Plot Synopsis

Following a zombie apocalypse, Officer Rick Grimes leads his family and a few other survivors as they fight off death on a daily basis while constantly searching for a safe and secure home. As Rick struggles to keep his family alive, he discovers that the overwhelming fear of the survivors can be far more dangerous than the mindless walkers roaming the earth, sending many to the lowest depths of human cruelty. People in his group are dying -- but they've picked up a few more survivors along the way -- and the walkers are growing in numbers while being hungrier than ever. After their farm burned down, Rick decided to take charge of the group on his own, and they head off to a maximum security prison to set up a new home.

In Season 3, which premiered on October 14, 2012, the group's resources were dwindling -- their food resources as well as their emotional, spiritual and physical resources -- and they had to make important decisions about who gets to survive. Plus, they encountered Woodbury, one of the first functioning, post-zombie apocalypse communities, led by The Governor. Woodbury seemed like Utopia on the surface, but there was something sinister underneath, which made the people of Woodbury Rick's biggest threat -- especially because humans don't follow a prescribed set of rules like the walkers. After taking a two-month break, THE WALKING DEAD returned for its Season 3 midseason premiere on Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 9pm ET, with The Governor and Rick fighting for control of the prison, while new prison guests raised concerns. Plus, a new character from the comic book was introduced.

THE WALKING DEAD returned for its fourth season on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. The 16-episode season of the series aired in two-parts, with the first eight hours kicking off October 13th and returning February 9, 2014 with the final eight episodes. Season 4 opened with Rick and the group having fostered a thriving community in the safe haven of the prison during the past six months (after the events in the finale of the previous season), but their happiness is short-lived, because walkers and outside threats are no match for danger brewing inside the fences. The group's home and new way of life will be thoroughly tested, and their struggle to survive has never been so perilous. THE WALKING DEAD returned for its Season 4 midseason premiere on Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC, with the first of eight new episodes. In the first episode back, which picked up with the fallout after the prison was destroyed, Rick dealt with old wounds, while the prison residents considered if survival would be enough. In the Season 4 finale, the group struggles to survive as many paths collide, and Rick faces sheer brutality. Tonight's episode ends with a cliffhanger -- the first time in the show's history -- pushing the program in a new direction for next season.

Season 5 of THE WALKING DEAD premiered on Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. The season opener, "No Sanctuary," which was written by Scott M. Gimple and directed by Greg Nicotero, reveals the true motives of the Terminans as Rick and the group find themselves in a vulnerable situation. As in previous seasons, the series' fifth season of 16 episodes will air in two parts, with the first eight hours kicking off October 12 and the final eight episodes returning February 8, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC, immediately following an all-day marathon of encore episodes from Seasons 4 & 5. In the Season 5 Winter premiere, "What Happened and What's Going On," after facing all of the recent trials, a slight detour may offer the solution that the group has been seeking.

The sixth season of THE WALKING DEAD premiered Sunday, October 11, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT, with an extended 90-minute episode immediately following an all-day (4am-9pm) encore presentation of Season 5. As in previous seasons, the show's sixth season of 16 episodes will air in two parts, with the first eight episodes kicking off October 11 and the final eight returning February 2016. In the season opener, "First Time Again," Rick and the others have a difficult time assimilating into Alexandria; meanwhile, a new threat arises. THE WALKING DEAD returned for the second half of Season 6 on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC, immediately following an encore presentation of the first half of the sixth season from Noon-9pm. In the mid-season premiere, "No Way Out," Rick and the other survivors are scared and outnumbered now that walkers have shown up inside the gates of Alexandria.

