TV Guide Magazine The Walking Dead: The Ultimate Survivor's Guide

THE FANS OF THE WALKING Dead Universe (TWDU, for short) are some of the liveliest out there. And that’s really saying something. It’s been over 10 years since AMC’s intense zombie-apocalypse drama—based on the striking comics written by Robert Kirkman—premiered on Halloween 2010, and the rabid, worldwide fanbase hasn’t decomposed a bit. Instead, its influence has spread like a virus, spawning a talk show, multiple spinoffs, web series, popular video games, merchandise, its own “con” and, soon, a set of feature films starring its first hero, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). And that’s all planned to outlive the flagship series where the onscreen dystopia began, which kick-starts its 11th and final season this August. We couldn’t be more excited about this TV GUIDE MAGAZINE special collector’s issue, which opens with portraits of…

BEFORE AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD premiered on October 31, 2010, the end of the world as we know it had never looked so terrifying, gory or gruesome. Eleven years and more than 150 heart-pounding installments later, The Walking Dead is still a frightening delight to behold—and its universe has grown into a globally beloved franchise. In this fictional world (not unlike our own), based on Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book series, the apocalypse arrived in the form of a plague—shudder at the thought—that in this case turned people into the flesh-eating “undead” after they kicked the bucket. The series chronicles the epic story of a hardened and diverse group of people struggling to stay alive and eke out a meaningful existence. Ever since the show’s hero Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) awoke…

WANT TO HEAR some Walking Dead universe secrets? Well, chief content officer Scott M. Gimple—who knows all after being promoted in 2018 from TWD showrunner to overseer of the franchise—isn’t giving anything away! But during his tenure, the 50-year-old New Jersey native has made some big announcements: the YA limited series The Walking Dead: World Beyond (which joined the flagship and Fear the Walking Dead in 2020), two more series in development plus a set of feature-length films. “I’m trying to tie it all together—be a helpful Sherpa,” Gimple says. “[My job is] helping the showrunners tell their stories in their voice. I didn’t have that as much [while running TWD], and I like being there for them.” He was especially there for those creative talents—Dead’s Angela Kang, Fear’s Ian…

TOTAL DARKNESS envelops the Senoia, Georgia, soundstage housing The Walking Dead’s grandiose prison set. It’s an unspoken rule to always be mindful where you step, as one can easily trip over life-size zombie dummies sprawled on the floor. The weathered walls are thick with blood spatter that’s trickled down to form sticky maroon pools. Welcome to the West Georgia Correctional Facility, the latest battlefield in the gruesome war waged between the alive and the undead when the AMC drama returns tonight for Season 3. “[The prison] has a lot of different personalities—out in the field, inside the cell block and the hallways,” says producer and special-effects guru Greg Nicotero. “It really has aspects that play like a haunted house.” For Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his band of survivors, that haunted house is…

TO ANY OUTSIDER setting foot on the Griffin, Georgia, set of The Walking Dead, the sense of heightened security and secrecy is immediately apparent. Production assistants string giant tarps across the entrance to a small alley, shielding any on-camera action from the eyes of dozens of gawkers who have parked themselves across the street in the 90-degree heat holding homemade signs professing their love for AMC’s hit zombie drama. (“I ♥ Daryl Dixon” is one popular sentiment.) Brief glimpses of the show’s stars elicit the kind of eardrum-tearing screams usually reserved for the latest boy band. It’s a scene that perfectly illustrates the growing influence of The Walking Dead, which burst onto TV in 2010 with 5.3 million total viewers (the network’s highest-rated premiere at the time) and, last March, for…

WELCOME TO THE beginning of the end of the world. Tucked away within eastern Los Angeles, where the 5 and the 10 freeways merge, is the community of El Sereno. Often overshadowed by the nearby downtown skyscrapers and the glittery star power of Hollywood, it’s the oldest neighborhood in the metropolitan area, full of middle-class families and diverse culture. It also happens to be ground zero for the beginning of the zombie apocalypse in Fear the Walking Dead, AMC’s highly anticipated new “companion series” (as the network calls it) to the very popular The Walking Dead. But on this particular sunny July afternoon, the screams of terror that one might expect to hear coming from a show like this one are instead replaced by squeals of joy coming from inside a…