- [Narrator] The last decade
has been all kinds of wild, but it hasn't been "The
Walking Dead" wild. Through all the zombies and bloodshed, AMC's hit show has survived for 10 years in the ravaged wasteland
that is cable television. "The Walking Dead" has had
some of the most lopsided and confusing time skips out there, so we've ripped it all
apart and reassembled it into one digestible timeline. Just in time for the
back half of season 10! This one is not gonna cover
most of the spinoff series, "Fear the Walking Dead",
but leave a comment if that's something you
wanna see in the future. (film reel whirring) Pre-outbreak. Back in World War II, Rick Grimes' grandfather was a soldier. Everyday, he'd go to war already believing himself to be a dead man. When the war reached its end, he allowed himself to come back to life. Growing up, Rick would ask
his grandfather questions about his time overseas, and these conversations would later inform Rick's survival in the apocalypse. Merle and Daryl Dixon don't
have such role models. They lose their mother in a house fire, leaving them alone with
their abusive father. He's so neglectful that
he doesn't even notice when Daryl disappears into
the woods for nine days. At last, Merle has enough and moves out, leaving Daryl as the sole
focus of their father's abuse. The two brothers rekindle
their relationship later and lead a low life of
delinquency and substance abuse. Over 150 years before
the zombie apocalypse, the Greene family bought a farm. It's been in the family for generations and it's now run by Hershel Greene. He's a bumbling alcoholic, but he quits drinking the day
his daughter Maggie is born. His first wife, Josephine, passes away, so he remarries Annette and they have a daughter together named Beth. Also, Annette has a
son named Shawn but he, like so many Walking Dead
characters, doesn't really matter. Last on the main character
backstory roster, we have Michonne. She lives with her boyfriend
Mike and their son, Andre, and probably collects rainbow cat statues. 131 days before the global outbreak, the CDC catches the first
case of the zombie virus. They codename it Wildfire
and begin to study its reanimating effects
on the human brain. Elsewhere, Rick has become a cop and lives in Georgia with his
wife Lori and his son Carl. He and his son go on walks that Carl would remember
for his whole life. In 2010, while out on patrol
with his partner Shane, Rick gets shot and falls into a coma. Shane delivers the bad news to Lori, then continues to keep an eye on her and Carl in Rick's absence. As the zombie outbreak spreads, there are reports of inhuman
aggression in five states. In due time, it reaches
the rest of the country. Day zero to Day 83: Day's Gone By. The infection goes global. Shane hurries back to the hospital to collect Rick's comatose body, but the military beats him to it. They're shooting survivors on sight, so Shane barricades
the door to Rick's room and dips out of there. He picks up Lori and Carl and they hoof it toward a refugee camp, but the highway there
is in total gridlock. As Shane and Lori get out to investigate, the military rains napalm down on Atlanta. The firebombing kills all
the evacuated patients of Grady Memorial
Hospital who were outside. With nowhere else to go,
Shane and the crew set up shop in the quarry outside the city. They're joined by Carol
Peletier and her family. Shane and Lore figure that Rick is dead, so somewhere along the line,
they start sleeping together. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Lydia and her parents hole
up in an emergency shelter. Weeks go by without
anybody coming for them. Tensions escalate until
Lydia's mom loses her mind, kills her husband, then takes
off with their daughter. Around this time, Michonne, Andre, Mike, and his friend Terry take
refuge at a survivors' camp too. It gets raided by walkers who
kill everyone but Michonne. She blames Mike and
Terry for Andre's death, so she slices off their
arms and jaws with a katana and employs them as zombie shields. Then she loses her mind and
takes off into the wilderness. Nearly two months after
the outbreak began, Rick finally wakes up. He is just the most confused
that anyone has ever been. Don't dead, open inside,
now what does that mean? After stumbling out of the hospital, he meets Morgan and Duane Jones. They fill him in on the total
hellscape that is the world, oh, and there are zombies here now. The three load up on guns
from the police station and part ways, with
