<P> Alongside Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn and Juan Gabriel Pareja, McBride was among the cast members of Frank Darabont's production of The Mist to be hired for the television series . McBride felt that this was her "audition" for The Walking Dead . </P> <P> Originally, Carol was supposed to be killed in the episode "Killer Within", but the producers eventually decided against it . Melissa McBride explained in an interview with Rolling Stone: "(Producer) Glen Mazzara called to tell me that he was planning on killing Carol last season . I said,' It's really a shame, because there's a lot to her .' He had the writers all on speakerphone . He was interested in knowing what I thought . I went into saying,' Carol is probably this woman that's got the Avon starter kits and Tupperware starter kits in that back bedroom . She took that course with Tony Robbins . She knows she's capable of so much more, but she's just in that cycle . So, it's a shame, but you've got to do what you've got to do . I understand' ." Likewise, former showrunner Glen Mazzara said, "I told her that and then we came up with a better plan that was that if T - Dog had saved her, if T - Dog sacrificed his life we felt that that sacrifice was only worthwhile if Carol lived . But we didn't want to reveal that Carol was alive at the end of that episode because we were really going with the devastation of Lori's death . And we were just embracing the mournful aspect of that last scene where Rick breaks down and we did not want to undercut it with the positive of' oh, here is Carol' ." He then expressed praise over Carol's survival saying, "I will say that I think (McBride) has done a great job with Carol this season, the character has become a fan favorite, the character has really come along, she takes a lot of risks and Carol's work when she sees the baby and then realizes that Lori hasn't made it is one of the best scenes we have done all year and I give credit for that to Melissa and she is just a fantastic actress ." </P> <P> McBride has received critical acclaim for her performance as Carol and won positive reviews from critics from the third season onwards . Many critics praised McBride's performance in her character's centered episode "The Grove" of the fourth season . In March 2014, McBride's performance in "The Grove" made her TVLine's Performer of the Week, as it concluded, saying, "Now it's our turn to do what we must--applaud McBride for a performance that could stand as a master class in the merits of restraint ." Others singled out the actions of Carol in the season 5 premiere "No Sanctuary", which earned critical praise and extremely positive fan reception . In 2014, McBride was a promising contender for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, though she did not receive a nomination . </P> <P> Writing for Vox, Todd VanDerWerff lauded Melissa McBride's performance in the season five premiere "No Sanctuary," saying: </P>

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