"It'd be heartbreaking to see the kids go because they're the future," Marquand, who has played Aaron on "TWD" since season five, told Insider over a Zoom call with stars Seth Gilliam and Josh Hamilton.
Gracie was an obvious answer for Marquand as she's Aaron's daughter on the show.
Judith is someone we've been worried about. Rick's daughter has been the heartbeat of the show since her birth, providing a sense of hope and purpose for Aaron's group to build a better future.
Of Marquand's choice, Gilliam, who has played Aaron's buddy, Father Gabriel, since season five, joked: "You go straight for killing the kids. I like it. It's hardcore, baby. Let's knock off the head of a small child."
Gilliam considered saying Judith before telling us that he'd hate to see Josh McDermitt's character, Eugene Porter, go.
"At this point, for me, the character that I would be the saddest to see go would be Eugene just because I've enjoyed watching the performance that Josh has done over the years and the way that character has transformed from where he started to where he is now," Gilliam said.
"I find him a character of hope," he continued. "Killing him would be kind of killing hope in a way that I guess murdering small children would give you the same kind of impact."
"I would be most sad to see Max die because Eugene has finally found the happiness that he's been searching for for so long," McDermitt told Insider of Margot Bingham's character. "He seems really happy and I think everybody's happy for the both of them and their relationship."
McDermitt added: "I'd like to see it continue and just grow and to have that cut short would be devastating, not just for the character, but for me and, I think, the viewers, too."
Bingham made a great case for Mercer, not Eugene, representing hope for the future on "TWD."
"I would hate to see Mercer die just by proxy of him being Max's brother," Bingham told Insider of the leader of the Commonwealth militia. "He is the epitome of this hope-type of character."
On the final season, Mercer has been struggling with his responsibilities as a leader of the Commonwealth and serving the interests of its power-hungry leaders, and doing what's right by its people.
"You look at him and you're like, 'Oh wow, Maybe there is hope in the future,'" Bingham continued of Mercer. "If there was a leader of the future, that's who I would want it to be — somebody strong, somebody passionate who believes in its people and just supports everybody and gets behind any fight for a good cause."
"What he stands for, and everything that he is, I would hate to see him go," he said.
"That would fucking suck," Shaw, who plays Mercer, told Insider of potentially losing Princess, adding that Paola Lázaro's character brings "such a light and realness" to the world of "TWD."
"I would be devastated as a person and the character," Shaw added.
"As a person watching the show, I just feel like Melissa McBride has been almost the heart of the show in a way, the person who's gone through so much pain and carries so much weight," Robins, who joined the show as Governor Milton on its final season, told Insider over a Zoom call with costars Shaw and Eleanor Matsuura.
"I would think that would be probably pretty devastating for the fans. To see Melissa go, I think would be pretty devastating," Robins added.
Robins made a great point about Melissa McBride's character. Carol is one of the few survivors to make it through all 11 seasons so far.
Hamilton gave a similar response in a separate interview, saying, "She's gone through so much and I would just like to see her be able to live out her days in relative peace and happiness. I think she's deserved it."
"I would genuinely be gutted to see anyone go, but my original crew who I showed up with — Connie, Kelly, Magna, and Luke — if any one of them died, I would be heartbroken," Matsuura, who plays Yumiko and joined the series on season nine, told Insider.
Theory, who plays Kelly, shared the same sentiment, telling us, "Anyone in Magna's group I would be very sad about because we all started together."
"I wanna say Yumiko even though we struggled over the course of three seasons, but, I think I would go with Kelly because Magna has motherly feelings for her and feels responsibility for her," Hilker told Insider when we asked who she would be upset to see killed off "TWD."
Kelly has been like the little sister of Magna's group. When everyone else believed that Kelly's sister Connie may be dead, Magna kept a close eye on her.
"I think if she'd see her go that would just hurt her for the rest of her life and just kill her soul in ways that... No one else would get to her that much," Hilker added.
"I would be devastated if Kelly died," Ridloff, who plays Connie, told Insider of her fictional sister. "Everything that Connie does is for Kelly."
Unfortunately, Connie may have just put a big target on their backs. On season 11, episode 16, Connie published a negative article about the Commonwealth that's sure to rile up its citizens.
If Governor Milton or anyone discovers that Connie was behind the article, they may retaliate against her and also her sister.