THE WALKING DEAD Season 7 premiered on Sunday, October 23, 2016 from 9-10:05pm ET/PT on AMC, immediately following an encore presentation of the sixth season from 3:30am-9pm. As in previous seasons, the show's seventh season of 16 episodes airs in two parts, with the first eight episodes kicking off October 23 and the final eight returning February 2017. In the 65-minute season opener, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," as the members of the group remain helpless, Negan takes action that will forever haunt those who survive. Up until this point, the group has lived through conflicts, disease, hunger, scores of the undead, tragedy, betrayal, and unthinkable loss. Through this, they've become formidable. Powerful. Unstoppable. To start Season 7 that power is taken away. They had found safety and stability. They had created a home. They thought the world was theirs. They thought they knew the world. They were wrong. The first half of Season 7 sees the group fractured, broken, bereaved, and picking up the pieces while living under the thumb of oppression. Negan will have successfully brought the survivors under his control, brutally convincing them to live under his rules with a deadly and horrific example of what happens if they don't. Other characters are unaware of what's happened, but have become separated from the group either by incident or choice -- they will learn that they can't escape this new turn of their world, either. This half season is about these characters starting over. The overall theme of the season is beginning again. The world isn't what they thought it was. It's bigger and it's even more dangerous. Season 7 introduces new cast member Ezekiel (Khary Payton). Ezekiel is King. Of the Kingdom. With a tiger. While intellectually curious and majestically grandiose, Ezekiel is not naive to the violence and atrocities of this world, and truly wants to help others thrive. On Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT, AMC debuted the mid-season premiere of THE WALKING DEAD, immediately following an all-day marathon (4:25am-9pm) of encore episodes from Seasons 6 and 7. The first half of Season 7 saw Rick and the group broken by Negan, forced to fall under his will and brutally convinced to live under his rules. The second half of the season focuses on preparing for war and gathering the supplies and numbers to take Negan down once and for all. Rick's group finds out yet again that the world isn't what they thought it was. It's much bigger than anything they've seen so far. While they have a singular purpose -- to defeat Negan -- it won't come easy. More importantly, victory will require more than Alexandria. They need the numbers of the Kingdom and the Hilltop, but, similar to how Rick felt, Ezekiel and Gregory do not want bloodshed. To convince them otherwise will take more than speeches. The lengths Rick and the group will have to go to in order to find weapons, food and new fighters is nothing short of remarkable. Rick and the group tested will be test in ways as never before. There will be treachery, but Rick is confident as he sees his group and many others band together with the common goal of taking down Negan. But no amount of planning will prepare the group for all-out war with Negan and his army. In the mid-season premiere, "Rock in the Road," Rick and the group are led to a new community where they are introduced to its inhabitants and ruler. A familiar face resurfaces.

Season 8 of THE WALKING DEAD premiered on Sunday, October 22, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT, as AMC debuted the show's 100th episode. Last season, Rick and his group of survivors were confronted with their deadliest challenge yet. With the comfort of Alexandria, they let their guard down, only to be reminded how brutal the world they live in can be. The introduction of Negan and the Saviors broke our group. Feeling powerless under Negan's rules and demands, Rick advocated the group play along. But seeing that Negan couldn't be reasoned with, Rick began rallying together other communities affected by the Saviors. And with the support of the Hilltop and Kingdom, they finally have enough fire power to contest the Saviors. This year, Rick brings "All Out War" to Negan and his forces. The Saviors are larger, better-equipped, and ruthless -- but Rick and the unified communities are fighting for the promise of a brighter future. The battle lines are drawn as they launch into a kinetic, action-packed offensive. Up until now, survival has been the focus of Rick and our group, but it's not enough. They have to fight to take back their freedom so that they can live. So that they can rebuild. As with any battle, there will be losses. Casualties. But with Rick leading the Alexandrian forces, Maggie leading the Hilltop, and King Ezekiel leading the Kingdom -- Negan and the Saviors' grip on this world may finally be coming to an end. AMC premiered the second half of Season 8 THE WALKING DEAD on Sunday February 25, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT. All out war has had a devastating impact on every person involved. The communities themselves are fractured. Alexandria has been destroyed, the Hilltop finds themselves pinned, and the Kingdom is shattered -- half of them dead, the other half controlled by the Saviors. At the very center -- Rick, having been distracted by the conflict, has just returned home to learn that Carl, who heroically shepherded the Alexandrians to safety during Negan's attack, has been bitten by a walker. Once his sole motivation in this otherwise stark existence, Rick is forced to deal with this reality. Carl has always been a beacon of hope, a symbol for the remaining thread of humanity -- lessons that the survivors around him would be wise to take with them as this war surges onward. But Rick isn't the only person who's living in peril. Aaron and Enid are in a dire situation at Oceanside -- unclear if they're in friendly territory, or if they've just made new enemies. Father Gabriel will do his part in attempting to smuggle Dr. Carson safely back to the Hilltop and a pregnant Maggie is wrestling with the many moral gray areas that come with leadership during war. In a standoff with the Saviors, she must decide how to proceed with the dozens of POW lives she's currently in control of, as well as new complications that come with being a leader. In addition to the war, Negan continues to deal with struggles within his ranks as workers, traitors, and others' thirst for power cause conflict at the Sanctuary. Having gifted the Saviors a major victory, Eugene's loyalty is repeatedly tested as new obstacles present themselves. As all-out-war consumes us, the line between good and evil continues to blur. People fighting for what they believe in. Everybody working together for something bigger -- to feel safe and have a world worth living in.

