It’s been almost 12 years since the first zombie trekked across our screen in the pilot episode of “The Walking Dead.” The journey has been long and sometimes extremely slow and drawn-out, but alas, it’s finally coming to a close.
It’s no wonder the series and its spinoffs have maintained such a huge following over the years. The series was already a hit in comic form, and after its debut in 2010 “The Walking Dead” became one of the biggest ratings hits on all of television, spawning spinoffs and web series to expand the universe.
Now that we’re coming to the end of the flagship “The Walking Dead” series (which is in its final season), it’s as good a time as any to go back and experience the entire universe as it unfolds in chronological order.
There isn’t quite enough time to deep-dive through each and every intricate moment held in the nooks and crannies of each season. But this “Walking Dead” timeline guide should make it easier for you to revisit your favorite seasons or dive into a few stories you may have missed. Read on for a rundown of what we’ve experienced in The Walking Dead universe, so far.
And, of course, beware spoilers for “The Walking Dead,” “Fear the Walking Dead” and “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” follow below.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 1
While Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is in a coma, the state of California is becoming ground zero for a zombie apocalypse. When the outbreak begins, the government responds and sends military support. After learning that the army plans to kill all the civilians and evacuate the area, Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her family escape.
Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462
In case you’ve ever wondered what would happen if there was a zombie apocalypse on a plane, look no further. Enjoy this sixteen-part web series with one-minute episodes that follows a group of survivors struggling after one of them seems to be infected.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 2
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The group of survivors are sailing the sea aboard Victor Strand’s (Colman Domingo) yacht and he’s super sketchy when it comes to where exactly they’re heading. They meet up with some pirates, including plane crash survivor Alex from the Flight 462 web series. Strand finally makes it to his boyfriend who is unfortunately dying. Travis (Cliff Curtis) has issues connecting with Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) who elects to stay with his new friends. Travis finds Madison, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Ofelia (Mercedes Mason), and Strand held up at a secure hotel. But, when Travis murders the people who killed his son, he’s asked to leave. Meanwhile, Nick (Frank Dillane) has settled in a little community where the people believe their leader was bitten and survived.
Fear The Walking Dead: Passage
Gabi, a survivor of a bomb attack in Los Angeles, is rescued from a pack of walkers by Sierra. Gabi asks for Sierra’s protection in exchange for passage to her tunnel where her boyfriend is storing supplies.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 3
Madison, Alicia, and Travis are held captive at a military base. There, they find Nick. They find out that the soldiers are experimenting on prisoners, killing them to watch them turn into walkers. Troy, the leader, has a weird and twisted obsession with Madison, probably mommy issues. Travis suffers an injury while leaving the military base, and dies. The Clark family settles with the Otto family who run a survivalist ranch. The Otto family has a longstanding beef with another camp ran by Qaletaqa Walker, also known as Taqa, Hopi chief of the reservation. Nick kills Jeremiah and stages it as a suicide. Later, Madison kills Troy and tensions rise between her and Nick.
The Walking Dead Season 1
Sheriff Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to find himself in the middle of the apocalypse. Worried about his family, he sets out to find them, meeting allies and overcoming obstacles on the way. After reuniting with his wife and son, he realizes that more than survival is happening between his wife and best friend. The group works together to stay safe and Rick learns that there’s no cure and everyone is infected.
The Walking Dead: Torn Apart
This six-part web series tells the story of Hannah, also known as “Bicycle Girl,” the walker that Rick kills in the pilot episode of “The Walking Dead.”
The Walking Dead Season 2
Sophia is missing. Carl (Chandler Riggs) gets shot and is saved by an older doctor named Hershel (Scott Wilson). Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant. Glenn (Steven Yeun) meets Maggie (Lauren Cohan). All this is happening while Shane (Jon Bernthal) slowly descends into madness becoming more and more erratic and a danger to the group. After finding Sophia as a walker in Hershel’s barn, Rick finally reveals to the rest of the group that they’re all infected, and when they die, they’ll all become walkers. The barn goes up in flames and the group leaves, but Andrea (Laurie Holden) gets separated. It’s here we meet sword-wielding Michonne (Danai Gurira).
The Walking Dead: Cold Storage
In this web series, Chase tries to reach his sister in the early days of the outbreak. He finds shelter in a storage facility but, as usual, things are not what they seem.
