Siddiq (The Walking Dead)

Siddiq is a fictional character from the comic book series The Walking Dead and the television series of the same name, where he is portrayed by Avi Nash.

Comic book series
Siddiq is a member of the construction crew who arrived during the two year time skip. During the fair, he heads up the effort to build rooms for the new arrivals.

Video games
Siddiq appears in The Walking Dead: Michonne, which takes place before he first appeared in the comics.

Season 8
In the season premiere "Mercy", Siddiq is first seen surrendering to Carl and tells him that he has not eaten in a few days. When Carl suddenly points a gun at Siddiq, he tries to calm Carl down and then Rick comes and fires a few warning shots which makes Siddiq run away. Later, Carl returns and leaves two cans of food with a note saying: "Sorry." Siddiq watches Carl from the bushes as he walks away. In the episode "The King, the Widow, and Rick", Carl goes scavenging outside Alexandria and encounters Siddiq. Carl apologizes for Rick's previous hostility towards Siddiq, and offers him food and water. Seeing that Siddiq was trapping a walker, Carl asks Siddiq the three questions that Rick uses to judge potential members of his group and is impressed with his answers. Carl decides to lead Siddiq back to Alexandria, promising to vouch for him once they get there. En route, they are attacked by a small group of walkers, some which pin down Carl before he can dispatch them; appearing uninjured, they continue on. In the mid-season finale "How It's Gotta Be", Carl sneaks Siddiq into Alexandria, and they wait in the sewers with the rest of the survivors while the Saviors attack, and Carl reveals that he was bitten by a walker while bringing Siddiq to Alexandria. Siddiq looks on while Rick and Michonne sit with Carl and cry.

In the mid-season premiere "Honor", in a flashback, Carl keeps his bite mark hidden, and makes sure Siddiq finds quarters in the sewers below the community. Siddiq tells Carl that he was a medical resident and gives him medicine. Siddiq vows to honor Carl by showing everyone that his choice to save him mattered. In the episode "Dead or Alive Or", Daryl, aided by Rosita, Tara, and Siddiq, lead the survivors from the destroyed Alexandria Safe-Zone towards the Hilltop while avoiding Savior patrols who are under orders to seek them out by Negan; Dwight, a former Savior that has helped the Alexandrians, helps to guide them using his knowledge of the area, but most of the others remain cautious of his advice, knowing his duplicity. They come to find the safest route is to cross through a swamp, and Daryl puts Tara in charge of protecting the survivors while he, Rosita, and Siddiq weed out the walkers half-submerged in the swamp. Later, Maggie decides to allow the Saviors held captive at the Hilltop to have limited rations and supervised time outside their cage, and Siddiq offers his services as a doctor to Maggie. In the episode "Do Not Send Us Astray", as the Hilltop prepares for the Saviors to attack, Siddiq visits the infirmary. During the attack, Siddiq aids Tobin after he is injured, and Rick nearly kills Siddiq when he mistakes him for a Savior. The next day, Siddiq offers to treat Rick's wound and tries to console him about Carl's death, but Rick refuses to accept and walks off. After the wounded reanimate as walkers and attack, Siddiq checks on the Savior prisoners and struggles with some of them who had become walkers; Alden saves him from the attack. In the episode "Worth", Siddiq is seen at the infirmary. In the season finale "Wrath", at the Hilltop, Rick and company prepare to launch their offensive against the Saviors. In the midst of events, Rick goes to tend to the baby Gracie and encounters Siddiq. Rick asks how Carl was bitten; Siddiq tells him how Carl was bit while honoring Siddiq's mother, someone he never knew. Later, during the fight, Rick critically wounds Negan, but tells Siddiq to save him as he tells the gathered people that they will start a new world.

Development and reception
Siddiq is portrayed by Avi Nash on The Walking Dead television series. Greg Nicotero explained the significance of Siddiq's first appearance in the eighth season premiere "Mercy" to Entertainment Weekly, and why Rick is heard saying "My mercy prevails over my wrath" in one of the layered timelines of the episode: "you hear that line in the episode, because Siddiq says it to Carl in the gas station when he's talking about his mom and he was talking about the traveler and all this stuff, and it's Siddiq that says that he's basically quoting something that his mom said. So when you broke it down that way there might even be four timelines because if you think about Rick at Glenn and Abraham's graves, and then you think about Rick on the back of the truck when he's doing his speech so yeah, we always do that because it always gives the audience an opportunity to put some of these timelines together for themselves."

The Hollywood Reporter asked actor Chandler Riggs if his character Carl died a hero in the episode "How It's Gotta Be" for sacrificing his life to save Siddiq - someone he did not know - and Riggs replied: "I definitely think so. It wasn't saving Siddiq, it was saving all of Alexandria. He was the reason that they all got to safety — because he stalled the Saviors and [prevented] them from finding any Alexandrians with his smoke grenades and he led them away from everyone and saved everyone. It was a pretty cool way to go out." Riggs also joked with Entertainment Weekly that Carl's death "was all Siddiq's mom's fault".

In the season finale "Wrath", when Siddiq finally tells Rick that Carl was bitten by a walker while trying to honor Siddiq's mother, Erik Kain of Forbes commented that "The Siddiq and Rick scene should [have] happened two episodes ago. It was fine, I guess, but felt really out of place."

He was promoted to series regular for season 9.