The gory perils of zombie apocalypse-stricken America are brought from comic book pages to life in AMC’s The Walking Dead. The series is a smashing success, but creating this world has been a truly ambitious undertaking. Each episode boasts a budget of 3 to 4 million dollars and the showrunners hire as many as 200 extras per season to accommodate all their zombie horde needs.
Currently in its 10th season, it is rumored that it will still be a few more years until its conclusion. But even the most successful television shows make mistakes and with 10 years of storylines to juggle, it’s no wonder that The Walking Dead has made a few. Here is a list of 10 continuity errors that have fans scratching their heads.
Carl’s Age
Carl’s rapid aging has been a continuous point of controversy among fans. Between season one and season eight, the audience watched Chandler Riggs go from an adorable 10-year-old boy to an 18-year-old young man, with little to no evidence that eight years have actually passed in the show.
AMC recently confirmed a timeline that verifies that the first eight seasons took place over less than three years, which would make Carl no older than 13 in his final season. His story came to a tragic end in season 8’s midseason premiere “Honor”, but the aging confusion continues with his little sister, Judith.
No One Is Starving
The characters spend a decent amount of time in the show foraging, hunting, and scavenging for supplies — especially food. Rick and his crew go through more ups and downs than a rollercoaster in the early seasons, between living in the caravan, to the farm, to the prison. They eventually have to leave their homes and with them, their primary sources of food.
Despite the constant fear that they will not have enough to go around, they rarely look anything but well-fed and don’t seem to lose weight, regardless of how the story progresses. This may be a bit of a nitpick though since the ethics of underfeeding the cast for a decade are fishy, at best.
How Long It Takes To Turn
A zombie bite is lethal. The exception to the rule is Hershel, who is bitten in the ankle in season three. He is able to be saved because his leg is amputated almost immediately upon infection. The rest of the walker victims aren’t half as lucky, but what happens after the bite is less clear.
It takes anywhere from minutes to hours for someone to turn and this doesn’t seem to have to do with where the person is bitten. Carl is bitten in the chest, but his death drags out for an entire episode, giving Rick and Michonne plenty of time to say goodbye. Others seem to turn almost immediately. More likely, this depends on the needs of the plot and how important the character is to the show.
Judith Grimes
Judith’s constantly changing appearance is even more disconcerting than Carl’s aging. Since season three, Judith Grimes has been played by 18 different actresses — most of them are sets of twins used for her baby years. The constant change of her appearance and age is confusing to say the least, especially when compared to Carl’s age.
The show has taken measures to solve this issue with a significant time jump in season nine. The plot flashed forward a year and a half in the first episode and six more years by episode five. Hopefully, the adorable Cailey Fleming is the last casting call for Judith, if only to give the fans a break.
Lazy Walker Kills
The rules of zombie killing are pretty universal across the board. Kill the head. Guns? Arrows? A really pointy stick? All’s fair in the zombie apocalypse, as long as you go for the head-shot. Decapitation stops the body, but if you don’t want an animated zombie head chomping at your toes, make sure you get the brain, too.
Though most of the zombie kills in the show involve head trauma, some of them have been more on the sloppy side. Zombies have been shot in the face or stabbed through the mouth with no evidence that the brain was actually damaged. Fortunately, the fight scenes are often so fast-paced that this can be overlooked.
Daryl’s Tattoos
One thing that most of the groups have in common is that none of them have a decent tattoo shop setup. Daryl never got the memo. In 2019, Norman Reedus got a small skull tattooed on his hand. Jeffrey Dean Morgan sports the same tat on his upper arm. The makeup department doesn’t cover up Daryl’s new ink in the show, so the audience is left to wonder if they’ve just missed it for the past eight years.
This isn’t Daryl’s first tattoo mix-up. Earlier in the series, he is shown with a large tattoo on the back of his right shoulder. This is another of Reedus’ actual tattoos, so when it appears on the left shoulder in another scene, it’s clearly a mistake in editing.
Gun Issues Galore
For a show that relies so heavily on cool weapons, they aren’t very realistic. The characters constantly tote heavy rifles and high powered guns, swinging them around like they weigh nothing. Even little Carl! Okay, this can be explained to a degree. They’ve been doing it for so long, so they’ve all gotten stronger!
Except there’s also no recoil when they shoot. Watching most of the actors fire the weapons just looks … well, fake. That can be forgiven too, but then the show seems to forget that certain guns only have a certain number of rounds. Let’s not even get into the plot about Eugene making bullets from scratch in season eight.
Walker Decay
As far as anybody knows, Walkers don’t have a shelf life. They remain undead until their brain is damaged, but their bodies do continue to rot. That said, it’s likely that more Walkers stay “alive” than are killed and replaced with fresh bodies and yet seeing a totally skeletal one is rare.
Sure, The Walking Dead showcases tons of “the dead ones” in various states of decay, but after two-plus years of dragging their festering bodies around in the sun, you’d think that more of them would be pretty much completely rotted away. Throw in some humidity and any flesh left on them should be done for in a matter of days, not months.
Endless Fuel In Abandoned Cars
Abandoned cars are a staple of The Walking Dead. It’s not uncommon for characters to find a car with keys in the ignition and a tank full of gas. Daryl has been riding his motorcycle for years, but little acknowledgment to gasoline or oil changes are made when the groups scavenge for supplies.
It makes sense that people would leave their cars in an emergency, but sitting in the hot sun for weeks, months, or even years is not going to do anything good for the engine or the gas tank. Even though modern cars have systems meant to protect the fuel tanks, it is still possible for it to evaporate if the car is left parked in the sun, and ethanol-based gasoline will degrade over time.
How You Get Infected
One of the most glaring issues in the history of The Walking Dead is the lack of clarity on how someone can become infected. Initially, the characters are more careful to avoid getting blood and fluids in their mouths and eyes. Eventually, they learn that the virus is airborne and everybody is already infected. The virus just lays dormant until they die.
Once they know this, they seem way more gung ho about Walker guts splashback and are often seen covered in the stuff with zero consequences. They even slather themselves in it purposely to avoid being noticed. This is all fine and good until season eight, when Negan and the Saviors coat their weapons in zombie guts to infect their enemies. So, how exactly does this work again?