The Walking Dead Season 3
Rick and the group settle in a prison. Merle (Michael Rooker) reappears and captures Andrea and Michonne taking them to Woodbury, run by The Governor (David Morrissey). Lori gives birth in the prison but loses a lot of blood. Young Carl is forced to kill his mother so that she doesn’t turn. Things in Woodbury take a turn after Glenn and Maggie are kidnapped. During their rescue, Andrea gets killed and Michonne takes the Governor’s eye. The survivors from Woodbury join Rick’s group at the prison.
The Walking Dead: The Oath
Paula and Karina’s camp is overrun by a horde of walkers. They escape, but discover the next day that Paula is severely hurt. While trying to find medical supplies, they meet Gale, a doctor who worked at the hospital before the outbreak.
The Walking Dead Season 4
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A virus breaks out at the prison and affects many of the people there — one being Tyreese’s (Chad L. Coleman) girlfriend, Karen. The Governor launches an all-out assault on the prison. He kidnaps Michonne and Hershel and later kills Hershel execution-style (so sad). The Governor is finally killed, but the prison is destroyed and the group is forced to separate to stay alive. Trying to find each other, different groups notice signs for a place called “Terminus,” which seemed cool but they later find out it’s a cannibal group. This season featured some of the most memorable deaths including Hershel, The Governor, Mika — who was stabbed by her sister and turned into a walker — and Lizzie, who Carol had to kill because she was a psychopath.
The Walking Dead Season 5
Beth (Emily Kinney) wakes up in a hospital under the leadership of Dawn, an egomaniacal police officer. Carol (Melissa McBride) comes to the rescue and saves the group from the clenches of Terminus. The group comes across Father Gabriel (it’s about time somebody prays) and spends some time with him in his parish. Carol attempts to rescue Beth but after an accident, finds herself under the same circumstances as Beth, under lock and key in the hospital. Daryl (Norman Reedus) comes to rescue Beth and Carol from the hospital, but Beth doesn’t make it out alive. Meanwhile, we find out that Eugene (Josh McDermitt) lied about having a cure. The group is welcomed to Alexandria, a walled-off suburban community.
The Walking Dead Season 6
The Wolves attack Alexandria after Rick’s attempt to divert walkers goes horribly wrong. Maggie is pregnant with Glenn’s baby. Alexandria becomes overrun with walkers and Deanna gets bitten in the midst of the battle. Carl gets caught in the crossfire of Rick and Ron, literally, and gets shot in the eye. Rick becomes Alexandria’s new leader. The group is intercepted on their way to Hilltop and find themselves face to face with the infamous Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Negan kills two members of Rick’s group — Abraham and…, we don’t know.
The Walking Dead Season 7
Glenn is gone. And Daryl is taken captive by the Saviors. Carol and Morgan are with a new group called the Kingdom, led by Ezekhial (Khary Payton) and his tiger, Shiva. Another group is revealed as Tara wakes up on the beach — Oceanside, an all-woman collective. Daryl eventually escapes, but Negan captures Eugene and kills Deanna’s son. During a standoff at Alexandria, Sasha kills herself in a coffin, hoping to wake up as a walker and take Negan down with her. The Kingdom and Hilltop show up to help Alexandria and drive Negan to retreat.
The Walking Dead: Red Machete
Rick’s machete gets its own six-part origin story.
The Walking Dead Season 8
The communities The Kingdom, Hilltop, and Alexandria rally together against the Saviors to attack their base, the Sanctuary by leading a large group of walkers there. The Sanctuary is overrun, but the Saviors escape with the help of Eugene. While traveling back to Alexandria with a doctor named Siddiq, Carl is bitten by a walker. He decides to take his own life. Rick and Negan fight. Rick wins but spares Negan’s life allowing him to live in Alexandria as a prisoner because of Carl’s words in his letter.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 4
A journalist stumbles upon the crew minus Maddison and Nick and offers to help them get to where they need to go in exchange for their story. Morgan (Lennie James) reappears. We go back and forth from the present to the past as we learn what catastrophic event happened at the baseball stadium. We also bid a tearful goodbye to Nick is killed while seeking revenge. Madison dies in a fire while trying to stop a herd of walkers.
