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The Walking Dead: Why Isn’t ‘Zombie’ Ever Used?

By Josh Hill

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The Walking Dead isn’t afraid to be artsy about how it carries itself, and one of the things the show does is avoiding any usage of the word ‘zombie’.

AMC has a real hit on it’s hands with The Walking Dead, even if some are fearing that the series is getting stale. Regardless of criticism, The Walking Dead is one of the most popular shows on television and it’s a series that isn’t afraid to get artsy with how it carries itself.

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As part of The Walking Dead’s tour to secure an Emmy nomination this year — any nomination — Robert Kirkman spoke at Egyptian Theater recently and dropped some knowledge on fans in attendance as to why the show never uses the word ‘zombie’, despite the entire show revolving around their existence.

"“And so we decided if we just strip that word out, and have this show set in a dimension where zombie movies just didn’t exist, it would kind of make things a little more believable.”"

How edgy — a show bout zombies that never actually say the word ‘zombie’. That’s as hipster-ish as it gets.

You have to give the series credit though, as it’s not trying to be just another zombie show despite it being exactly that. Having a human story crafted within the world of a zombie apocalypse isn’t an original idea anymore, as it was last done best in 28 Days Later.

But The Walking Dead is more clever than people give it credit for, and the fact that the series doesn’t use ‘zombie’ at all is more than just a fun bit of trivia.

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