Rick heading for Atlanta to look for his family. He doesn't find them at first, but he does find a sickass tank. Then he finds himself stuck
inside it, trapped by walkers. Fortunately another survivor, Glenn, guides him out by radio, and Rick joins up with Glenn's group. - [Glen] Hey dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there? - [Narrator] They're part
of the quarry group too, so they deliver Rick back to his family and it's a happy ending all around, in like, you know, the micro-sense. In the big picture, the camp
gets overrun by walkers, killing some of the survivors, including Carol's
abusive husband, oh well. The surviving survivors head for the Center of Disease Control to get some safety and sanctuary. Well, they arrive, and Dr. Jenner has no safety and no sanctuary at all. In fact, he tells Rick
that they're all infected and the world is forfeit, and then he blows the
whole place to smithereens. With no idea what lies ahead, the survivors hit the road once again. As the group searches for
supplies on a deserted highway, a swarm of walkers suddenly ambushes them. Sophia flees into the woods and vanishes, so the others go out looking for her. While Carl's searching, a farmhand named Otis
accidentally shoots him. Rick and the others rush Carl back to Hershel's farm for medical care. The rest of the group
relocates there as well as the hunt for Sophia continues. Little do they know, they
don't have to look far; Otis already found her
turned into a walker and stowed her away in the barn. On a separate supply run, Shane kills Otis and then
proceeds to lose his mind over it, while Glenn and Maggie Greene hook up. Rick finds out that Lori
has been sleeping with Shane and is now pregnant with his baby. After Rick and Shane butt heads over that, Sophia's containment in the barn, and their treatment of
a hostage named Randall, Shane finally pulls a gun on Rick. Rick is forced to kill his old friend, then Carl puts down
Shane's reanimated corpse. The gunshot attracts a horde of walkers which demolishes the Greene family farm and sends our group astray. Bad timing, too; winter is coming. Day 84 to Day 321: Rise of the Governor. After being separated from the pack, Andrea meets Michonne, who's
still prowling the wild. The two of them stick
it out for the season, while the rest of the survivors
move from place to place. Between their dwindling
supplies and Lori's pregnancy, they decide to reinhabit an old prison. While clearing out the premises, Hershel gets bitten by a walker
and Rick amputates his leg. That's gonna put a damper
on Spaghetti Tuesdays. They also meet this prisoner ensemble who don't really matter and
all die within a few weeks. One of them does succeed in
luring a swarm of walkers into the prison, resulting in
the deaths of Lori and T-Dog. Maggie is able to perform
a C-section on Lori, saving baby Judith. Before Lori zombifies, Carl shoots her. After learning of Lori's demise, Rick loses his mind for a while as he does some stuff
and also some things. Simultaneously, Andrea
and Michonne come upon a full town of survivors called Woodbury, run by a man known as the Governor. Merle has been there all this time, now sporting a bladed prosthetic arm and working as the Governor's henchman. Michonne finds all that
to be pretty suspicious, but Andrea isn't too worried. After all, the Governor
isn't overtly evil, I mean, maybe if he had
an eye patch or something it would drive the point
home, but hey, he seems okay? It's not like he keeps
his zombified daughter in a dungeon or anything. Unconvinced, Michonne skips town. Merle and some other red
shirts hunt her down, but instead come upon Glenn and Maggie. Michonne sees them get captured and reports back to Rick at the prison. On the rescue mission, Michonne
diverges from the squad and finds the Governor's
zombified daughter in the dungeon, and then Governor finds her. They fight, the Governor loses an eye and yes, also loses his mind. Okay, now I'm convinced that he's evil. After the invasion of Woodbury, the Governor campaigns
to destroy Rick's group. Andrea doesn't want to see
her old crew get killed, so she acts as a mediator
and arranges a meeting so the two sides can talk
out their differences. The Governor gives Rick a
chance to surrender Michonne and prevent the war, but he has
no plans to honor that deal. When Andrea learns about the
Governor's true intentions, she tries to warn Rick's group, but the Governor imprisons her. He leads an army to the prison, but Rick's group ambushes them, scaring away most of the survivors. With his numbers dwindling,