The ninth season of THE WALKING DEAD premiered on Sunday, October 7, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. Lauren Ridloff, who is deaf herself, recurs in the new season as Connie, the series' first deaf character. Plus, Jon Bernthal reprises his role as Shane during the new season. Previous showrunner Scott M. Gimple was elevated to Chief Content Officer, overseeing the entire DEAD television universe, including THE WALKING DEAD, FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, and potential brand extensions on a variety of platforms; and Angela Kang, who has been a writer on the show since 2011 and co-executive producer since 2013, is being promoted by Gimple to executive producer and showrunner of THE WALKING DEAD starting with Season 9. Last season brought the culmination of "All Out War," which pitted Rick Grimes and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their cunning leader, Negan. With Negan's life in his hands, Rick had a character-defining choice in front of him. By making the unilateral decision to spare Negan, Rick upheld the values his late son, Carl, championed in order to build for the future, but created conflict within his group. Now, it's a year and a half after the end of the war, and the survivors are rebuilding civilization under Rick's steadfast leadership. It is a time of relative peace among the communities as they work together, looking to the past to forge the future, but the world they knew is rapidly changing as man-made structures continue to degrade, and nature takes over, changing the landscape and creating new challenges for our survivors. As time passes, the communities confront unexpected obstacles, danger, and of course, walkers, but nothing quite prepares them for the formidable force they are about to encounter, which threatens the very idea of civilization that our survivors have worked so hard to build. After nearly a three-month break, THE WALKING DEAD returned for its Season 9 winter premiere on Sunday, February 9, 2019 from 9-10:14pm ET/PT on AMC, immediately following an all-day marathon (6am-9pm) of encore episodes for the eighth and ninth seasons. The second half of Season 9 finds the groups of survivors -- both old and new -- continuing to deal with the impact of events that took place during the six years that have passed. Since the disappearance of Rick, many of these characters have become strangers to each other, and in some ways, strangers to themselves. What they do know is that they are in undeniable danger. They will soon realize the world just beyond does not operate as they thought. The group's rules and ways of survival no longer guarantee their safety. A whole new threat has crossed their paths, and they soon discover it's unlike any threat they have encountered or endured before. The group will start to question what they think they see. What may appear to be normal in this post-apocalyptic world could actually be more disturbing and terrifying than when the apocalypse first broke out. All that is certain is the stakes are high and numerous. In the mid-season debut, "Adaptation," the group unmasks a disturbing and dangerous new threat, and an escaped captive revisits his past.

Season 10 of THE WALKING DEAD premiered on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. It is now Spring, a few months after the end of Season 9, when our group of survivors dared to cross into Whisperer territory during the harsh winter. The collected communities are still dealing with the after effects of Alpha's horrific display of power, reluctantly respecting the new borderlines being imposed on them, all while organizing themselves into a militia-style fighting force, preparing for a battle that may be unavoidable. But the Whisperers are a threat unlike any they have ever faced. Backed by a massive horde of the dead it is seemingly a fight they cannot win. The question of what to do and the fear it breeds will infect the communities and give rise to paranoia, propaganda, secret agendas, and infighting that will test them as individuals and as a society. The very idea of whether civilization can survive in a world filled with the dead hangs in the balance. THE WALKING DEAD returned for its Season 10 winter premiere on Sunday, February 23, 2020 from 9-10:05pm ET/PT on AMC, immediately following an all-day marathon (Noon-9pm) of encore episodes from the tenth season. THE WALKING DEAD Returns to find the group of survivors trapped. Some in the confines of a cave filled with walkers, while others are caught in a spiral of suspicion and grief. All orchestrated at the hand of Alpha, who continues to prove the Whisperers are always watching, and one step ahead of the communities. Which includes the new and potentially deadly threat of having added Negan to their ranks. Through this conflict and all they've lost, a few still hold onto hope, especially Eugene, who believes the mysterious voice he spoke with on the radio may lead to their world getting bigger once again. But with the Whisperer War upon them, the collective communities must come together and possibly sacrifice all they have to find a way to silence the Whispers once and for all. Otherwise Alpha will ensure they face a certain doom. Returning for the final six episodes of its extended tenth season, THE WALKING DEAD's mid-season premiere dropped on AMC+ on Sunday, February 21, 2021 with the linear television debut one week later on Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. Before the break, viewers witnessed the fall of Alpha and the end of the Whisperers War. The Kingdom had fallen, Hilltop was virtually destroyed and Alexandria abandoned to prepare for final battle. The survivors were trapped and separated from one another. Yet, when faced with almost certain death, they rallied together to fight, killing Beta and eliminating the threat of the horde. Now, in these six new episodes, the survivors are trying to pick themselves up by their bootstraps following the destruction the Whisperers left in their wake. The years of struggle weigh upon them as past traumas surface, exposing their more vulnerable sides. As they question the state of humanity, the state of their collective community, and the states of their minds, will they find the inner strength to persevere with their lives, friendships, and group intact?

