The Walking Dead Spoilers and Speculation? No, Thanks.

*Spoiler Alert! There are a few pre-season-five spoilers. If you are not caught up to Season 5 and you’re a ‘no, thanks!’ person, please stop reading!

Spoilers, speculation and theories about The Walking Dead are everywhere! They are all over the Internet and fans’ lips and minds, especially at season finale time. If you love spoilers, we have tons of articles on our site. Why are spoilers and theories so popular with The Walking Dead fans? Why do some of us avoid them? Ironically, I will speculate on why people love them, since I’m one of those who doesn’t usually speculate, and then let you know why I dont.

I think The Walking Dead lends itself so much to spoilers and theories for several reasons. It’s a show that routinely kills off characters and beloved, regular characters. That automatically begs three questions similar to our survivors’ three questions: Will anyone die tonight? Who will it be? Why? The show also is brilliant with cliffhangers. Not just season-ending cliffhangers, but last-2-minutes-of-the-show-every-week mini-cliffhangers! The Walking Dead has comic source material that it draws from to create its stories. It veers and differs from the source material in interesting ways, but it allows comic readers to have a unique insight to the possibilities of what’s to come. These forces have created a frenzy of speculation and theories like no other show I’ve seen. A little more complex than a simple, “Who shot J.R.?

Walking Dead fans are an obsessive bunch. I can vouch for that! We crave everything Walking Dead: interviews, merchandise, marathons, tweets, memes, parties, etc. We are a herd of walkers ourselves, mindlessly shuffling. Hungry for any guts and morsels of Walking Dead we can devour. Zombies for zombies!

So why are there some of us who avoid the spoilers and don’t bother to speculate? I don’t know how many of us there are, but there must be some or you wouldn’t see the emotional reaction attached to a post or a comment that reveals information without the notorious flashing, bold, italicized, leave-tons-of-space-after-it, SPOILER ALERT!

I hate them because they take away all the authentic emotion and reaction from watching and experiencing the show for the first time. We’ve all re-watched the episodes multiple times, but there’s nothing like the first time you see Sophia coming out of the barn or Merle, the walker. Every time you see it after that, you recall your initial emotional response. I had the opposite experience once when I accidentally read a spoiler in a comment that wasn’t marked. I knew ahead of time that Beth was going to die in that episode. I knew the spoiler was possibly wrong, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I was waiting for it instead of enjoying the episode as it happened. Beth’s death was still extremely sad, but not the shock it might have been had I not read that spoiler weeks prior.

Speculation and theories are a bit different. Of course, I wonder and think about possibilities, but I’m not a big theory spinner. I suppose some people like to speculate because it feels good to be right if what they predicted actually turns out to be true. I suppose there’s some satisfaction in that. The fun, “Yes!” fist pump and the “I knew it,” or “I told you!” Again, the fact that The Walking Dead kills people and sometimes many people and favorites, gives rise to predicting. It’s like zombie off-track-betting. I’m rarely right and I’ve loved the beauty of the twists and turns the show has taken, so I just sit back and wait. I let the walker teeth bite where they may!

Do you love spoilers or do you avoid them? Do you love to predict and speculate? How is your track record? Have you made some accurate predictions? Does the show continue to surprise you? Are you a comic reader? Does that affect your speculation?

Speculate and theorize as much as you like in the comments, but, please, no spoilers!

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