Carol (Melissa McBride) has been dubbed as the newest primetime action heroine right after she saved Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and company from Terminus in the Season 5 premiere of "The Walking Dead." As viewers know, Rick exiled Carol from the group last season after learning that she was the one who killed Karen and David. However, despite the rift between the two, Carol still headed to the so-called sanctuary to rescue the gang.

In a recent interview with Yahoo TV, the 49-year-old actress was asked if she thinks that saving her friends at Terminus feel redemptive for her character, and in response, she said: "I think she would've made those decisions regardless. She is accountable to herself for having made those decisions, and she feels horrible about what she's had to do, but she understands it was necessary. So I think maybe it felt not so much redemptive, but the whole purpose of her going forward is because she loves the family."

"Regardless of Rick throwing her out, she understood something about him," the Lexington, Kentucky-born actress explained. "There is a bond and love between these survivors. This is all the family that they have, and it was her mission to reunite Judith with her father. She took a big chance going to Terminus. Again, just got lucky. She had one chance to get that firework into the fumes of that tank. Luck."

"But I don't think redemption was what she was after," she said.

In the same interview, McBride also explained why she got emotional at the show's New York Comic Con panel on Oct. 11, while talking about how her character has transformed from a meek, abused wife to a strong, independent, pragmatic survivor of the zombie apocalypse.

"I get emotional when I think of her... just how far she's come," she said. "I love the strength that she's able to experience now within herself. My heart just goes out to anyone who has to struggle against anything like that. [Carol] is definitely a hero to me and a hero to a lot of people who identify with her story so far. That makes me truly, genuinely, very happy."

In an interview with Under The Radar earlier this month, McBride opened up about how much she loves playing Carol.

"I love this character. I do feel like she's very alive for me. I feel protective of her," she explained. "When I talk about her, I feel like I'm betraying her confidence. So I'm not comfortable talking about her sometimes."

Carol's comic book counterpart was already dead, and McBride is thankful that her Carol is still alive and has become one of the fan-favorite characters on the TV adaptation.

"I've read the comics up to a little bit past where the character, Carol's character dies," she told Comicbook.com. "I like the way it's turned out. I'm glad that they took a chance on this character and I'm happy that it went in a bit of a different direction."