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Walkers (The Walking Dead TV)

Also called: zombies, lurkers
TVUndeadShamblesA virus2010 to today

The television walkers are the shambling dead of an eleven-season AMC series that ran from 2010 to 2022. The show's central rule is that anyone who dies reanimates, whatever the cause of death. From its third season it drew more viewers aged 18 to 49 than any other series on American television, and it produced six spin-off series.123

⚔️ Battle it
First appeared
2010
Released 2010
Source work
The Walking Dead (2010)
Frank Darabont (developer), AMC
Age rating
TV-MA
Made in
USA
What causes it
A virus
A pathogen is suggested and never confirmed on screen; the fan wiki records it as the Wildfire Virus.
How you become one
Everyone carries the infection dormant, so anyone who dies reanimates; a bite or scratch kills the victim, who then turns.
How it moves
Shambles
They shamble when idle and manage roughly a jogging pace when chasing; noise and scent draw them.
Intelligence
Mindless
Weak spots
  • destroying the brain
  • cremation
  • prompt amputation of a bitten limb

When did it first appear?

Ancient world
Middle Ages
1500 to 1899
1900 to 1967
1968 to 1999
2000 to 2009
2010 to today
2010

Released 2010

field notes

What the sources say

1

Reanimation takes from about three minutes to eight hours after death123

2

They tell the living from the dead by smell and have poor eyesight123

3

Fire, acid and electricity do little; a severed head stays active until the brain is destroyed123

4

Greg Nicotero ran the makeup; extras attended a zombie school and were made up at three levels of detail123

5

The 2014 season premiere drew 17.3 million viewers, a record for a cable series episode123

6

The pilot won an Emmy for prosthetic makeup123

Could you outrun it?

Speed class from how the sources describe it (shambles), not a measurement.

Walkers (The Walking Dead TV) about 3 km/h
You, walking about 5 km/h
You, jogging about 10 km/h
A fit adult sprinting about 24 km/h
A fast cyclist about 37 km/h

Sources

  1. The Walking Dead (TV series) - Wikipedia
  2. Zombies - Walking Dead Wiki (Fandom)
  3. The Walking Dead - Rotten Tomatoes

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.

More from The Walking Dead

Walkers (The Walking Dead comic)The Walking Dead (2003)Walker (The Walking Dead, Telltale)The Walking Dead (2012)Variant walkersThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023)

Same era: 2010 to today

The Infected (The Last of Us TV series)The Last of Us (2023)Liv MooreiZombie (2015)Zombies of All of Us Are DeadAll of Us Are Dead (2022)Zombies of KingdomKingdom (2019)Franchouchou (Zombie Land Saga)Zombie Land Saga (2018)KabaneKabaneri of the Iron Fortress (2016)