Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes from a coma to find the world ravaged by a zombie apocalypse and embarks on a dangerous journey to Atlanta to find his missing family.
Synopsis
After being shot in the line of duty, Kentucky sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes wakes up in a hospital weeks later to discover that the world has been overrun by reanimated corpses known as "walkers." Alone and disoriented, he travels to Atlanta hoping to find his wife Lori and son Carl. Along the way, he encounters other survivors and eventually leads a small group fighting to stay alive in a world where the living are often more dangerous than the dead.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 31, 2010 |
Running time |
6 Episodes (approx. 292 mins) |
Genre |
Horror Drama Sci-Fi |
Budget |
$20,400,000 (Est. Season Total) |
Box Office |
N/A (TV Series) |
Crew |
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Developed by |
Frank Darabont |
Produced by |
Gale Anne Hurd David Alpert |
Written by |
Frank Darabont Robert Kirkman Glen Mazzara |
Music by |
Bear McCreary |
Cinematography |
David Boyd |
Original Network |
AMC |
Production Co. |
AMC Studios Circle of Confusion |
Distributed by |
Fox International Channels |
Top Cast |
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Series Collection |
Season Order: #01 in The Walking Dead TV Series
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The Plot
Episode 1: Days Gone Bye
The Awakening and the Little Girl
On a deserted Georgia highway, Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes drives his police cruiser past a chaotic scene of overturned and damaged cars blocking the road. Forced to stop, he exits the vehicle and retrieves a gas can from the trunk. As he navigates through the wreckage and debris down a hill toward a gas station, the silence is palpable. The station is littered with garbage and corpses, and a handmade sign hanging precariously reads "NO GAS." While searching, Rick hears a faint sound and ducks behind a car. He spots the slippered feet of a little girl picking up a teddy bear. Rick stands and calls out to her as she walks away. When she turns around, Rick is horrified to see her lips and right cheek torn away, exposing raw teeth and muscle. As the zombified child growls and shuffles toward him, Rick’s face falls in sorrow. He draws his python, shoots her in the head, and watches her body fall before lowering his gun.
Flashback: The Shootout
About two months prior, Rick and his partner and best friend, Shane Walsh, are eating hamburgers in their cruiser, joking about the differences between men and women. The mood turns somber when Rick discusses his marital troubles with Lori, mentioning a fight where she accused him of not caring about his family in front of their son, Carl. Their conversation is interrupted by a radio call regarding a high-speed pursuit. Arriving at the scene, they deploy a spike strip and join deputies Lambert Kendal and Leon Basset. The suspects' car hits the strips, flips, and rolls into a field. Rick approaches the wreckage carefully, but a gunman emerges and opens fire, hitting Rick in the chest. Shane kills the gunman, and Rick is saved by his vest. However, a third gunman, unnoticed, crawls from the wreck and shoots Rick in the unprotected side. As Rick falls, bleeding profusely, Shane kills the attacker and rushes to his friend's aid, screaming for Leon to call an ambulance while Rick loses consciousness.
The Nightmare in the Hospital
Rick awakens in a hospital bed, alone and disoriented. He finds wilting flowers from Shane and notices the room is silent; the machines are off, and the clock has stopped. Weak and dehydrated, he stumbles into the hallway, drinking water from a bathroom tap. He discovers a gurney blocking his door from the outside. The hospital is dark, with flickering lights and wires hanging from the ceiling. At the nurse's station, the phone is dead. Rick finds matches and is horrified to see a nurse’s body, ravaged and missing most of her skin. Further down the blood-smeared hallway, he encounters a double door chained shut with the spray-painted warning: "DON'T OPEN / DEAD INSIDE." Grey, decaying hands reach through the crack, moaning. Terrified, Rick flees to the stairwell, choking on the stench of rotting flesh, and exits into the loading bay. There, he is confronted by hundreds of wrapped, fly-covered bodies lined up in rows. He stumbles past abandoned military fortifications and a helicopter, eventually finding a bicycle. In a park, he encounters a legless, mutilated walker reaching for him. Shaken, he speeds home on the bike.
