The Walking Deadstarted strong , took a drop in ratings around its seventh time of year , and emerged through its final season . Many fansstuck with the show through its low-toned points , and those who did were able to enjoy a cheering close . Many are now enjoying the franchise through the latest spinoffs , includingThe Walking Dead : Daryl Dixon , The Walking Dead : Dead City , andThe walk Dead : The one Who populate .
The show has always been described as one about human behavior and hard decisions in the brass of fantastic hard knocks , not just flesh - eat walking zombies . In fact , through its 11 season , the most thought-provoking villains were not the undead , but other humans who had become harden and desperate in a world concentre entirely on survival . There are heart - twist , emotional scenes , favorite character deaths , heartbreaks and triumph . While the show cease in 2022 , with two spinoffs continuing , it ’s a good meter to look back at which seasons were the one that really stuck with viewers and why .
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11. Season 8
The conflict with the Saviors is finally resolved in this season , but the wait was too prospicient , making the slashing of Negan ’s ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) pharynx and the takedown of his grouping almost anti - climactic . add affront to harm , Rick ( Andrew Lincoln ) decides to spare Negan ’s life , leaving fan to wonder what might be come next for the fictional character they feel had long run his course . Fans were anger by Carl ’s ( Chandler Riggs ) shocking demise , powerful after he had finally come into his own as a theatrical role , specially since he had such a big role in the comics on which the show is base .
The return of the character Morales ( Juan Gabriel Pareja ) was more perplexing than exciting as most fans jumble to Google who he even was . Eugene ( Josh McDermitt ) , who had been mosey along as a proud albeit reluctant new member of the Saviors , has the only redemptive import of the time of year when he proves his genuine loyalties by sabotaging the ammunition that would ’ve take out Rick and his friends . The time of year , dubbed the lowest - rated one on Rotten Tomatoesby critic and audiences likewise , also saw the death of Shiva , which was unforgivable in most fan ’ middle .
10. Season 7
By the time the vast sexual climax teased in season 6 finally aired in season 7 , fan had already spent month speculating who would meet the oddment of Negan ’s squash racquet . It was lastly let on to be not one , but two multitude : Abraham ( Michael Cudlitz ) and Glenn ( Steven Yeun ) . The scene was so brutal , so gratuitously violent , that many die - tough fans declared their intent to boycott the show . It ’s no surprisal , then , that this time of year rank among the bad .
The Saviors ’ sovereignty and the group ’s program to attack and take over were drawn out too long , with every instalment confront an chance for closure that went unrealised . Fan - favorite character Daryl ( Normal Reedus ) spent much of the season in imprisonment , Sasha ( Sonequa Martin - Green ) sacrifice herself for the group , and Jadis ( Pollyanna McIntosh ) proved an unfulfilling antagonist ( her persona had far more nuance in the abruptly - lived spinoff seriesWalking Dead : World Beyond ) . It was a season where you just kept wait and expect for something to happen that never did .
9. Season 6
sports fan learn what Morgan ( Lennie James ) had been up to all this sentence ( learning Aikido , apparently , and a new manner of liveliness that involved refusing to drink down ) . Carl loses an eye . Plus , here come the Saviors . It ’s the first major introduction ofNegan , who would become the show ’s most compelling villain and the group ’s most redoubtable challenger . He runs the neighbourhood like a mafia genus Bos , take in what he needs and offering tribute in telephone exchange . But that ’s only until he feels like someone does n’t follow his orders , so he makes an example out of them .
There was a massive build - up to a immense reference last scene only to fail to reveal who it was until season 7 resumed month later on . That tease left buff more furious and disappointed than excited with the cliffhanger . That said , it did mean fans spent month theorizing and analyzing angle of the scene to try and figure out who would die out .
8. Season 11
The final time of year twine everything up with a swell bow and set the stage for the spinoffs . Now reside at The Commonwealth , the show comes to a pass when Pamela Milton ’s ( Laila Robins ) putrescence is exposed after the decease of her son Sebastian ( Teo Rapp - Olsson ) . One of the highlighting features a prospect where the group is lined up for carrying out by Commonwealth soldiers . In a full circle mo , Negan is on his stifle and seems to bear death until he ’s peril with the death of his meaning married woman , Annie ( Medina Sengore ) . Negan is left to pray , just as Maggie ( Lauren Cohan ) did right before he clobber Glenn . He finally understands what he did and delivers a devout apology , complete the character ’s redemption arc .
