Do you remember 2010-2016, when everyone who loved The Walking Dead was constantly theorizing? Yeah, so do I. I still vividly recall scouring the internet, message boards, and more to find spoilers about what would happen next in the series because I was so afraid of who the characters would become and how they would change as the series progressed.
But then something shifted in late 2016—something that changed the show forever. The mystery that kept fans engaged, the cliffhangers, everything else… It all faded into obscurity, and now fans had nothing to theorize about. Everything was laid out on the table.
Then, when mystery came back into the show, many fans had already left before they could dive in. And that marked the beginning of the end.
The Walking Dead had amazing cliffhangers at first, and so much to unpack
To be frank, one of the biggest issues with this show was that it went on so long that the mysteries became less and less compelling. I personally think the comics went in that direction too. Still, because the series took plenty of creative liberties, it often traded mysteries for the beauty of war in seasons 7 and 8.
What made the first few seasons of The Walking Dead so good was that fans never really knew what would happen next. We were on the edge of our seats each week because it felt like everything truly threatened the group we loved, and there was no easy way out of everything—because no one knew anything.
In the first season, the biggest mystery was how the virus even started. To this day, we still don’t really know, except that it originated in a facility in France and became airborne. But as the series went on, the mysteries we were given actively involved the group and were things fans could picture themselves in.
A big mystery I loved was who burned the bodies in the prison in season 4; we later found out it was Carol (Melissa McBride) in her big season 4 change. But fans theorized for weeks about who did that. Another was, obviously, Sophia’s (Madison Lintz) disappearance in season 2.
This is a huge change in the show. Sophia is actually very alive in the comics—she even marries Carl. But in the show, after weeks of searching for her, they discover she was in the Greene's barn as a walker. That was a huge mystery and one that really brought everyone together.
Even in season 6, there was a slow build-up of who the Saviors were, and then came the daddy of all mysteries: who did Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) kill? I know you were like me at one point, overanalyzing every frame of that shot where Negan slammed Lucille into someone’s head. It was a huge deal. But after that, it just all… faded.
Mysteries were forgotten for the sake of action
Granted, there was plenty of mystery later on in the series surrounding Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) death/disappearance and the Commonwealth, but that didn’t come until much later. After Glenn’s (Steven Yeun) and Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) deaths, the show forsook mystery for the sake of the all-out war between Rick’s group and the Saviors. For two seasons straight.
Yes, the deaths of Glenn and Abraham pushed fans away, and then Carl’s (Chandler Riggs) sudden death in season 8 also pushed fans away too. But I think the lack of authentic storytelling was a big reason so many fans turned away from the series. There was no real mystery anymore, just violence.
Later seasons of the show are widely regarded as better than seasons 7 and 8 because they felt like a return to form for the series. But it’s a shame, because most of the fanbase from the first few seasons had already left.
The Walking Dead spinoffs have done a decent job continuing the mystery
The Walking Dead spinoffs are perfect. Trust me, they’re not the same as the original mainline seasons. But I believe they've done a decent job advancing the lore and adding mystery where it is needed.
With the new Daryl Dixon clip, for example, we finally see that season 4 has terrifyingly fast zombies. That is one of the biggest mysteries this franchise has had in years—how did these things get created when every other version of walker is slow? That’s the kind of mystery we needed in the mainline show. And one we haven’t had in a very, very long time. It’s a shame we’ve had to wait until a spinoff to feel that again.
I really hope that if Dead City gets renewed, it also continues this kind of mystery trend. Until then, I’ll rewatch the original seasons and enjoy the suspense and thrill we had back then.
You can watch all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix.
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