The Walking Dead Season 9
Negan is defeated and his remaining Saviors struggle to adapt to the other communities. George is killed by Maggie, mom to baby Hershel, at Hilltop after a failed assassination attempt. There’s a full-on revolt at Oceanside as some of Negan’s former henchmen end up there. Rick blows up the newly built bridge to save everyone else. He appears to be immediately dead but is rescued by Anne, who takes him away in a helicopter. After Rick’s death, the show jumps 6 years. The Whisperers attack the fair for the reunion of the communities and The Kingdom is destroyed, along with Henry, Tara, and Enid.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 5
Morgan is now the leader and has a thing for Grace (Karen David). Grace isn’t feeling well and thinks it’s radiation poisoning, but she’s actually pregnant with Matthew’s baby. Dwight (Austin Amelio) crosses over from “The Walking Dead” and is looking for his wife. June and John get married. Morgan and the crew are forced to join Virginia’s group. She splits up the crew to spread them out so they can’t cause trouble. Then, Virginia, threatened by Morgan, shoots him and leaves him for dead.
The Walking Dead Season 10
During a walker attack in Alexandria, Negan escapes. He meets up with a former Savior before coming in contact with the Whisperers. He passes their test and aligns himself with Alpha. Carol and Daryl find a way to infiltrate the Whisperers and attempt to take them down. Judith (Cailey Fleming) kills a Whisperer. (Yup, little Judith) and to our surprise, Negan ends Alpha because he was working with Carol the whole time. This is the last time we see Michonne. The last thing we see is Eugene and the crew being surrounded by soldiers of the Commonwealth.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1
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We’re in Nebraska and ten years into the zombie apocalypse. These teens grew up in somewhat normal conditions and have yet to experience what life is like beyond the safety of the Campus Colony at Nebraska State University. We meet the Civic Republic Military on Monument Day, a day commemorating the start of the apocalypse. A group of sisters find out their father is in danger and organize a group of friends to go with them to try to find him. The Civic Republic annihilates the entire Campus Colony.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2
Hope (Alexa Mansour) reunites with her dad. Jennifer (Annet Mahendru) finds out that her mom killed everyone at the Campus Colony and that there’s a secret science project going on. Then, they discover massive amounts of deadly poison gas in the science lab, and the military plans to use it in Portland, Oregon next. Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who rescued Rick on “The Walking Dead,” is now in charge. Percy is killed. Elton loses an arm after a walker attack. In an after-credit scene, a French woman loads a video from a hard drive and we see Jenner from the CDC. After a brief exchange, the woman is shot and quickly turns into a walker that is stronger and faster than any other walker we’ve seen.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 6
Morgan is alive. Virginia sends a bounty hunter after him. Morgan breaks his no-kill vow and kills the bounty hunter. Morgan sets out to rescue his people. Strand gets promoted to ranger after a ruthless move. Dwight finds his wife, Sherry, who is a member of a rebellion against Virginia. John Dorie gets shot by Virginia’s crazy little sister, dies, and is ultimately ended by his now-wife June. We discover that Dakota isn’t Virginia’s sister, but her daughter. June kills Virginia. Alicia and some of the group meet a cult in a bunker who believe that “the end is the beginning.” The leader of the cult is Teddy, a serial killer with a history with John Dorie’s father, John Dorie Sr. The cult releases a series of bombs and it’s a race to shelter everyone.
The Walking Dead Season 11
So, here’s where we’re at now — Season 11 is the final season of “The Walking Dead” and is airing in three parts, scheduled it ultimately conclude in 2022.
Alexandria is low on supplies. Maggie assembles a team to scavenge Meridian, a place she lived while away. While on the supply run, they escape a pack of walkers and run into another group — The Reapers, who try to kill them. The group escapes but is scattered, and Daryl runs into his ex — Leah. Meanwhile, Eugene and his group are being processed by the Commonwealth where he finally meets Stephanie and learns about this extensive network of communities. Alexandria ends up joining the Commonwealth, but Maggie refuses the offer for Hilltop. After a caravan of supplies for the Commonwealth is attacked, distrust between the groups grows. Lance, the deputy governor, questions both Alexandria and Hilltop.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 7
Texas is a radiated wasteland. Strand is the leader of a radiation-free zone. Strand takes in a stray, Will. When he sees that Will has a necklace that belongs to Alicia, he demands that Will lead him to where she is. When they arrive at the location, Alicia isn’t there but left a note for Will that says, “padre.” Morgan is being hunted by bounty hunter Emile’s twin brother, Josiah. Strand rescues June and John Dorie Sr. after their bunker collapses. Strand is under attack by stalkers who are launching radioactive walkers at the tower. Morgan poisons Strand, but he doesn’t die. Dwight and Sherry find Morgan and take him to another group of survivors led by Alicia. We see how Alicia escaped the cult. Alicia tells Morgan that she’s still carrying the virus and will turn into a walker soon. After Alicia finds out that Strand killed Will, she declares war.
