Weapons, standing out just as much as award-winning actors Julia Garner and Josh Brolin. Those who have seen Abrams in his past works though, such as The Walking Dead, already knew Abrams wouldn't disappoint in Weapons.

Who Was Ron Anderson on The Walking Dead?

While the future Resident Evil star impressed viewers of Euphoria, it was really The Walking Dead that gave him his breakout role. From 2015 to 2016, Abrams portrayed Ron Anderson on The Walking Dead in Season 5 and 6. Ron was a member of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, a community that's been relatively closed off from the zombie apocalypse since it began. In light of this, Ron and the other Alexandrians had little experience with the outside world and thus were in for a rude awakening when Rick Grimes' group arrived.

Though he remained safe from walkers behind the walls of Alexandria, that didn't mean he and his family had it easy in the community. His father, Pete, was regularly abusing his mother, Jessie, as well as Ron and his younger brother Sam. While the abuse broke Sam to the point of becoming emotionally fragile, Ron put up a hardened front to deny the abuse as a way of coping with what was happening to him and the rest of his family. This denial paved the way for a future conflict between him and the Grimes family, who tried to expose and stop the abuse themselves.

After Rick killed Pete to protect the people of Alexandria, Ron grew disillusioned with the arrival of the seasoned survivors. He blamed Rick for any trouble that came Alexandria's way, whether it was from walkers or people, and even his mother for trusting Rick. It didn't take long for Ron to become one of the most despised characters on the series, actively making an enemy out of the person trying to save his life. However, Ron was also a teenager damaged by his father's physical and emotional abuse, as well as the sudden collapse of society.

He likely never knew what it was like to have a positive male figure in his life, thus he rejected Rick as a "replacement" when Pete died and Rick began dating Jessie. All Ron wanted was for things to go back to normal, even if that meant constant abuse. In his eyes, that type of "normal" was better than his life being radically uprooted by the realities of the apocalypse. The tragedy of it all was that Ron never learned how to deal healthily with suffering, so he resorted to violence like his father to take control of his life.

Ron and Carl Were Fitting Antagonists to Each Other

It wasn't just Rick that Ron was beefing with though. For the two seasons he was on the show, Ron was a foil to Carl Grimes, Rick's teenage son. At first, the two hit it off quite well. Ron was the one to introduce Carl to Alexandria and the other teenagers, albeit it was a bit of a rocky start because of Carl's unease with the normal routines in the community. But that's exactly what set the two apart: Ron represented the old world and Carl was the new world.

Ron had old world problems like domestic abuse and relationship problems, having not been exposed to the walkers or the outside world. He never had to starve, kill or experience extreme exhaustion. Carl was exposed to the brutality of the world from the beginning. He watched his mother die and lived on the road. But his father taught him to adapt quickly by learning from his mistakes, like with Dale's death in Season 2. A good father figure was the biggest difference between Ron and Carl.

The apocalypse still doesn't eliminate the trials and tribulations of teenagehood though. Having spent the first four seasons basing Carl's storyline purely on adapting to viciousness as a child, The Walking Dead explored one of the scariest parts of life in Season 5 and 6: puberty. Carl finally had a place to settle down in Alexandria, and with that came romantic interests. He developed a slow-burn relationship with Enid, Ron's girlfriend and one of the few teenagers in the community. Naturally, this seeded heated jealousy in Ron, who was already resentful of Rick killing his father and trying to replace him, as well as taking over his community.

The deeply personal feud was exactly what Carl needed to become a well-rounded adult. While he learned how to fight for himself without his father's help, Rick couldn't fight Carl's intimate battles either. The Walking Dead had Carl lead his own storyline without the support of Rick or being an anchor for his father. He confronted Ron on his own, even in a poorly choreographed "fight" scene that's more of a glorified shoving match, but he took charge in his own way. At one point, Carl even lies to his father about Ron pulling a gun on him so Carl can handle the situation himself. The Walking Dead's gift of agency allowed Carl to be his own character with teenage struggles that were unique from the typical adult conflicts.

Ron’s Death Marked a Turning Point for Carl’s Maturity

In his final episode, Ron was cemented as the guy who shot Carl and made him lose an eye. Director and special effects artist Greg Nicotero recreated the iconic comic moment in Season 6, Episode 9, "No Way Out," as a mark of survival, but also renewed hope for the future. Rick, Carl, Jessie, Sam, Ron and Michonne head out into the herd of walkers that have overrun Alexandria, dressed in walker guts. When Jessie and Sam die, Ron finally gets his vengeance on Rick. Michonne kills Ron with her katana, but his finger pulls the trigger of the gun, setting off a stray bullet that hits Carl in the eye.

A previous scene in Season 4, Episode 9, "After," sees Rick telling Carl that he's now a man after taking care of his father and surviving the fallout of the prison. Rick's affirmation gave Carl the confidence he needed to know he could survive anything, including an attempted rape in Season 4 and losing his eye in the Season 6 mid-season premiere. For the latter specifically, Carl took the injury in stride. He accepted what had happened to him and moved on. It was a sign of great maturity in the young kid, but there's a sense of tragedy to his nonchalant attitude towards being mutilated by someone who was once a friend. Carl had already worn enough emotional and physical scars of the apocalypse. Losing an eye was just another to add to the list.

After Ron's death, the Andersons are hardly mentioned again. Carl ends up dating Enid for a short period before his own death. They could both relate to each other in ways no one around them could, having been forced to grow up fast in life-or-death circumstances. While Ron is forgotten forever, the effect he had on Carl was literally permanent. He was made an example of what happens to those who refuse to accept the truth about the new world. But also, Ron's vendetta against the Grimes showed Carl that personal attacks are never just personal in the apocalypse. They can turn deadly at any point.