Morgan, Duane, and the New Reality
Rick finds his home deserted. Distraught, he sits on his front steps until he is struck in the face with a shovel by a young boy, Duane. The boy’s father, Morgan Jones, shoots a nearby walker and holds Rick at gunpoint. After Rick passes out and wakes up tied to a bed, he convinces Morgan he is not infected. Morgan explains the apocalypse: the dead have reanimated as "walkers" who eat the living, and a bite causes a fever that kills and turns the victim. They are staying in the home of Rick’s neighbors, Fred and Cindy Drake. Later, a car alarm draws walkers to the street, including Morgan’s undead wife. Morgan attempts to snipe walkers from the attic the next day but breaks down, unable to kill his wife. Rick takes them to the King County Sheriff's Department for hot showers and weapons. He gives Morgan a rifle and a walkie-talkie, instructing him to listen for a broadcast at dawn. Before leaving, Rick spots his old colleague Leon reanimated at the fence and mercifully puts him down.
Arrival in Atlanta
Rick heads for Atlanta, believing a refugee center exists there. On the way, he sends a broadcast on the CB radio, which is picked up by a camp of survivors including Shane, Lori, and Carl, though they cannot reply in time. Rick runs out of gas and continues on a horse he finds at a farmhouse, where the owners have committed suicide. Arriving in Atlanta, Rick finds the city deserted and destroyed. He is quickly swarmed by a massive herd of walkers. The horse is devoured, and Rick barely escapes by crawling under an abandoned tank. Surrounded and contemplating suicide, Rick spots a hatch and climbs inside. He kills a walker soldier within the tank. Trapped and hopeless, Rick is startled when the tank’s radio crackles to life: "Hey. Hey you, dumbass. You in the tank. Cozy in there?"
Episode 2: Guts
Camp Life and Old Habits
In a quarry camp outside Atlanta, survivors go about their day. Dale keeps watch from his RV roof while Amy and Lori sort mushrooms. Lori heads into the woods, where she is startled by Shane. The two engage in a passionate encounter, revealing their secret relationship. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the voice on the radio guides Rick. The stranger, Glenn, advises Rick to make a run for it while the walkers are eating his horse. Rick grabs a grenade and a shovel, exits the tank, and sprints to an alley where Glenn meets him. They climb a fire escape to safety. Glenn leads Rick to a department store where he meets the rest of the scavenging group: Andrea, Morales, Jacqui, T-Dog, and Merle Dixon.
Tension on the Rooftop
Andrea holds a gun to Rick's head, blaming him for drawing the herd’s attention with his gunshots. The walkers are now pounding on the store’s glass doors. On the roof, the group confronts the volatile racist Merle Dixon, who is firing a rifle and attracting more walkers. Merle beats T-Dog and declares himself leader. Rick intervenes, pistol-whipping Merle and handcuffing him to a pipe. The group tries to find a way out through the sewers, but Glenn and Morales find the exit blocked by a walker. In the store, Andrea spots a mermaid necklace and takes it for her sister Amy's birthday. The group realizes the streets are impassable.
The Guts Camouflage
Rick spots a cube van at a construction site but needs to reach it through the walker-infested street. He proposes a plan based on the fact that walkers rely on smell. They drag a dead walker from the alley inside. After acknowledging the man's lost humanity, Rick hacks the body apart with an axe. He and Glenn smear the guts and blood over their trench coats to mask their scent. They step out into the street, shuffling among the undead. The disguise works until a rainstorm begins to wash away the blood. The walkers realize they are fresh meat and attack. Rick and Glenn fight their way to the construction site, jumping a fence and stealing the van. To distract the herd, Rick has Glenn steal a red Dodge Challenger and drive it with the alarm blaring.
The Escape and The Key
Rick drives the van to the store’s loading dock. The group on the roof rushes to evacuate, but in the chaos, T-Dog accidentally drops the key to Merle’s handcuffs down a drain. Merle is left screaming and pleading. T-Dog chains the roof door shut to buy Merle some time and flees. The group piles into the van and escapes the city. Glenn speeds away in the Challenger, celebrating his freedom. As they drive back to camp, T-Dog confesses to dropping the key, leaving the group to grapple with the morality of leaving a man behind.