It ’s a time of year where the grouping comes together , find raw ally like Mercer ( Michael James Shaw ) , and does what they do better — swerve the perniciousness from a community to reconstruct . Another highlight is the horror - theme episode 6,On the Inside , which features Connie ( Lauren Ridloff ) and Virgil ( Kevin Carroll ) obliterate in a mansion engage by feral , animalistic cannibals . Connie proves that being indifferent does n’t make her weak , and viewer also get a taste of what the silence mat up like for her in a world where hearing walkers is crucial . Everyone gets their happy ending , though this time of year also score the tragical death of Rosita ( Christian Serratos ) .
7. Season 2
The vista with Sophia ’s ( Madison Lintz ) undead trunk ambling towards the group out of Hershel ’s ( the late Scott Wilson ) barn and Carol ( Melissa McBride ) falling to her knees in desperation stay one of the most bone - chill , emotional ace ever on the show . Much of the season is n’t as exciting and action at law - packed as others as it concentre on the group finding a safe haven at Hershel ’s farm along with the infighting between Rick and Shane ( Jon Bernthal ) , both of whom believe they should be the alpha male person to pass the group .
It ’s the first time , however , that buff see innocent people killed and a pivotal moment that flips a proverbial maturity date electric switch in Carl when he shoots an undead Shane to save his founder . There ’s also that self-aggrandizing reveal that everybody turns when they give out ( nope , no one have intercourse this in time of year one ) , which becomes a game - changing piece of knowledge for the group . This dreadful realisation open their eye to the fact that this problem is n’t go away before long . Arguably the best part of the season is the reveal of one of the most tough - AS characters on the show , Michonne ( Danai Gurira ) .
6. Season 10
The Walking Deadreally hit its stride in time of year nine , and the momentum preserve through season 10 . fan see the mental trauma of fall back so many children ultimately get under one’s skin to Carol . She make a critical error that gets everyone puzzle in a cave and almost kills Connie . This is the time of year featuring that trippy , psychedelic episode with Michonne trapped in a room , drug by Virgil . fan have a go at it seeing the redemption arc for Negan , who joins The Whisperers undercover , unbeknown to anyone but Carol . Eugene contacts another group and a likely love sake by using a radio , marking the first rumors of The Commonwealth from the strip making their way to the show .
Meanwhile , member of the group total across a quirky new character , Princess ( Paola Lázaro ) who sum up much - needed comic relief to the otherwise saturnine and ominous show . It ’s at the end of this season that fans in the end get to see Negan ’s backstory , arguably one of the honest episode of the show , and a first expression at the latest villainous grouping , The Reapers . The tone of the season riffle back and forth between high action and deadening tan , but it offers a nice enough balance to make it enjoyable the entire way through .
5. Season 9
The villain that dominated the show for so many season had lastly been reduced to a shell of a serviceman . This season also visualize the presumed decease and outlet of its prospicient - meter protagonist , Rick Grimes , and the first major sentence jump that picks up six years subsequently . Baby Judith , now a pre - teen ( Cailey Fleming ) , proves to be an fantastically piquant and sympathetic character , direct under the tutelage of her adopted mother Michonne to become a ferociously gifted attack aircraft and confident little daughter . A novel lot of characters is infix , including Connie , Magna ( Nadia Hilker ) , Yumiko ( Eleanor Matsuura ) , and Luke ( Dan Fogler ) , while fan favorites meet their end , admit Jesus ( Tom Payne ) .
But what really create this season among the good is the innovation of one of the scariest villain grouping of the show , The Whisperers , including their formidable leader , Alpha ( Samantha Morton ) , and her visceral figure - two , Beta ( Ryan Hurst ) . They live off the land , cast around with the dead wearing masque made from the pulled skin of walkers . In what many call the show’sRed Wedding second , Alpha kill some of the most beloved characters , Tara ( Alanna Masterson ) , Enid ( Katelyn Nacon ) , and Henry ( Macsen Lintz ) , mount their decapitated and still revive heads on stakes to mark a limit between her and the chemical group . It recoil off a fierce battle between Alpha and alpha - mama Carol and buff could n’t get enough of it .
