The Walking Dead ran for a total of 11 seasons and 177 episodes.

This is not including spin-offs, eight seasons of webisodes, the multiple tie-in video games and, of course, the graphic novels that started it all.

While season one only ran for six episodes, season two ran for 13, and seasons three to nine ran for 16 episodes each.

Season 10 ran for 22 episodes but was split into three parts, and season 11 ran for 24 episodes, but was also split into three parts.

A large part of The Walking Dead’s success came with the notion that no one at any point was safe, with fan favourites and series regulars being killed off quickly and with little ceremony as a result of their constant fight for survival.

As a result, no one appeared in every episode, and only 10 characters made it past 100 episodes, with some of those not even making it to the finale.

These are:

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• Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Afterlife) as Rick Grimes

• Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints, The Bikeriders) as Norman Reedus

• Melissa McBride (The Mist, Living Proof) as Carol Peletier

• Lauren Cohan (The Boy, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Maggie Greene

• Christian Serratos (The Twilight Saga, Selena: The TV Series) as Rosita Espinosa

• Josh McDermitt (Creepshow, Suits: LA) as Eugene Porter

• Danai Gurira (Black Panther, All Eyez on Me) as Michonne

• Seth Gilliam (The Wire, Teen Wolf) as Gabriel Stokes

• Ross Marquand (Impress Me, X-Men ‘97) as Aaron

• Chandler Riggs (A Million Little Things, Break Up Season) as Carl Grimes

Other key characters include:

• Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Supernatural, Watchmen) as Negan

• Alanna Masterson (Mistresses, The Young and The Restless) as Tara

• Lennie James (Genius, Save Me) as Morgan Jones

• Khary Payton (Teen Titans Go!, Young Justice) as King Ezekiel

• Steven Yeun (Nope, Beef) as Glenn Rhee

• Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Wife) as Sasha Williams

• Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, We Own This City) as Shane Walsh

• Tom Payne (Prodigal Son, Imaginary) as Paul ‘Jesus’ Rovia

• David Morrissey (Britannia, Sherwood) as The Governor

• Samantha Morton (The Serpent Queen, The Burning Girls) as Alpha

• Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast X) as Merle Dixon

At the height of its success, The Walking Dead was an international phenomenon - with season four averaging at a staggering 14 million viewers per episodes.

This paved the way for multiple spin-offs, turning The Walking Dead into a full universe.

It was nominated for 237 awards throughout the show’s run, winning 85, including two Primetime Emmys for their prosthetic make-up, and a Golden Globe nomination for best drama in 2011.

The Walking Dead is a whole universe - and at the time of writing (May 2024) there are six official spin-offs to build the world even more.

These shows are based before, during and after the main Walking Dead series, building up the world as we know it and, in some cases, providing context to the behaviour or the main characters in the series.

The first spin-off of the show, Fear The Walking Dead can theoretically be split into two eras.

For the first three seasons, Fear acts as a prequel to the events of the main series, and focuses on a ‘blended’ family as they navigate life during the onset of the outbreak.

Central to this is Madison Clark, a high school counsellor, her fiancé Travis, and his ex Liza, as well as the children they have together and from previous families.

From season four, as Fear’s timeline begins to run in line with the main series, the show shifts to focus largely on Morgan Jones (Lennie James), a character who originated in The Walking Dead.

The show ran for eight seasons and 113 episodes, airing its finale on November 20, 2023.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond follows a group of teenage survivors as they become the first generation to come-of-age in the wake of the zombie apocalypse.

Set approximately 10 years after the outbreak, the group begin the series having grown up within the walls of Nebraska State University - a safe zone protected by the US military.

As a result, they have lived both a sheltered existence having never left the campus, but one where they’ve practically known nothing but life post-outbreak.

The show was fixed from the outset to only run for two seasons, totalling 20 episodes, and aired its finale on December 5, 2021.

Tales of the Walking Dead is a six-episode anthology series, with each instalment focusing on sole stories of people’s lives surrounding the outbreak that changes their world forever.

Among the stories is that of Dee (Samantha Morton), a protective mother trying to survive with her daughter, and her journey to become the Whisperers leader Alpha as we know her in the main series.

Other episodes include appearances from Terry Crews as a Doomsday prepper forced to leave the safety of his bunker to locate a friend, Olivia Munn as a woman on the road trying to find safety, and Parker Posey and Jillian Bell as warring employees who are forced to work together to survive.

The first series released after The Walking Dead finale, Dead City tracks Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) after they break away from the main group.

Wanting to track down and recover Maggie’s son Hershel, the pair head to a derelict Manhattan, New York, after it's been cut off from the mainland.

In order to work together, the pair need to come to terms with their shared past, which includes Negan brutally murdering Maggie’s husband, Glenn.

Season two launched in May 2025.

Read more about The Walking Dead: Dead City here.

The second post-finale spin-off, Norman Reedus reprises his role as Daryl Dixon, who finds himself in France after being kidnapped by a paramilitary group.

Wanting to find a way back home, self-styled loner Daryl finds himself at the ground zero of the walker outbreak, navigating groups of other survivors, all of whom with their own agenda. Things get even more complicated when he finds himself bonding with some of them.

The second season, ‘The Book of Carol’, was released in 2024, and saw the return of Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) as Daryl’s long-held right hand woman.

Season three, which will see this group of survivors continue to navigate the international impact of the outbreak, is set for release by the end of 2025.

Read more about The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon here.

The Ones Who Live is the long-awaited spin-off focused on the main series’ former leading man Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira).

The series tracks Rick Grimes in the years since he was last seen in The Walking Dead, having been picked up by the CRM and taken to a mystery location.

As Rick makes efforts to get back to Michonne and adjust to this new world, he’s oblivious to the fact Michonne is also trying to hunt him down after discovering he’s still alive.

The Ones Who Live ran for six episodes, with no announced plans at the time of writing (May 2025) for a second season.

Read more about The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live here.

On top of the official six, full-length spin-offs, there are also eight seasons of ‘webisodes’ - totalling 63 episodes - that are connected to the show. These are exclusively short, online clips, with each collection having an overarching plot and loose tie-ins to both The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead.

These are the official webisode ‘seasons’:

• Torn Apart - Six episodes

• Cold Storage - Four epIsodes

• The Oath - Three episodes

• Flight 462 - 16 episodes

• Passage - 16 episodes

• Red Machete - Six episodes

• The Althea Tapes - Six episodes

• Dead In The Water - Six episodes

The Walking Dead’s official rating in the UK, as certified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), is 18 for the complete run.

This rating asserts the show is suitable for adult audiences only - and is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Reasons for this rating include:

• Heavily implied sex scenes, including implications of rape or assault.

• Severe levels of violence including creative kills such as beheading, use of razor wire, use of road signs to impale and fire.

• Regular depictions of decomposed, rotting corpses.

• Graphic use of blood and gore - including but not limited to eyes being pulled out of their sockets, cannibalism, and flesh being pulled from live bodies.

• More than one instance of child death.

• Use of weaponry including guns, arrows, barbed wire bats and knives.

• A character using racist profanities.

• Frequent depictions of perilous scenarios including torture, abduction, car chases, and facing numerous zombie hordes.

Sky is the official UK home for the essential shows of The Walking Dead franchise.

As well as the main series, we also have all released episodes of Dead City, Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live.

You can watch them now on Sky Max and our streaming service NOW.