October 31, 2010, marked the start of an incredible wave of premium-tier television and, of course, an obsession with zombies. It was the start of The Walking Dead with the episode Days Gone Bye and the now-iconic image of a lone sheriff riding a horse through an empty city.
Now, knowing that TWD still carries a lot of affection in pop culture, some are reverting back to Days Gone Bye and embarking on a modern binge-fest to experience the iconic story again or for the first time. Here’s why it’s still worthy of your viewing hours.
Legacy holds strong for TWD
Regardless of how viewers dropped off towards the end of its run or if its penchant for killing off main characters waned, The Walking Dead is still upheld as a top-quality entertainment brand. Starting in the comics, it’s successfully landed on TV and is now a popular feature of the online slots at Paddy Power Games.
Truly a dominant force in all areas, there’s The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead Cash Collect, with the latter being launched in November 2022. The draw of the “walkers” and the lead heroes and villains remained strong to the show’s very end. Thus, it was worth making another official slot game.
If not for the characters and setting, TWD can still be looked at as earning its fandom by being so successful despite being so different. It was prestige television without being boutique, as the Los Angeles Times describes, ushering in a huge wave of similar efforts and bigger budgets for TV.
Visual effects and character study makes TWD timeless
In what’s essentially a kind of horror, sci-fi, low-fantasy mix of genres, what’s been The Walking Dead’s primary selling point throughout is its character study. Other big-hit shows of recent years would also pad this with dragons and more adult content, but once the character lines faded or broke, it quickly fell off of a cliff.
Strong character writing and allowing them to drive the story rather than plot points make TWD timeless in itself. Also helping a great deal are the practical effects. Filming in Georgia in the summer certainly posed the team challenges, but some crafty deployments of 3D transfers and, eventually, prosthetics help to keep it all grounded.
Surviving favorites are getting another run-out
In 2023 and 2024, three spinoffs of the original run are getting released. Without trying to give away any spoilers, the shows will send main characters left from Season 11 on concluding storylines. They’ll even include the return of a couple of the most iconic characters of recent TV.
Why these are set to be so intriguing may not even be down to the main characters being followed on more adventures. Instead, it’s all about the villains. TWD might be about zombies becoming the dominant force of the world, but the real threats have always been mostly-conflicted humans.
Overall, even if you just watch up to the start of Season 7 and pick back up a couple of seasons later, The Walking Dead is certainly worth watching if you haven’t done so already – or even if you want to relive those excellent storylines.
Image Credit: Photo by ALEXANDRE LALLEMAND on Unsplash