Series overview[edit]
Main article: List of The Walking Dead episodes
Based on the comic book series of the same name, The Walking Dead tells the story of a small group of survivors living in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse.[17] The first season mostly takes place in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and the second through fourth seasons in the surrounding countryside of northern Georgia, as the survivors search for a safe haven away from the shuffling hordes of predatory "walkers" or "biters" (as the zombies are referred to in the show), who eat any living thing they catch, and whose bite is infectious to humans. The plot focuses primarily on the dilemmas the group faces as they struggle to maintain their humanity during the day-to-day challenges of surviving in a hostile world. This includes battling the zombie hordes, coping with casualties, and dealing with predatory human survivors.

The group is led by Rick Grimes, who was a sheriff's deputy[3] before the zombie outbreak. At every turn they are faced with the horror of the walking zombies, the changing dynamic of their group, and hostility from the scattered remains of a struggling human populace who are focused on their own survival now that society's structures have collapsed.

Season 1 (2010)[edit]
Main article: The Walking Dead (season 1)
The series begins with sheriff's deputy[3] Rick Grimes being wounded in a shootout with armed criminals. He awakens weeks later from a coma in an abandoned and badly damaged hospital. Upon leaving, Rick discovers a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies (or "walkers", as they are often referred to in-show). Rick also discovers his wife and son are missing, and he encounters two survivors — Morgan Jones and his son Duane — who explain the situation to him. Acting on a rumor the Joneses had heard, Rick arms himself and begins a perilous journey to Atlanta, Georgia, where the CDC is said to have set up a quarantined safe zone in the city. Upon reaching Atlanta, he soon discovers the city has instead been overrun by walkers.

A few miles outside the city, Rick's wife Lori and son Carl have been hiding from the walkers with Shane Walsh, Rick's partner and best friend, who has fallen in love with Lori. They have established a camp with a small group of fellow survivors. Several members of the group have gone to downtown Atlanta for supplies, and Glenn rescues Rick, who has been surrounded by walkers. Members of the group run into trouble with Daryl's brother, Merle, and Rick handcuffs him to a department store roof. Reunited at the camp with Lori and Carl, Rick assumes command with Shane. They soon go back to town in an attempt to rescue Merle and collect a cache of guns Rick left behind, but find only Merle's sawed-off hand. A band of walkers eventually attacks the camp and kills several people, including Amy. Most of the survivors flee to seek aid from the CDC, one family sets off on their own to find their relatives, and Jim — who sustained a walker's bite — is left on the road at his request.

At the CDC, all but one staff member, Dr. Edwin Jenner, have either fled or committed suicide. Dr. Jenner explains that his research of the infection has not yielded a cure, and he has not been in contact with anyone for a long while. Lack of fuel for the emergency generators soon initiates the building's safety protocols, which will trigger an explosion designed to destroy the facility and prevent the escape of deadly diseases. Jenner and Jacqui, a member of Rick's group, decide to stay and end their struggle. Dr. Jenner whispers something into Rick's ear, and the group escapes just as the CDC is incinerated in the explosion.

Season 2 (2011–12)[edit]
Main article: The Walking Dead (season 2)
The second season begins with Rick and his group of survivors escaping the CDC. They decide Fort Benning will be their next destination. Along the way, they encounter a traffic jam of abandoned vehicles on Interstate 85. The group loots several vehicles, and the group assumes that all is well until a large herd of walkers approach and they are forced to disperse and hide under cars. A walker chases Carol's daughter, Sophia, out from her hiding spot and, with another walker, pursues her into the woods. Rick finds her but loses her again after drawing off the walkers. During the search for Sophia, a hunter named Otis accidentally shoots Carl. To get help for him, Otis leads Rick and Shane to a large, isolated farm owned by a veterinarian named Hershel Greene, then helps Shane look for medical supplies at the local high school. After getting them, Shane injures his leg and betrays Otis to the walkers so he can get away. The survivors then move to the farm while Carl recovers, trying to coexist with Hershel's family, but dangerous secrets and disagreements over leadership cause tensions to rise. Lori is revealed to be pregnant (she is not sure whether Rick or Shane is the father), and Glenn builds a romantic relationship with Maggie, Hershel's elder daughter. Glenn also discovers the barn is full of walkers, some whom are Hershel's family members and neighbors. After an angry Shane releases the walkers to be exterminated, Sophia emerges from the barn, as a walker, and Rick reluctantly shoots her.

Hershel disappears to grieve for his family. Rick and Glenn find him drinking at a local tavern, where they meet two other survivors (Dave and Tony). The situation rapidly turns sour, and Rick kills the two men in a gunfight. The dead men's group quickly finds and opens fire on Rick, Hershel, and Glenn at the bar. The noise attracts a large herd of walkers, and one of the attackers, Randall, is injured and left behind. Rick and the others take him back to the farm, where they realize Randall is likely to reveal the farm's location to his former group. As Rick and the others deliberate about what to do with Randall, a walker fatally wounds Dale, forcing Daryl to euthanize him. The group later conducts a search for Randall, whom Shane had secretly released and murdered in the woods. Daryl and Glenn find Randall — as a walker — and kill him. Daryl concludes that Randall died from a broken neck (rather than a walker's bite or scratch) and subsequently reanimated.

