It’s a series that probably changed the post-apocalyptic horror game forever and managed to remain a fan favorite till the end got wrapped up just last year. We are talking about The Walking Dead, a show that was gory, intense, intriguing, and everything we wanted from a zombie-horror series.
Inspired by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard’s comic book series, the show, with its huge cast, slick plotline, and terrifying zombies, took over the hearts of the fans with just its first season out. The first three seasons of the show continue to remain some of its most successful seasons.
The show has an ensemble cast who try to survive a zombie apocalypse over the different seasons. The global apocalypse interrupts the normal functioning of human civilization indefinitely as the ‘walkers’ or zombies take over the world with their gross appearance and scary tactics.
Circling around our main lead, Rick Grimes, a sheriff deputy played by actor Andrew Lincoln, the show follows the story of him and his group trying to survive the attacks of both the zombies and fellow humans who are down to doing anything if it guaranteed their survival.
The OG cast of the show also included Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Jeffery Demunn, and so many others it is hard to keep count. As the first of its franchise, the show had many feeling curious, though it all seemed to die down sometime during the fourth and fifth seasons of the show.
Despite this, there is no denying that the show was critically approved for the most part, pulling award nominations from Primetime Emmy Awards, 41st Saturn Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards, and many more.
For the most part, the different seasons of the show will have you completely emotionally invested, at the edge of your seat, and cowering behind your pillow. The show has characters that act dumb at times but are still complex and feel real.
Obviously, one cannot just talk about The Walking Dead and not mention the gory zombies, who look too real at times and are so good at maintaining the eerie tension throughout the show, giving it a great edge.
The show went on for several seasons, and it would have made sense for it to just become boring and repetitive, but the makers also managed to break out of this cycle by giving the characters an arc that people cared about and adding interesting subplots sprinkled like easter eggs throughout.
Also, the fact that The Walking Dead manages to leave in pure terror and sheer discomfort that a lot of people like going back to adds to why the show went on for so long and was so successful.
Is The Walking Dead Finished?
While we liked the fact that the show managed to make us cower in fear, the show has sadly ended. With the announcement of the eleventh season, the makers also revealed that it would be the last season of the show.
While the first episode of the first season of the series was one of the best openings that there have been, there was no way the makers were going to be able to satisfy all fans with the final episode.
On November 22nd, 2022, the show put out a finale episode of the eleventh season titled, “Rest in peace,” thus marking the end of this grand journey. The final scenes of the episode showed a time skip of a year, where we met with our leading characters once again, leading a slightly different life from the start of the season.
Magna, Yumiko, Connie, and Kelly found life at Commonwealth while Eugene and Max had a baby. The community at Alexandria was also slowly coming together as Aaron, Jerry, Nabila, and their children were all seen settling back there.
The conversation between Daryl and Carol was also extremely moving, leaving Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride and the viewers bawling their eyes out. The series ended with a proper end, but it was also made clear this is not the end of the Walking Dead universe.
There were rumors of the show getting a season twelfth, which eventually got translated into becoming another spinoff series altogether. The makers rushed the end and ended the series the way they did all to set up grounds for future stories and spinoffs to be made.
After the show ended, the makers of The Walking Dead confirmed that they still had a lot of stories to tell and that the franchise would continue going forward no matter the end of the main series.
Spinoffs, including The Walking Dead: Dead City, Fear The Walking Dead, and Tales of the Walking Dead, are all available for fans to binge as they cope with the end of the original series, The Walking Dead.
