Melissa McBride was working mainly as a casting director in Atlanta when Frank Darabont picked her to play Carol Peletier on The Walking Dead. She’d largely stepped away from acting, but her performance in his 2007 film The Mist had stayed with him. He offered her the part without an audition.
Her character in The Mist is credited as “Woman with Kids at Home.” In a supermarket, she delivers an emotional plea to leave and return to her children.
The role was small, but her work impressed Darabont enough that he specifically requested her for Carol when he was casting the series he’d developed.
McBride has said the offer surprised her. She initially thought playing Carol would be a short-term job.
