About
Distraught Morgan Jones or Lennie James Red Eyes is a reaction[1] and image macro[2] meme of the character Morgan Jones (played by actor Lennie James) from AMC’s The Walking Dead[3] spinoff and TV show Fear The Walking Dead, which started being used in memes in late August 2025 on TikTok and then Twitter / X in October 2025. The picture of James is from a scene in season six, episode one of the series, when his character Morgan reappears with a disheveled look and red eyes after being seemingly left for dead in the previous finale after he received a gunshot wound to the head and was surrounded by “walkers” or zombies.
In October 2025, X users began using the bloodshot image of Morgan as a reaction to relatable situations that might be stressful or painful. The image also saw memetic usage on other platforms during the same timeframe, such as Instagram[4], Reddit and TikTok, where it became increasingly viral alongside caption[5] memes[6]. Additionally, it was commonly used in TikTok comment sections in late 2025.
Origin
The scene used in the meme comes from season six, episode one of Fear The Walking Dead, titled “The End is the Beginning,” which was released on October 11th, 2020. The episode begins roughly five weeks after the events of the season five finale, revealing that Morgan Jones (Lennie James) had survived his traumatic injury after being shot in the head and seemingly left for dead, surrounded by zombies. The clip shows Morgan waking up in the back of a car, staring into the camera with bloodshot eyes and a disheveled or distraught look.
The scene was uploaded to YouTube[7] by user Outlawzz on October 11th, the same day the episode aired on TV, receiving over 110,000 views, 940 likes and 100 comments in five years.
The exact first known meme to use the image of Morgan Jones from the episode is unconfirmed, but it began appearing online in late August 2025.
The earliest known example of the scene being used as a meme occurred on August 25th, 2025, when TikTok user @ledaddy66 shared a meme about a janitor’s reaction to a student making a mess, which received nearly 800 likes and 40 comments in two months.
@ledaddy66 The red eyes #lunch #memes #viral #fyp #xyzbca ♬ original sound – Le-Daddy[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Spread
The scene with Morgan Jones continued to be used in memes over the following weeks and months as it spread online in late 2025.
For example, on August 26th, 2025, TikToker @orbismala posted a version about someone waking up from a coma and seeing their wife with their friend, receiving over 1,300 likes, 280 shares and 30 comments in two months.
@orbismala Time to cop my first pole 🌱 . #orbismala #morganjones #giftok #twd #thewalkingdead ♬ XXX – YoungBoy Never Broke Again[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
The meme then spread to Reddit in late September 2025. For instance, Redditor[22] randy_ce used the image in a post to the /r/MbtiTypeMe subreddit on September 27th, discussing Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality tests, but the post did not receive significant engagement.
Also on September 27th, 2025, Soundcloud[23] user JoinTheCult included the meme of Morgan as artwork for the song “2010 schizophrenic emo kid,” though this post also did not garner notable engagement.
On October 5th, 2025, Facebook[24] user Stephan Rodger posted a version to the Dark Souls Seathposting™ 2: Scholar of the Violated Terms of Service group about the Godskin Duo boss in Elden Ring[25], which received 20 reactions in 22 days.
On October 13th, the Instagram page @wrestlemovement used the reaction image at the end of a slideshow about WWE, garnering over 840 likes in roughly two weeks.
On October 18th, 2025, Redditor Value-Successful posted a version to the /r/retailhell subreddit about not smiling at customers during a 10-hour shift, accumulating over 600 upvotes and 15 comments in nine days.
On October 20th, X / Twitter[26] user @MOISESCAlCEDO shared a variant of the Morgan Jones meme about the image-editing site Canvas being down, receiving over 3.8 million views, 316,000 likes and 400 replies in a week.
On October 22nd, 2025, X @Weezertuah posted another example, which features an image of a phone with the Morgan Jones meme as the background, and a text notification from “twan” reading “what foe luch,” garnering over 951,000 views, 93,000 likes and 100 replies in five days.
Various Examples
sketical</a> Boutta lose my shi in there <a title="fearthewalkingdead" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fearthewalkingdead?refer=embed">#fearthewalkingdead</a> <a title="morganjones" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/morganjones?refer=embed">#morganjones</a> <a title="giftok" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/giftok?refer=embed">#giftok</a> <a title="juggtok" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/juggtok?refer=embed">#juggtok</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ son original - ##" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/son-original-7474302264657922838?refer=embed">♬ son original - ##</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script> <blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/henry.perry4/video/7564019368556891423″ data-video-id=”7564019368556891423″ style=”max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;” > @henry.perry4 long day in the oil fields just for this #doordash #funny #meme #morganjones #twd ♬ original sound – Boofpaxkmooky[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]
References
- ^ reaction (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ image macro (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ The Walking Dead (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Instagram (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ caption (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ memes (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ YouTube (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ @ledaddy66 (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ lunch (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ memes (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ viral (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ fyp (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ xyzbca (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ ♬ original sound – Le-Daddy (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ @orbismala (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ orbismala (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ morganjones (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ giftok (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ twd (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ thewalkingdead (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ ♬ XXX – YoungBoy Never Broke Again (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ Redditor (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Soundcloud (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Facebook (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Elden Ring (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Twitter (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ @sketical (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ doordash (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ funny (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ meme (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ morganjones (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ twd (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ ♬ original sound – Boofpaxkmooky (www.tiktok.com)