The Walking Dead female cast members love Princess as much as you

The word “strength” came up multiple times at the 2021 New York Comic Con’s “The Badass Women of The Walking Dead” panel. That strength manifests in different ways for the women who play a range of complex female characters on the series, but one thing everyone shared was a love of the character Princess, introduced in the flagship series’ 10th season.

Yvette Nicole Brown moderated a panel of women representing all three countries. The Walking Dead universe’s current series: Aliyah Royale (The Walking Dead: World Beyond), Angela Kang (The Walking Dead showrunner), Karen David (Fear The Walking Dead), Paola Lázaro (The Walking Dead), Alexa Mansour (The Walking DeadThis is: World Beyond), Jenna Elfman (Fear The Walking Dead), Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead), Denise Huth (The Walking Dead producer), Christine Evangelista (Fear The Walking DeadJulia Ormond (The Walking Dead: World BeyondAnnet Mahendru () (The Walking Dead: World Beyond)

All panel members could agree on one thing: how much Princess loved by them all, despite being a relatively newcomer to the comics. She started out as a fan favorite of comic books and has exceeded our expectations.

“I’m gonna jump in here before somebody steals Princess,” said Cohan, when asked by Brown what other character she would love to play besides her own. “In so many years on this show, Paola portrays one of my favorite characters we’ve ever had. You think when you get this far you’re not going to have someone this bright, optimistic, happy, new, and she does such a good job. She’s so bright. She’s so funny. You can laugh at the way that you stumble, fall in love, and then say the wrong things. I can’t imagine anyone else making that natural.”

Julia Ormond was quick to join the applause. “It’s a super brave performance. A character such as that can be painted many colors. The costume you wear is vibrant. The character is colorful.”

Princess is a very distinctive character in the dark, grim world of The Walking Dead that it’s distracting. But when Princess stands out, you can’t help but love her for it. It’s also, per the theme of the panel, always nice to see a badass female character who hasn’t necessarily eschewed all femininity in lieu of a more traditionally male hard exterior. Although we would love to see Maggie and Carol becoming cowboys as much as Carol, The Walking Dead doesn’t value any expression of femininity over another — especially now that there are two spin-offs with even more characters.

“I fell in love with her because of how vulnerable she is,” Lázaro said. She noted that Princess was a very similar actress to her in getting into trouble for speaking her mind without any filter and for standing up for the right things. When she was cast, she said at the end of the panel she messaged the writers and asked if Princess could be Puerto Rican like herself instead of Mexican American as she’s written in the comics. “There’s already a Mexican American character who is fantastic and super strong — which is Rosita. I want to represent other Hispanic people.” The writers agreed, and not only does Lázaro get to bring a little more of herself into the character, but she just gets to exist as a Puerto Rican character on television without constantly reminding the audience who she is.

“There is no one on this planet who could have played Princess better,” Brown said later on in the panel, bringing things back around to this character. “Princess is Loved.”