THE DEAD PHENOMENON

The zombie apocalypse might have ended civilization on The Walking Dead, but it also inspired a fresh new world of undead entertainment

- CHRISTOPHE R WALLENBERG

BEFORE AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD premiered on October 31, 2010, the end of the world as we know it had never looked so terrifying, gory or gruesome. Eleven years and more than 150 heart pounding installments later, The Walking Dead is still a frightening delight to behold— and its universe has grown into a globally beloved franchise.

In this fictional world (not unlike our own), based on Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book series, the apocalypse arrived in the form of a plague—shudder at the thought—that in this case turned people into the flesh-eating “undead” after they kicked the bucket. The series chronicles the epic story of a hardened and diverse group of people struggling to stay alive and eke out a meaningful existence. Ever since the show’s hero Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) awoke from his coma, alone in the aftermath of a civilization-ending cataclysm in the series’ pilot, The Walking Dead has been a game-changing cultural juggernaut, an earth-shattering entry along the vast TV landscape.