4. Season 1
There ’s so much nostalgia in the initiatory time of year , which kicked off the entire series . lover were introduced to characters like Rick Grimes , Daryl Dixon , Glenn Rhee , and Carol Peletier , who would become mainstays through much of and , in some casing , the entire show ’s range . It was raw and exciting as fans had never seen such vehemence , gore , and incredible prosthetics work on a humble TV show that did n’t launch with much fanfare . The terminus “ Walker ” ( no zombies here ) became part of the everyday vernacular and devotee felt every emotion as members of the group did whatever was necessary to survive .
What was most memorable about the season was how so many people from all walks of life come together . The story rivet on the people and the difficult decisions they had to make , not just brainless zombi in unending search of ardent flesh . This was the season before everyone honed their trade , built their confidence , and sympathize how to navigate the new world : it was just a grouping of regular Joes trying to calculate things out . buff knew immediately that they wanted to be in it for the farseeing draw .
3. Season 5
The highest - betray season according toRotten Tomatoes , with an impressive 90 % , time of year five flip back and forth between the hospital where Beth ( Emily Kinney ) is being held engrossed and vindicate lover - favorite graphic symbol Carol , who comes to the rescue of the group , redeeming herself after being banished . Father Gabriel ( Seth Gilliam ) , who went on to have one of the most compelling character arcs on the show , is introduced as a bumbling , cowardly priest who locked his entire congregation out of the church to keep himself dependable . So much went on this time of year , from Beth ’s tragic death to the chemical group getting a penchant of normality in Alexandria , and Rick ’s brutal violent death of Pete ( Corey Brill ) , just as Morgan reappears on the show to witness the heinous routine .
The season is rife with main theatrical role demise , each plow uniquely and interestingly . Bob ( Lawrence Gilliard Jr. ) gets the last jest , expose to Gareth ( Andrew J. West ) and his Terminus buddy that the amputated leg they ’re run through is infected since he had already been bitten . A bitten and dying Tyreese ( Chad Coleman ) find out flashback of of import moments before he perishes . Noah ( Tyler James Williams ) break in one of the most gruesome scenes as he plead for his life-time to an agonised Glenn who is unable to aid him . The season ends with the introduction of one of the least compelling group of villains , The Wolves . But for the most part , it ’s an worked up , exciting , captivating one .
2. Season 4
Hershel ’s death view was one of the roughshod of the show , but a polar minute in season four . It ’s the first sentence the show splits the chemical group into smaller ace as everyone goes dissimilar way in all the bedlam . Abraham , Rosita , and Eugene are inclose , providing the first glimmer of hope when Eugene implies that he may know where and how to receive a cure ( spoiler alert : He did n’t ) .
The journey to Terminus start here , and while it seems to end as quickly as it start out , it ’s the end of the season when the “ old Rick ” emerges that gets fans excited for what is to come . The most memorable import from the season is , however , Carol have those desperately lamentable five watchword , “ Just seem at the flowers , ” to Lizzie ( Brighton Sharbino ) . It ’s a heartbreaking instant that caps a tremendous season full of first-class fictional character development .
1. Season 3
rooter call Negan one of the sound antagonists and the most multi - layered character on the show . Indeed , the season 10 episode with his backstory is one of the best pieces of cinematic work the show has produced . But there ’s no denying that for early devotee , The Governor ( David Morrissey ) was the ultimate enemy . His trajectory volunteer the first look at how an apocalyptical scenario , marvellous loss , force potentiality , and threats to one ’s life can slowly change state the most seemingly level - headed person into a terrifying tyrant .
The mount was a prison , where the group lived as intimately they could until The Governor decide he wanted to take the property over . T - Dog ( IronE Singleton ) give himself to redeem Carol had lover seize their hearts while rooter - preferred villain / hero Merle ( Michael Rooker ) meeting his bitter end guide to the first bit of sensitive emotion sports fan get to see from the otherwise stoic Daryl . It was an activity - packed season that saw the end of Lori ( Sarah Wayne Callies ) , the birth of Judith , and the intromission of Sasha and Tyreese . While many villain come after , seeing the group push someone more potent and always a few dance step before of them , was new to Rick and Co. at the clock time . The fact that the scenario was fresh and original for the mathematical group made time of year three one of the most exciting to watch , and the one Charles Frederick Worth watch again .
StreamThe Walking DeadonNetflix .
