Halloween 2025 marks 15 whole years since the first Walking Dead episode aired, introducing fans to a franchise that would span multiple spin-off shows, a web series, and more characters than we can possibly name. But it all started with just one episode. It's easy to forget just how special and impactful The Walking Dead's very first hour on screen really was. This Halloween, we look back at how it all began, with one of the best starts to a series ever.
Nowadays, it feels as though TV shows don't really have to fight for their place right off the bat. Gone are the days of pilot episodes that had to grab networks and test audiences in order for the show to live on. But The Walking Dead season 1 episode 1, titled 'Days Gone Bye' didn't hold back any punches. The series had no choice but to come out swinging, battling with the likes of TV hits Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire on screen at the time.
Because the series adapts the The Walking Dead comic books by Robert Kirkman, many prospective viewers wondered just how AMC could bring the pages to life. But through clever writing, impressive SFX makeup, and an emotional element that horror fans so rarely saw in early zombie media, The Walking Dead became one of the most relatable and human pieces of horror television airing back then, and even now.
Setting the scene
The first episode, written and directed by series creator Frank Darabont, largely follows a disoriented small-town Sheriff's Deputy named Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). He wakes up from a coma in a zombie-ridden world with no idea what has happened, much like 28 Days Later. But differing from Cillian Murphy's timid protagonist, Rick quickly adapts to his surroundings. Luckily for the audience, the show sets up the series in a way that we get to experience the terror of post-apocalyptic America right alongside Grimes.
Straight away, the show plunges the audience into the kind of uncertainty that Rick is no doubt feeling. Rather than kicking off the episode chronologically with Rick waking up in the hospital, we see the hero a short while later, looking for gas as he stumbles upon his first 'walker', a child. With no other choice, he shoots the zombified pajama-wearing little girl in the head. It becomes clear at this stage that The Waking Dead is not your run-of-the-mill zombie tale like Dawn of the Dead or World War Z, where zombies are purely demonic creatures with no backstory.
Rare emotional factor
Differing from zombie media that came before, The Walking Dead looks at zombies as people with a past. Of course, there is still the typical 'us vs them' trope, with living folk still killing walkers in order to protect themselves. But the show takes time to highlight that every walker was once a person worthy of empathy. This is illustrated more than once in the first episode. Whilst looking for his wife and child on his residential street, Grimes comes across an elderly zombie whose legs have been torn off, writhing around helplessly on the floor. Later on, Rick takes pity on the walker and puts it out of its misery, because just like the viewer, he feels sorry for it.
The police officer's new friend, Morgan, doesn't find such strength. We learn that despite him and his son managing to survive the outbreak, Morgan's wife was bitten and now roams the streets as a walker. Watching Morgan witness his wife lose her humanity and wander around hopelessly is heartbreaking to say the least, especially when he tries to shoot her out of mercy but fails. This is a stark contrast to Rick's reality, as although he is still in the dark in this episode, we as the audience know that his wife Lori and child Carl, alongside his best friend and partner Shane, are alive and living in a camp outside of the city.
Wait and see, the Walkers
To say The Walking Dead is a zombie show, there isn't a lot of undead action in the first episode. That is, until the last few minutes. Days Gone Bye teases the audience with little tastes of the types of walkers and how dangerous they can be. We start off seeing meeker zombies, such as the child and severed zombie, and slower, dispersed walkers. Our first look at any kind of zombie horde comes from the iconic scene where Rick is searching the hospital for another living person. He encounters a door chained shut with the words, 'Don't open, dead inside,' painted on the front, with bloody hands and muffled moans peeking out.
All of this gives both the audience and Rick a false sense of security, so much so that he thinks he can ride a horse through the city and off to safety. But reality comes crashing down when he turns that fateful corner and sees a huge mob of walkers waiting, hungry. The mere scale of this scene and the number of zombies all boasting different looks and special effect makeup designs is hugely impressive. At the time, this had never really been executed before to this level, not even in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead franchise.
From the vast worldbuilding, the instant character development, and not forgetting the largely impressive special effects effort, The Walking Dead instantly set itself apart from other post-apocalyptic survival series as soon as the first episode hit screens. Not only is Days Gone Bye one of the best Walking Dead episodes out of 177 (and star Andrew Lincoln's personal favorite), it is one of the best television pilots that has ever – and possibly will ever – air.
The Walking Dead is available to watch on AMC Plus in the US and Disney Plus in the UK. For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead franchise in order, and keep up with upcoming TV shows heading your way.
