The Walking Dead is an American television series that first began airing in October of 2010. The series was produced by Frank Darabont and based on The Walking Dead comic book series by Robert Kirkman, published by Image Comics. The Walking Dead follows the journey of Georgia police officer Rick Grimes as he awakens to a world that has been overrun by zombies. Traveling across the state of Georgia, Rick finds other survivors of the zombie plague and together they struggle to survive in a world that no longer makes any sense to them.
First mainstream television series that focuses primarily on zombies.
Special effects for The Walking Dead was provided by Stargate Studios.
The first episode of the series, "Days Gone Bye" ran 1½ hours. The regular episodes from the series ran 1 hour each.
The Walking Dead was the cover feature article on the December 3rd, 2010 edition of Entertainment Weekly.
Morgan Jones is the first character on The Walking Dead to refer to infected as "walkers".
Shortly before the broadcast of the season one finale, "TS-19", rumors began to circulate that series developer Frank Darabont had fired the entire writing staff. Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd provided an interview to Entertainment Weekly, correcting the oversight and confirming that none of the staff writers had been fired. "It's completely inaccurate," she told EW exclusively. "[In] the writers' room, there are people that have set up other projects that will be their first priority if their own series is picked up as a pilot or if it’s a series. I think [Eglee] just decided that he wants to run his own show." [1]
Classically trained British actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays the lead role of Rick Grimes in the series, was completely unprepared for the sort of visceral entertainment he would be providing. When describing the scene in episode two, "Guts" where Lincoln and young co-star Steven Yeun were required to smear zombie intestines across their body to mask their scent, Lincoln expressed great discomfort saying, "Please! This is not what I signed up for!" [2]
Actor Jon Bernthal, who plays the role of Shane Walsh found that not all of the show's viewers appreciated his character's exploits, in particular, his mother. "She texted me," Bernthal stated, "How dare you be in the woods with another man's wife!" [3]
Actress Melissa McBride also works as a casting director in Atlanta, Georgia which is where the majority of season one takes place.
On March 8th, 2011, series creator Robert Kirkman offered an open invitation to controversal sitcom star Charlie Sheen to come join the cast of the show for season 2. Kirkman is quoted as saying, "Charlie call us, we will totally make that happen. We'll do whatever you want." [5]
Actor Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon, was voted one of three breakout TV stars to watch in 2011 by Entertainment Weekly readers' choice, owing largely to his performance in season two of The Walking Dead. [6]
Glen Mazzara replaced series co-creator Frank Darabont as showrunner for The Walking Dead with season two. Darabont was still credited as executive producer on the episodes however. [7]
Greg Nicotero became an executive producer on the series beginning with season two.
Since the premiere of season two, a live aftershow titled Talking Dead has aired and is hosted by Chris Hardwick. The show typically features cast and crew members along with celebrities who are fans of The Walking Dead discussing the latest episode. The most common celebrity featured is Yvette Nicole Brown, who is a superfan of the series. Fans also began to pick up on the fact "Surprise Cast Member" typically meant a major character would die in the episode though Chris Hardwick even references this sometimes and says it doesn't always mean a death. Surprise Cast Members have also been new characters introduced or who played a major role in the episode.
In 2018, Angela Kang was promoted to showrunner of The Walking Dead, replacing Scott M. Gimple, who remained on the series as an executive producer and consultant. [8]
It was reported in May2018 that series star Andrew Lincoln would be departing the series following its ninth season scheduled to begin airing in October of that year. It was said that Lincoln would only appear in about a half-dozen episodes. This news came hot on the tails of similar reports of Lauren Cohan likewise leaving the series after only six episodes or so, to make way for her future career on the TV series Whiskey Cavalier. It was reported that Norman Reedus would be taking on a larger, possibly a leadership roll in the wake of Lincoln's absence. [9]
While season nine sees the departure of Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan, it also sees the return of a season one staple - Jon Bernthal. Bernthal played the part of Shane Walsh in seasons one an two. Yeah... the same Shane who was killed by Rick Grimes, came back as a zombie and then shot in the head by Carl. Bernthal is also known for playing vigilante killer Frank Castle on the Netflix original series The Punisher. As he was under contract to the studio for that series, his ability to appear on The Walking Dead would be limited to three episodes. At the time of its initial report, it remained unclear exactly what role Bernthal's character would play in season nine, though most speculated that he would appear in the show via flashback. [10]
On June 17th, 2018, The Talking Dead 's after-show host Chris Hardwick came under fire when former girlfriend, Chloe Dyktra made allegations against him, accusing him of emotional and sexual abuse, as well obstructions to her career in the entertainment industry. As a result, AMC pulled Hardwick's series Talking With Chris Hardwick from its line-up. The internet blog site The Nerdist, which Hardwick founded, removed all references to Chris Hardwick from its website. [11]
Season 9 of The Walking Dead sees a time-jump in the series, taking place some time after the events of season eight's "All Out War" storyline. This tracks with events that played out in the comic book series, which jumped ahead two years after the conclusion of the storyline. [12]
Less than a month prior to the season nine premiere, AMC announced its intention to continue The Walking Dead franchise for at least another decade, despite suffering an increasing drop in viewership on its staple program for the past two seasons. At the time this information was first released, it was unknown whether another Walking Dead spin-off was being considered or not. [13]
Season ten went on a mid-season hiatus in 2020 due to safety concerns arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 9th, 2020, it was announced that AMC would be discontinuing The Walking Dead following season eleven, which would consist of an unprecedented twenty-three episode final season. It was also announced that the characters of Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier would continue on in their own spin-off series, as well maintaining plans to see the return of Andrew Lincoln for a multi-part movie project. [14]
Rick searches for his family after emerging from a coma into a world terrorized by the walking dead. Morgan and Duane, whom he meets along the way, help teach Rick the new rules for survival.
Rick unknowingly causes a group of survivors to be trapped by walkers. The group dynamic devolves from accusations to violence as Rick must confront an enemy far more dangerous than the undead.
Rick makes a decision to go back into Atlanta to retrieve the bag of guns and save a man's life. Lori and Shane must deal with the surprising return of someone they thought was dead.
Rick's mission to Atlanta is jeopardized when things go awry. Members of a hostile group of survivors kidnap Glenn and barter with Rick for weapons. Jim becomes unhinged in the camp.
Relations within the camp begin to break down. Andrea mourns for her sister while Carol buries her husband. Jim must make a terrible life and death decision. Rick leads the group to the CDC after the attack.
Rick and the group are allowed into the CDC by a strange doctor. But not all is what it seems in their newly found haven. Rick learns a terrible secret about the outbreak. Shane suffers an emotional breakdown and the group must make a drastic decision.
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