Simon (The Walking Dead)

"Think about it - what if it’s the last day on Earth for you? For someone you love? What if that’s true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV, ’cause you never know... just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said... like it was your last day on Earth."

- Simon to Rick Grimes, advising him to care for his fellow group members. "Oh, and Rick! If Daryl does turn up here... two days from now, two months from now... hell, even two years from now, just know that there's no statute of limitations on this. Keep that hatchet handy! You're gonna need it if he turns up with you people! And it won't turn out the way it did for your boy."

- Simon to Rick, threatening to kill Daryl should he return to Alexandria.

Simon is a main character and antagonist in the AMC television series The Walking Dead.

He serves as the secondary antagonist of the second half of Season 6 and one of the two secondary antagonists (along with Jadis) from Season 7 onwards. He is a high-ranking member of the Saviors, Negan's right-hand man and his second-in-command.

He is portrayed by Steven Ogg, who is most famously known for portraying Trevor Phillips in Grand Theft Auto V.

Backstory
Simon was born in the late 1960’s and grew up in Virginia, however, extensively little is known regarding that of his early life. Simon grew to become a charismatic, efficient and hardworking man who sold subprime mortgages to unsuspecting customers and was fully able to justify his unmoral motives to other people even though he was fully aware of his own sinister intentions.

Season 6
Simon was first encountered when he and a band of others Saviors hunt down a man in the woods. They then mercilessly beat him and drag him to a road, intending to show him to Rick's group as a warning. When Rick and his group arrive at the scene in their RV on their way towards Hilltop, they are stopped by a roadblock made by Simon's group. He orders Rick to hand over their belongings and when refused, Simon says that they will not negotiate and their deal is the only deal. Simon then warns Rick about what will happen to those who oppose Negan and recommends him to treat his friends like it was their last day on Earth, knowing full well what Negan is going to do with them. During their journey to bring Maggie to the Hilltop, Rick encounters more roadblocks orchestrated by Simon and he and his group are constantly forced to back up and find a different route.

He is encountered once again in the climax, when a large group of Saviors led by Simon ambush Rick's group in the woods. He then orders them to hand over their guns while threatening to shoot Carl. He also orders Dwight to go get the rest of the group that were captured earlier. After Rick and others are forced to line up and get on their knees, Simon knocks on the RV and summons Negan himself to make an entrance. When Negan asks which one is the leader, Simon points at Rick, telling him that he was the man responsible for the deaths of his men. He is present when Negan makes his speech and beats Abraham Ford to death with Lucille.

Season 7
Simon, along with the other Saviors, witness the execution of Glenn by Negan. When Negan captures Rick and brings him back to the clearing, Simon is asked by Negan if he has a pen, so he can draw the line of amputation on Carl's arm, to which he happily responds he does.

During Sasha and Maggie's stay in the Hilltop Colony, Simon orchestrates an attack on the community by opening the gates and luring a horde of walkers inside. With the help of Jesus, Maggie and Sasha manage to eliminate the walkers and close the gates.

Later, Simon appears at the Hilltop Colony, being in charge of a group of Saviors. Arriving at the Hilltop, Simon and his men enter the Barrington House where Simon invites himself into Gregory's office. There, he has an uncomfortable conversation with Gregory, speaking of the Savior outpost that was raided by Rick and his group. He explains that the incident the previous night was a reminder that the walkers are still a threat, and the Saviors provide a great service by killing them. Due to Gregory being an awful liar, Simon senses that Gregory is hiding something and pressures Gregory to show him. Intimidated, Gregory leads Simon to the closet where he believes Sasha and Maggie, who have hidden from the Saviors at Hilltop, are hiding.

However, the two women were relocated by Jesus in time and Gregory is forced to improvise when the closet is revealed to be empty, instead begrudgingly gifting Simon with the scotch from his personal storage he was keeping in the closet. Simon is pleased, as, although he himself does not like scotch, knows Negan will be pleased. He orders the scotch to be brought to the truck delivering stuff to Negan and then orders the Saviors to spread out in order to take half of all the belongings of the colony. Before the Saviors leave the community, Simon publicly forces Gregory to kneel before him, both to undermine Gregory's authority and to assert domination.

After Daryl escapes from the Sanctuary, Negan sends Simon and his men to Alexandria for a search. Rick, pretending that he doesn't know anything about Daryl gone missing, claims that he hasn't seen him ever since Negan took him. Simon then orders his men to turn Alexandria inside out just in case. After finding nothing, Simon then leaves Alexandria and advises Rick to take care of Daryl as soon as he sees him again and that he doesn't get away with his escape, the way Carl did.

In the episode "The Other Side", Simon and his men returned to the Hilltop Colony and is still searching for Daryl. He spends some time with Gregory and they both agreed that if there is any trouble in the Hilltop, Gregory will come to the Savior's compound and they will take care of it. While there, he also took Dr. Harlan Carson from the Hilltop to the Sanctuary as a replacement for his late brother, Emmett Carson; whom Negan recently killed.

Later on, Simon, Negan, Dwight, Eugene and the rest of the Saviors drive to Alexandria with Sasha held hostage in a coffin while the people of Alexandria prepare for a fight. The Saviors unexpectedly outnumber Alexandria after Jadis and her people betray Rick and his group (who had secretly spied on Rick and his group, as well as making negotiations with The Saviors). Simon and Dwight both reveal the coffin Sasha is kept in, and Negan announces that if Rick gives him all of their supplies and lets him kill one of his people, he will give them Sasha unharmed. However, a zombified Sasha tackles Negan after being let out of the coffin, which Alexandria uses as an opportunity to open fire on Jadis' people, starting a massive gunfight. After Negan pushes Sasha off him, Simon covers Negan and brings him behind cover. Simon then flees along with the rest of the Saviors back to the Sanctuary after people from the Hilltop Colony and the Kingdom turn up and join the fight against them.

Season 6

 * 6x16: "Last Day on Earth"

Season 7

 * 7x01: "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be"
 * 7x05: "Go Getters"
 * 7x09: "Rock in the Road"
 * 7x14: "The Other Side"
 * 7x16: "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life"

Season 8

 * TBA

Trivia

 * Simon is possibly the TV Series counterpart to the Savior that is seen in the comics in Issue 97 and 100. However in the comics, the Savior was not named and did not play a huge role in the comics as Simon does.
 * Simon is an original character and does not have a comic counterpart, similar to Daryl Dixon.
 * Simon shares some similarities to Trevor Phillips. Coincidentally, they were portrayed by the same actor, Steven Ogg and Trevor's beta name was Simon. The only difference is that Trevor is more psychotic than Simon.
 * Simon is showed to be extremely loyal to Negan and never question his orders. It is unknown if they known each other in the past before the outbreak but they do have a strong relationship, as he is Negan's lieutenant and most trusted right-hand man. Another good example is that Simon acts as the second in command of the Saviors, close to Negan himself.
 * The name Simon is derived from the Hebrew name "Shim'on" meaning ‘he has heard’.
 * Steven Ogg noted that he cited the film The Big Short as inspiration for Simon’s backstory.
 * Simon appears to hold an interest in art, as expressed by his admiration of a masterpiece portrait of Charles V owned by Gregory which he accurately described as 'management by example".
 * Simon enjoys acholic beverages most notably gin and tequila, however he dislikes scotch as he personally describes it as "ashtrays and window cleaner".
 * He is far more intelligent than the majority of the Saviors as seen in Season 6 finale, when he orchestrated the capture of Rick's group with elaborate road blocks.