Meanwhile, Shane and Rick confront each other — the former having planned the fake search so he could murder Rick. Rick gets the upper hand and stabs Shane in the torso, killing him. Carl arrives just in time to see Shane reanimate as a walker and shoots him down. The gunshot attracts a large herd of other walkers, who quickly overrun the property. In the ensuing battle and escape, Jimmy and Patricia are devoured, and Andrea is left behind. Andrea survives on her own and is later rescued by a hooded woman carrying a katana sword, and accompanied by chained, armless walkers. The remaining survivors regroup but are forced to make camp when their vehicles run low on gasoline. After hearing of Randall's fate, Rick finally reveals what Jenner whispered to him at the CDC: every survivor is infected with the walker virus. Rick also reveals to the group that he was forced to kill Shane. Later that night, the group questions Rick's leadership, but Rick asserts a dictatorship-style ultimatum, and solidifies his command of the group. In the final scene, a large prison is shown looming in a pan out.

Season 3 (2012–13)[edit]
Main article: The Walking Dead (season 3)
The third season begins several months after the group escaped the farm, and Lori is in the final days of her pregnancy. The group stumbles upon an overrun prison and sets about converting it into their new home. While securing the prison, a walker bites Hershel in the ankle and Rick is forced to amputate it to prevent further infection. They soon find several surviving inmates who have been trapped in the cafeteria. While Rick, Daryl and T-Dog help clear a separate cell block for the inmates to live in, most of the prisoners are killed. Rick's group helps the surviving prisoners — Axel and Oscar — clear a separate cellblock, but they eventually join Rick's group. A walker breakout later splits everyone up. T-Dog is bitten in the struggle and sacrifices himself to save Carol, while Lori goes into labor and insists that Maggie perform an emergency Caesarean section to save the baby. The operation kills Lori, and Carl is forced to shoot her to prevent reanimation. After several days of mourning, Carl and Rick name the baby Judith.

Meanwhile, Michonne and Andrea are taken to the town of Woodbury, a heavily fortified haven. They meet The Governor, the town's leader, and learn that Merle Dixon — Daryl's older brother — has taken refuge there as well. Michonne is immediately suspicious of The Governor and the settlement and decides to leave, but Andrea refuses to go with her. Merle is ordered to hunt down Michonne but only manages to wound her. He subsequently captures Maggie and Glenn while they are out scavenging. Michonne, who witnesses the abduction, eventually arrives at the prison and then guides Rick, Daryl, and Oscar back to Woodbury on a rescue mission. The team saves the couple, but Oscar is killed and Daryl is captured. Michonne stays briefly and attempts to slay The Governor; only she kills his reanimated daughter Penny (whom The Governor had kept chained in a back room in his apartment) and stabs him in the eye with a shard of broken glass during a scuffle. In the aftermath, The Governor calls an assembly and publicly accuses Merle of treason, reuniting him with Daryl in front of the angry mob and ordering them to fight each other. Rick and Maggie come back and rescue them, but after regrouping outside of town, Daryl decides to leave with Merle, as Rick won't allow Merle to join their group.

Back at the prison, Carl meets another band of survivors — led by Tyreese and his sister Sasha — and shelters them. Rick returns, but while he is speaking to the newcomers, Lori appears to him in an hallucination, launching him into a rage and ordering Tyreese's group to leave. They eventually find sanctuary in Woodbury. The Governor and a small team attack the prison the next day, killing Axel and breaching the outer fence before retreating. Merle and Daryl, having decided to rejoin Rick's group, return and help him fight off attacking walkers. Rick and Carl, with Michonne in tow, return to the Grimes' hometown to gather weapons. There, Rick finds Morgan again and learns Duane was killed by his reanimated mother, whom Morgan couldn't bring himself to kill after she turned. Instead of joining Rick, Morgan chooses to stay behind.

Andrea arranges a meeting between Rick and The Governor, who promises to end all hostilities in exchange for having Michonne handed over to him. Secretly, however, he plans to slaughter the prison group anyway. Andrea discovers the plot and attempts to escape to the prison, but The Governor captures her. Rick tells Merle about the deal and agrees to do the "dirty work" of kidnapping Michonne and handing her over. En route to the meeting point where the Governor is, Merle and Michonne talk, and Merle has a change of heart and releases her. He goes on to foil The Governor's planned ambush and is killed. Daryl then finds Merle reanimated as a walker and is forced to kill him.

The Governor orders Milton to kill Andrea, and when his former advisor refuses, The Governor fatally stabs Milton and locks him in a room with Andrea, so that he will kill her after he turns. The Governor then leads an assault on the prison, but Rick's group stages an ambush and repels the attack. When the frightened Woodbury soldiers suggest leaving the prison alone, The Governor guns most of them down. Rick, Daryl, and Michonne find Karen — the massacre's sole survivor, except for two of The Governors henchmen — while on their way to Woodbury to finish off The Governor; Karen convinces Tyreese and Sasha to allow them in when they arrive. They then find Andrea alive but suffering from a bite from the zombified Milton. Andrea uses Rick's revolver to commit suicide with Michonne by her side. The season ends with Rick's group returning to the prison along with the remaining Woodbury survivors, while The Governor's whereabouts remain unknown.