the Governor flees. But by the time the group gets to Andrea, she's already been bitten. Michonne stays with her as she dies and, in her honor, Rick absorbs
the people of Woodbury into their community, including
Tyreese and Sasha Williams. Day 321 to day 554: Life Among Them. After his failure at the prison, the Governor's followers abandon him. He wanders aimlessly for
two episodes of filler before meeting Tara
Chambler and her family. Using his sparkling personality, he is able to convince them to once again, attack the prison. Morgan Jones is also alone, having lost his mind
after the death of Duane. He meets a man named Eastman
and his goat Tabitha, who teach him the art of Aikido. Yes, yes, this happened. A couple months pass back at the prison, and Rick considers giving it all up and living a simple life as a farmer. His group and the people of Woodbury enjoy a period of harmony
until approximately the 500th day of the
apocalypse in 2011-2012. They introduce a
questionnaire that they use to recruit new survivors: how
many walkers have you killed, how many people, and why? The Governor returns for a
second round of invasion, this time taking Michonne
and Hershel hostage. Rick attempts to negotiate their return, but the Governor decides
that he's too far gone and decapitates the farmer. Now Christmas is ruined forever. The ensuing battle demolishes the prison and tears the group asunder. Rick and Michonne stay back
to finish off the Governor, then unite with Carl and
his bucket of pudding. Over the next week, everyone
has their own solo quests: Carol goes all "Of Mice and
Men" on a psychotic little girl, Daryl and Beth get blasted on
moonshine and commit arson, Rick rips a guy's throat out, and Maggie, Sasha, Bob, Glenn and Tara meet Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. Those three are on a
mission to save the world. Spoilers, it doesn't work out. Also, Beth gets kidnapped by cops and wakes up in a hospital
with "Everybody Hates Chris". All roads lead them to Terminus, a commune of cannibals that
holds them hostage in a boxcar. The termites are all dead and gone in just a few episodes though,
since, take it away, Rick. - You're with the wrong people. - [Narrator] Morgan is still kicking it with Eastman and Tabitha. Both are killed by walkers though, sending Morgan off on a
journey to find his new kin. After dispatching the cannibals
and meeting Father Gabriel, the group resumes their search for Beth. The trail leads them to
Grady Memorial Hospital, but their hostage trade goes
awry and Beth ends up dead. Tyreese follows her lead, sinking the group to
their lowest point yet. Just when it seems that, yes, in fact. - We are the walking dead. - [Narrator] Rick and his
friends are saved by Aaron. He delivers them to the
Alexandria Safe Zone, a fortified town that
has been able to survive this year and a half of apocalypse. Spoilers, it doesn't work out. Day 584 to 628: All-Out War. About a month goes by as the survivors get settled in Alexandria. Carl heals up just fine
from his stray gunshot wound and starts rocking a sick eye bandage, while Rick and Michonne shack
up in the best relationship since Glenn and Maggie. Sorry, Abrasita and Bethyl fans. While out on a supply run,
Daryl and Rick meet Jesus, a member of the
neighboring Hilltop Colony. He warns them about a rival
faction called the Saviors. They've got this whole
grasshoppers from "A Bug's Life" deal going on with the Hilltop, where they oppress them and
take half their supplies in exchange for not squashing them. So, Jesus enlists Flick, I mean Rick, and his gang of circus
bugs to help fight back. Rick and his team are used
to this kind of thing, so they raid a Savior outpost. During the assault, Carol burns a whole bunch of people alive and loses her mind over it. She wanders off on her
own, unwilling to be part of the cycle of violence any longer. She picked a good time, too, because the Saviors find
out about the outpost and they are pissed. Which c'mon, is a little justified given that Rick slaughtered
their people in cold blood. They blockade Rick and the entire A-Team so they can't get to the Hilltop Colony, herding them into a clearing. The king of the Saviors, Negan, has been waiting for them there, and he's got his
head-bludgeoning pants on. To make a statement, he
readies his bat Lucille, counts an eenie-meenie-miney-mo,
and kills. I've been your host, Marcus, and be sure to subscribe to. Nah, just kidding. He kills Glenn and Abraham
and it's like super gross. The group is traumatized and agree to join Negan's
grasshopper program. After, like, a whole entire week of that, Michonne declares that they can't live under the thumb of the Saviors any longer, so she convinces Rick
to start a rebellion. Meanwhile, Carol and
Morgan discover a community called the Kingdom, ruled by
the Quixotic King Ezekiel, while Tara stumbles upon Oceanside. Also Heath disappears to do a
24 spinoff and never returns. He probably died along with that show. Rick tries to appeal to the other colonies to help in the war, but no one bites. Even the Scavengers, these
weird trash-dwelling hipsters with their own language are
already in cahoots with Negan. Side note, if you invent your own language after just two years of the apocalypse you probably had issues
before the zombies showed up. Anyway, Spencer tries
to collude with Negan, since Rick's reign over Alexandria hasn't been very good for his family. Negan sees through it and kills him, prompting Rosita to shoot at Negan. She only hits Lucille,
but inadvertently reveals that Eugene is able to make bullets. The Saviors snag him for
their own nefarious means. Rosita is still unhappy with
how alive Negan is though, so she teams up with Sasha and they sneak into the Sanctuary. Sasha gets captured and imprisoned, but she convinces Eugene to help her out. He slips her a cyanide pill, turning her into a zombie
bomb that blows up on Negan. The attempt is unsuccessful, but it gives the Alexandrians
the opportunity to strike. Negan shuts that operation
down pretty quickly, though. He's on the verge of killing Carl when the Kingdom and Hilltop
make their dramatic entrances! Maybe Shiva coulda picked a
better person to maul to death, but you know, still cool. After that long, no good, very bad week, the survivors call for all-out war. The plan is to take out more
Savior outposts and then, eventually attack the Sanctuary head on. Maggie takes over as leader
of the Hillside Colony, and begins conferring with Georgie. She's from a sophisticated community with technological advancements far beyond our militia's means. Elsewhere, the Kingdom
suffers some great losses. But no death hits harder than Carl's. He doesn't even die in war; he gets bitten while
rescuing Siddiq from walkers. The poor kid is only like 13. (audience gasps) - [Audience] Ooh. - [Narrator] Apparently. But Carl's legacy is
that there's more to life than going to war again
and again and again. That resonates with Rick as the militia and the Saviors enter their final battle. Eugene finally makes himself useful and sabotages the Saviors'
bullets, crippling them. Then, Oceanside arrives to clear them out. Elsewhere, Rick and
Negan fight mano y mano. Negan has him on the ropes, but Rick tricks him and slits his throat. Remembering Carl's last
wishes, Rick spares Negan. All in all, the all-out war
lasted about seven days. Really, this whole Negan debacle happened over the course of a month and they drew it out for two seasons. Two whole seasons. Day 628 to Day 1,448: The Bridge. About a year after the war, Lydia and her mother meet
Beta in an abandoned hospital. They have a walker-slaughtering meet-cute, inspiring them to start The Whisperers. These stinky nomads wear flesh masks and live amongst the zombies in nature! Morgan takes this time to
bug off into the wilderness, then ends up in "Fear the
Walking Dead" and ruins it. Elsewhere, the remaining
Saviors have joined the militia under Daryl's watch, but it isn't all peaches
and cream between them. Negan is still alive, just
hanging out in a cell. Folks like Maggie and Daryl are unhappy with Rick's choice to spare him, while the Saviors view it as a sign that the war is not over. Rick is oblivious to all that, though; he's just determined to
live up to Carl's dream. He leads the construction of a bridge that will quicken the travel
between the communities. No one really wants to make it, but they go along with the plan because, I don't know, do you
want to say no to Rick? Remember that one time he ripped out that guy's throat with his teeth? But Maggie has a kid of her
own now, little Hershel Rhee, and she decides that enough is enough. She has Daryl distract Rick so that she can break into Negan's cell and give him the old Glenn treatment. Once she sees the sad, sorry
state that Negan is in, she also chooses to spare him. Meanwhile, Rick stumbles
upon a herd of walkers heading straight for the community! And oh god, they can use the
bridge as a direct route there! What a horrible and unforeseen
consequence of connectivity! To save his family, Rick blows the bridge while he's still on it. From their point of view, it
looks like he blew up with it, but really he just flies off and floats a little bit downstream. Rick washes up on a nearby shore, conveniently in the same
spot that the Trash Queen is calling for an airlift. The helicopter drops down
and flies them both away to the wonderful land of
spin-off movie trilogies. For months, Daryl and Michonne
scrounge the riverbank for hide or hair of Rick. Alas, they only find his gun. During this vulnerable time, Michonne receives a visit
from her old friend Jocelyn. She welcomes her into Alexandria, but finds that Jocelyn has been raising a savage child army. That's weird, she didn't used to do that. To protect Judith from a
Lord of the Flies nightmare, Michonne slaughters the kids, and gets so duly traumatized that she locks down
Alexandria's walls completely. Day 1,448 to Day 3,607: The Whisperer War. The communities exist
like this for six years. Over that time, the
Kingdom begins to crumble, Daryl heads off into the
wilderness with a dog, Maggie goes on sabbatical with Georgie, and Michonne gives birth
to Rick's bastard child, so, good times all around! By the way, six years is
nearly twice the amount of time that's passed in the
rest of the show so far. To help fix up the Kingdom's
decaying infrastructure and rekindle the alliance
between the communities, Ezekiel begins to plan a fair. The only question is
whether or not Michonne will let Alexandria participate. Well, Judith is all grown up now and the little asskicker decides it's time to open
Alexandria's doors again. She invites newbies Connie,
Kelly, Magna, Yumiko, and Luke to stay in town, much
to Michonne's chagrin. While she relocates them
to the Hilltop Colony, recently-re-civilized Daryl and his posse cross paths with the Whisperers. They kill Jesus, but the
team takes a captive, Alpha's daughter, Lydia. In their custody, Lydia bonds with Henry and decides to give regular life a chance. Alpha isn't pleased with that decision. She infiltrates the Kingdom's fair and kidnaps Siddiq, Tara, Enid, Henry, and seven random other people, then decapitates them
before Siddiq's very eyes. He loses his mind so hard
that he represses the fact that he was held down
by one of her lackeys, a brand new face in the Whisperer clan. Alpha mounts the heads on pikes, then she shows Daryl
the massive nuclear bomb of a walker horde that the
Whisperers have been building. Months go by and eventually
Alexandria welcomes a new survivor named Dante, who is totally normal and
not even suspicious at all. He joins Siddiq in the infirmary. Not long after that,
the Kingdom collapses, and Carol and Ezekiel's
romance breaks down with it. Several more months pass, bringing us to approximately
Day 3,600, or year 10. The remaining communities
have banded together in a coalition to stop any future Negans or Governors or Alphas. Rosita gives birth to
hers and Siddiq's baby, a little girl named Coco. At long last we have a child with two living parents on the show! After a day of training, Judith discovers a Whisperer
mask washed up on the beach. It sends everyone into a frenzy, but no one quite as much as Carol. She's out for revenge after Henry's death, so she loses her mind,
starts popping pills and hallucinates her dead kids. The Whisperers employ other
psychological warfare tactics, like a recurring onslaught of walkers and. - [Woody] Somebody's poisoned waterhole. - [Narrator] Totally Normal Guy Dante sabotages the filtration system, causing a chunk of
Alexandrians to get sick. When Siddiq finally figures
out what's going on, Dante kills him. Oh shoot, sorry Coco, I spoke too soon. Aaron has been having secret meetings with a Whisperer named Mary, and she reveals the
location of Alpha's horde. So, while Michonne sets
sail for a naval base to retrieve supplies for the war, Daryl and Carol lead a team
of warriors toward the horde. When they arrive at the
spot, it's completely barren, except for Alpha. Carol chases her into a dark shaft, and the rest of the group follow her down. Now, trapped at the bottom of a cave, the survivors face a
massive herd of walkers with their backs against the wall. And that's where "The
Walking Dead" leaves off. What are your predictions
for the rest of season 10? Let us know in the comments. I've been your host, Marcus, and be sure to subscribe to Cinematica for more timelines just like this one. Thanks for watching.
