Over the course of 11 seasons of The Walking Dead and its various spinoffs, we’ve seen a franchise grow in a way that nothing else has managed. It changed TV for the better in many ways, especially when it came to the horror genre.
At the same time, this is one of those franchises that ended up being left behind. Maybe it’s that 11 seasons is too long for one show, or maybe it’s that the favorite characters only worked well with particular groups of people.
It’s time for us to break it down. Here’s how The Walking Dead both changed TV and got left behind.
The Walking Dead changed TV by making horror for everyone
There are always particular genres of TV that we either love or hate. For a lot of people, the horror genre is exciting. There are thrilling aspects that make you feel like you’re in the action with them, and you’re looking at all the ways you would survive. But this genre isn’t for everyone, whether it’s being unable to stomach the gore or not liking the adrenaline because of the jump scares.
The Walking Dead changed it all by making horror a genre that everyone could find something to love about. This wasn’t just another zombie series, but it also wasn’t just another post-apocalyptic dystopian series. It brought together groups of strangers who became a family and relied on each other. These human elements are often left behind, especially in supernatural horror, and The Walking Dead gave us what we craved.
The Walking Dead struggled with repetitive storylines
The main issue with the original series is that it started to get repetitive, and I will always say that this is a problem that happens for shows that go past five seasons. It’s always season 6 of a show that seems to struggle the most, and I include Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on that list. I would include Charmed, but season 5 had the problem, season 6 picked things up, and season 7 became a problem again.
I digress. The Walking Dead struggled, and it got left behind as it failed to up the stakes and make us care about some of the newer characters coming into the tale. While it certainly tried, such as with Glenn’s death, it was just a little too late in the game for that to have the impact it needed (and it hurt!).
The Walking Dead changed the way a franchise could grow
A lot of TV shows will want to develop into something more. Growing a franchise is sometimes the best way to keep a universe alive, rather than following on with the same characters over and over again. The Walking Dead did it in a way that no other show did.
Fear the Walking Dead brought us other survival stories set in the same world. However, there wasn’t the constant question of people crossing paths. With just the one constant between the two shows, we knew it was the same apocalypse, but new characters had the opportunity to tell stories.
Even after The Walking Dead came to an end, we got the franchise to continue storylines. Some of them have been a miss (sorry, Dead City), but some of them have been a hit (yes, Daryl Dixon). As it all interconnects but doesn’t tread on toes, it’s possible to jump in and out without feeling guilty and without questioning when certain characters are going to show up again.
The Walking Dead changed the after-show experience
Let’s not overlook the power of the after-show. The Talking Dead built up the fandom, and it gave audiences around the world a voice. This was a chance to delve deeper and deeper into the lore and the character stories; it made us feel like we were part of the series itself.
No other show has managed it, but some have tried. Outlander has the after-the-show clips, and Supernatural has pulled people in with the conventions, but there has been nothing as successful as The Talking Dead, and arguably, it’s what started the entire experience. Without seeing how it could work to give the audience a new experience, nobody else would have had the guts to attempt it.
The Walking Dead didn’t know how to cope with exiting cast members
Slowly, characters started to leave the show, and that’s what happens with long-running shows. A lot of actors sign a six-year deal, and they don’t necessarily think a show will go on for that long. Then it picks up steam, and these characters become fan favorites. So, once the actors decide they’re ready for other projects, the writers scramble to find what to do with the characters and how to make others fan favorites.
That’s what happened with The Walking Dead, and the writers didn’t quite manage to make it work. The worst was the exit of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, but really, losing a character like Glenn changed the show’s vibe, and not always for the better. The writers knew these exits were coming, and they should have planned better so as not to scramble afterward.
The Walking Dead changed the episodic format
When we started with The Walking Dead, it did seem to handle the traditional form of TV storytelling for the time. Each episode had a different situation for the group to contend with. However, things started to change. While there was something new to tackle each episode, the something “new” tended to build up on events from previous episodes.
This serialized format helped to further develop the world. We got to know villains for longer, seeing that, actually, humans are far worse than monsters, and we had a chance to explore the morally gray area of characters better. Some storylines weren’t even fully finished within a season, leaving us with questions that had us tuning in for longer, even as the storytelling quality diminished. We just needed answers!
The Walking Dead changed the focus for source material
Before this zombie series, a lot of shows and movies would adapt books. There were plenty of comic books out there, but they didn’t get on the radar of show creators, arguably until The Walking Dead. Suddenly, the critical success of the early days of the series led to a change in the type of source material that was used.
All of a sudden, we have the likes of Deadly Class, Revival, and The Boys. More and more creators are turning to comics as a potential source material, bringing shorter-form content to life in huge ways. It is a different kettle of fish, as comics are so much more visual and harder to get right, but The Walking Dead gave the way that it needed to be done.
The Walking Dead shifted away from the nomadic survival narrative
As The Walking Dead became more mainstream, it started to follow more of the mainstream elements of shows. One of those was finding a permanent base to help with survival. While sure, that’s something that survivalists would want in a post-apocalyptic world, it meant the series lost the nomadic narrative that worked so well for it in the beginning.
We weren’t there to see people find a home or a place. We were there for the adrenaline of surviving the zombie virus. Having a short-term base, such as the prison, made sense, but eventually, we needed to see everyone keep moving and dealing with the realities of being out in the wilderness trying to deal with the stresses of life and zombie horror.
I will say that some of the spinoffs have rectified this, and I think it's why I love the Daryl Dixon spinoff so much, but the flagship show certainly got left behind.
The Walking Dead is available to stream on AMC+.