CarterMatt Awards 2015 results: Melissa McBride of ‘The Walking Dead’ wins Top Actress

For fans of “The Walking Dead,” the current hiatus between the fall and winter portions of season 6 must feel like an eternity. Does winning a CarterMatt Award help to make it better? We certainly hope so.

After an extended period of voting, we’re pleased to tell you that Melissa McBride is the winner of Top Actress.

McBride started off the voting period with a small surge, but really did not come into her own and take the lead until we got around to the final days of voting. Her victory ended up being by one of the wider margins of the entire awards over Caitriona Balfe of “Outlander,” Eva Green of “Penny Dreadeful,” and others.

It’s easy to figure out why there would be so much enthusiasm behind Melissa’s work, especially when you look back at the early days of her character of Carol compared to where she is now. On many other shows, even quality ones, there would be no way to bring about this sort of evolution beyond having it feel forced. That’s not the case here. She made the evolution of this character into something that was beautiful, progressive, and organic; she is one of the most hard-nosed characters of Rick’s group now when she needs to be, but when you look back at the course of her life experience, you understand why. She is still capable of playing a softer, more-tender side when the moment calls for it.

As for why McBride and many other “Walking Dead” stars are routinely snubbed of some of these major awards, we do imagine that there is a little bit of populism that comes into play here. The show is so successful that many Emmy / Golden Globe voters may feel like that is recognition enough. We don’t agree, but it is what it is.

Melissa of course will be back for the remainder of “The Walking Dead” season 6 starting on Sunday, February 14 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Want to see some other categories and results in the CarterMatt Awards? Then head over to our official landing page today! Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter.