Today, November 20, 2022, the final episode of the series 'The Walking Dead' airs. In honor of such a significant event, we invite you to recall the full twelve-year journey of the AMC channel project in several articles.
The Walking Dead started in the distant and carefree year 2010. Twelve years later, the final 11th season is ending, and fans [finally] say goodbye to the main series. The universe will undoubtedly continue to exist in multiple sequels and spin-offs, arising from the cult status of the original project. In connection with the legend's retirement, we invite you to recall how 'The Walking Dead' ascended to the television peak and how it fell from it into a deep pit. As a bonus, we'll tell you what will happen to the zombie world after the long journey ends. Let's go!
Good luck to everyone on the Long Walk (Season 1)
Let's start, as expected, with the rise. On Halloween 2010, the American TV channel AMC aired the first episode titled 'Days Gone Bye', where sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is severely wounded in a shootout with criminals and falls into a coma, only to wake up in a completely new world teeming with reanimated corpses. The pilot caused a sensation on television and attracted a record 5.3 million viewers for AMC, marking the best debut of the year among all cable channels.
Based on the series of comic books of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, the series 'The Walking Dead', with Oscar-winning director Frank Darabont at the helm, flourished incredibly in 6 episodes. The director is a big fan of George Romero, so the dead in the series are close to the classic ones and walk, not run like in or '28 Days Later'. The first season was nominated for a bunch of awards, including a Golden Globe, and won the Saturn Award for 'Best Television Presentation', and its finale attracted almost 6 million viewers. Critics praised the show for its scale, interesting plot and equally interesting characters, among whom shone John Bernthal, Steven Yeun, Sarah Wayne Callies, Chandler Riggs, as well as Norman Reedus, Michael Rooker and Melissa McBride.
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Open materialJust imagine, 'Game of Thrones' is still six months away from its release, and TV already has a series where none of the characters are immune to death. The characters try to survive in a zombie pandemic, hoping that the old world can still be saved. A continuation of such a tense and vibrant project was simply inevitable.
The road is conquered by those who walk (Season 2)
By the fall of 2011, the second season was supposed to be released, but before the premiere, AMC scandalously fired showrunner Frank Darabont, who had conceived the entire concept of the series. His place was taken by Glen Mazzara. At first, there were rumors that Darabont could not adapt to the management schedule, but in fact, the director of 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Green Mile' did not like the writers hired by the channel and the decision to abandon the scale of feature films.
Some time later, the former showrunner sued the channel, claiming that AMC had not paid the director a rather large sum. Darabont said that he was illegally fired and, by understating the income from broadcasts, they did not pay him about 280 million dollars. The dispute was only resolved last year, when the director and AMC reached a settlement without waiting for a court hearing, which was constantly postponed due to the coronavirus. The creator of the series received 200 million dollars in compensation and a percentage of the profits from the broadcast of new episodes of 'The Walking Dead' and 'Fear the Walking Dead'.
On October 3, 2011, ahead of the new season, the first batch of webisodes was released, telling the story of Hannah — a zombie whose upper half was shot by Rick out of pity in the pilot episode. The season is called 'Torn Apart', and all six mini-episodes were directed by the series' main makeup artist — Greg Nicotero.
The main series continued on October 16. In it, the characters changed the setting from urban to farm and expanded their group with the Greene family (Lauren Cohan, Emily Kinney, Scott Wilson). The number of episodes in the season also increased. Compared to six in the first, the second contained thirteen, seven of which aired in the fall, and the remaining six after a substantial, almost three-month break. Ratings continued to grow, the number of awards increased (including 3 Emmy statuettes, one for the excellent makeup), and the season finale attracted nearly 9 million viewers. Fans are happy, AMC is pleased, 'The Walking Dead' marches into the third season.
Come out and play with me (Season 3)
As a preview for the new season, on October 1, 2012, the second batch of webisodes titled 'Cold Storage' was released, again directed by Greg Nicotero. The story of a guy named Chase, searching for his sister. By chance, he is forced to take shelter in a warehouse, where he meets a not-so-friendly B.J., who has staked out the shelter for himself and someone else.
With a confident stride, even without Frank Darabont but under the leadership of Glen Mazzara, 'The Walking Dead' entered the third season. The farm had to be abandoned, so the new temporary refuge for Rick Grimes' group becomes a prison. Here, for the first time, a human antagonist appears, known as the Governor (David Morrissey). Also joining the cast were Danai Gurira, Chad L. Coleman, and Sonequa Martin-Green.
Now the heroes have to fight not only the 'walkers' but also other people. Eight months have passed since the events of the second season, and globally the epidemic has been going on for 10 months. The zombie makeup became darker. This is how the creators wanted to show that although the dead are 'alive', time still affects them, and the decomposition process is inevitable.
In general, zombies are a huge plus of the entire series (of course). No matter what happens in the background over 11 seasons, the viewer sees the hard work of the makeup artists and the actors playing the dead. AMC constantly allocates a lot of money from the budget for them. But not only does the makeup take a lot of time, the actors also have to undergo special training to learn how to walk and move like real walkers.
Everything is as it was a year ago: the show continues to grow its audience and break ratings records. Moreover, now the season has 16 episodes, which are released in equal parts: eight episodes before the New Year and eight after. This release format is established in almost all future seasons. The finale is watched by 12.4 million viewers, twice as many as the finale of the first season. Another Saturn Award adorns the shelf, and the path to the top continues at a rapid pace. AMC has discovered a gold mine. Is it worth stopping? Of course not. The series is obviously renewed.
The road underfoot, the sky overhead (Season 4)
At the end of the third season, AMC parts ways with another showrunner. Glen Mazzara leaves his post, but unlike Frank Darabont, this happens amicably, as the views of the studio and the executive producer regarding the further vision of the series diverged. Scott M. Gimple is appointed in Mazzara's place, under whose leadership 'The Walking Dead' will reach its peak in terms of viewership.
Almost traditionally, before the release of new episodes on October 1, the third set of webisodes titled 'The Oath' is released, directed by Greg Nicotero. In three short episodes, the story of a couple, Paul and Karina, is told, who survived an attack by a horde of zombies and found shelter within the walls of an unoccupied hospital. In the building, they are greeted by a welcoming Dr. Gale, but is she as kind as she seems?
The fourth season immediately starts with phenomenal numbers. The opening episode gathers 16.1 million viewers. Again, several months have passed between seasons, the prison has been transformed, and it even has a garden. It's a shame, of course, that the peaceful life won't last long. And it's not just about the returning Governor.
'The Walking Dead' grows bigger every year. Rick's group is no longer as small as it used to be, although someone regularly dies in the series. This time, the heroes united with Abraham's group (Michael Cudlitz), which, besides the leader himself, includes Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt). With them, they intend to go to Washington, where, according to Eugene, he will be able to stop the infection.
There is less and less running, shooting, and zombies each time, and more conversations and drama. Critics and viewers are still satisfied. The Saturn Awards are countless, but the series stumbles for the first time on its walk. It would seem like a trifle. A slight stumble, no big deal. It happens to everyone. Otherwise, everything is fine, why focus on such a trifle? But maybe this was the first warning sign?
The fact is that the season finale, for the first time since the start, was watched by fewer people than the first episode. Episode 16 gathered 15.7 million viewers. The gap is not that big (only 400 thousand) to panic, because more than fifteen and a half million is a colossal figure, but perhaps it was worth thinking about.
Nevertheless, no one paid attention, and 'The Walking Dead', having left the prison, trudges to 'Terminus' straight into the hands of cannibals. Episode 16 ends very pompously. Ahead of Rick's group is the fifth season, and with it the last dizzying record.
At the peak of form (Season 5)
On October 12, 2014, the fifth part of the series begins. This time, viewers did without webisodes. Greg Nicotero has long been not just a makeup artist and director of short promo stories. He regularly acts as a director of full episodes. Maybe that's why Nicotero didn't shoot another preview for the new season. Or maybe 'The Walking Dead' no longer needed any previews? Although, of course, watching these short stories was interesting.
Under the leadership of Scott M. Gimple, 'The Walking Dead' reaches its record viewership, and unfortunately, this is again not the final episode of the season. The first episode on premiere day was watched by 17.3 million viewers. The numbers are truly impressive. The fifth season overall left everyone satisfied again. But the gap in viewership between the first and last episode increased. The finale reached 15.8 million viewers (a gap of 1.5 million is already much more noticeable). It seems like 15 million is an impressive figure, but the trend is definitely starting to emerge. This should have made AMC tense up.
Nevertheless, the series is still good and interesting. It continued to collect awards and attract viewers to the screen. In parallel with the main series, the management of AMC gives the green light to the first spin-off in the universe called 'Fear the Walking Dead'. And everything seems to be going great, but in 'The Walking Dead', obvious repetitions begin to appear, and the viewer gradually realizes that Rick Grimes is actually a terrible leader.
In the second half of the fifth season, Rick's group, having defeated the cannibals, finds a new refuge called Alexandria. This is a whole town with walls and peaceful residents who do not know how to defend themselves from external threats.
Every year, the characters multiply, and 'The Walking Dead' increasingly turns into some kind of 'Civilization', where threats in the form of other communities are much more serious than zombies. This time, the 'Wolves' appear — a group of survivors with 'W' scars on their foreheads, trying to exterminate all people so that they do not live in post-apocalyptic conditions. The series is again replenished with new names, such as Ross Marquand and Seth Gilliam. Also returning is Lennie James, who played Morgan — the first survivor Rick meets after waking up.
The creators' attempt to move the group, which had been surviving in extreme conditions for four and a half seasons, into a shelter where they could acquire property to protect, ruined the ratings. Further, the series awaited the sixth season and a rapid decline in viewer interest over the remaining journey. True, before the final fall into the abyss, 'The Walking Dead' made one last attempt to cling to the top of the cliff.
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