The eleventh and final season of THE WALKING DEAD debuted on Sunday, August 15, 2021 on AMC+, with the linear television debut of the season opener one week later on Sunday, August 22, 2021 at 9pm ET/PT on AMC. Alexandria is severely compromised; left a former shell of the home it once was from the carnage and devastation left behind by the Whisperers. Now all who live in Alexandria struggle to refortify it and feed its increasing number of residents, which include the survivors from the fall of the Kingdom and the burning of Hilltop; along with Maggie and her new group, the Wardens. Alexandria has more people than it can manage to feed and protect. Their situation is dire as tensions heat up over past events and self-preservation rises to the surface within the ravaged walls. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to those at Alexandria, Eugene, Ezekiel, Yumiko, and Princess are still being held captive by mysterious soldiers who are members of a larger and unforthcoming group. THE WALKING DEAD will end with an expanded two-year eleventh season that will span 24 episodes. After a four-month break, THE WALKING DEAD returned with more Season 11 episodes on Sunday, February 13, 2022 on AMC+. In the winter premiere, "No Other Way," Daryl, Maggie, Gabriel, Negan and Elijah battle the Reapers for food; Aaron and the Alexandrians must survive a storm.

On Sunday, October 2, 2022 on AMC and AMC+, Season 11 of THE WALKING DEAD returned for its final eight episodes. At 9pm, AMC airs the mid-season premiere, and earlier in the day AMC+ releases the same episode plus an additional installment. On the heels of the oppressive presence of locusts, an even greater force is bearing down on every single member of each community. With Commonwealth flags raised at Hilltop, Alexandria, and Oceanside, there's no time to strategize for those on the road. It's a race against the clock to stay alive and extract those still living in the Commonwealth before Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) can execute his revenge. Inside the Commonwealth, Connie's (Lauren Ridloff) article has created more chaos than planned. By exposing the Milton's (Laila Robbins) corruption, their hope to create a better, more equal, life for all may instead put everyone at risk. With the vast debt our group owes and no other viable place to live, simply leaving has never been an option. But if their next move fails, staying won't be an option either. What they're about to embark on will only invite more danger with massive consequences. The clock is ticking for our heroes inside the Commonwealth as well. As each group continues to get caught in uncontrollable situations, threats lurk around every corner, dead and alive. The looming pressure is cresting towards a day of reckoning for all. Will the sum of their individual journeys cumulate into one, or divide them forever? The fight for a future continues to be exasperated by the ominous population of walkers. Not all will survive, but for some, the walking dead lives on.
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On Sunday, November 20, 2022 from 9-10:30pm ET/PT, AMC and AMC+ premiered the series finale of THE WALKING DEAD, preceded by a red carpet special at 8:30pm:

"Red Carpet Live" (8:30pm): This half-hour special features interviews with the cast and producers of "The Walking Dead" before the series finale; hosted by Chris Hardwick and featuring Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride and many more

"Rest in Peace" (9-10:30pm): Daryl and Carol rush Judith to the hospital; Rosita, Eugene, and Gabriel search for Coco; Maggie and Negan take arms against Pamela; the heroes assemble for one last stand.