Episode 3: Tell It to the Frogs
The Handcuffed Man
On the department store roof, a delirious Merle Dixon screams at the walkers trying to break through the stairwell door. He begs God for mercy before his demeanor shifts to rage. He spots a hacksaw near a toolbox just out of reach and uses his belt to try and reel it in. Meanwhile, Glenn arrives at the quarry camp with the noisy Challenger, drawing Shane's ire. The cube van arrives shortly after. Reunited with their families, the camp is stunned when Rick emerges from the van. Carl runs to his father, and Lori embraces her husband in shock. Shane watches the reunion, masking his turmoil.
Domestic Abuse and Daryl's Return
That night, Rick and Lori reconnect in their tent, thankful for a second chance. The next day, Daryl Dixon returns from a hunt to learn his brother was left behind. Enraged, he attacks Rick but is subdued by Shane. Rick explains the situation and offers to return to Atlanta to retrieve Merle and the bag of guns dropped during his first arrival. He argues they need the weapons for protection and the walkie-talkie to warn Morgan. Against Lori’s wishes, Rick prepares to leave with Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog.
Shane's Rage
At the quarry, Shane tries to teach Carl to catch frogs, but the mood is dampened when he sees Lori and Rick’s intimacy. Near the laundry area, the abusive Ed Peletier slaps his wife, Carol, for not working hard enough. Shane, needing an outlet for his frustration, pulls Ed away and beats him brutally, threatening to kill him if he touches his family again. Rick and his team arrive back at the Atlanta department store. They cut the padlock on the roof door and rush to the pipe, only to find a bloody hacksaw, a severed hand, and a trail of blood—Merle is gone.
Episode 4: Vatos
The Search for Merle
Daryl reacts violently to finding his brother's severed hand, pointing his crossbow at T-Dog, but Rick diffuses the situation. They follow Merle's blood trail through the building to a kitchen where they find a cauterized iron, suggesting Merle sealed his wound. They decide to split up to find the bag of guns. Back at camp, Jim begins frantically digging holes in the hillside, refusing to speak or drink. The group becomes concerned he has snapped from heatstroke.
The Vatos and the Standoff
In Atlanta, Glenn retrieves the bag of guns but is ambushed by a group of Latino men. Daryl shoots one in the buttocks with an arrow, but the men kidnap Glenn and drive off. They leave behind a teenager named Miguel, whom Daryl interrogates. Miguel leads Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog to a fortress-like nursing home run by a gang called the Vatos. The leader, Guillermo, threatens to feed Glenn to his dogs if Rick doesn't hand over the guns. As a shootout looms, an elderly woman interrupts, revealing that the "gang" is actually the nursing home staff protecting the abandoned elderly. The "vicious dogs" turn out to be Chihuahuas. Rick leaves them some weapons and retrieves Glenn.
Massacre at the Camp
The group returns to the quarry camp just as a fish fry is beginning. Dale has calmed Jim down, who reveals his digging was compelled by a dream. Suddenly, a herd of walkers attacks the camp. Ed is devoured in his tent. Amy exits the RV and is bitten on the arm and neck just as she steps out. The camp descends into chaos. Rick and the returnees arrive and help clear the walkers, but the damage is done. Andrea cradles a dying Amy in her arms, screaming in grief as the survivors survey the carnage. Jim remembers his dream and realizes the holes he dug were graves.
Episode 5: Wildfire
Mourning and Mercy
The morning after the attack, the survivors deal with the aftermath. Andrea refuses to leave Amy’s body, waiting for her to turn. Rick attempts to reach Morgan on the walkie-talkie to warn him away from Atlanta. The group discovers Jim was bitten during the attack. Daryl suggests killing him, but Rick insists on finding a cure. When Amy finally reanimates, Andrea apologizes to her before shooting her in the head. Carol insists on destroying Ed's brain herself, taking a pickaxe to his corpse in a cathartic release of rage.
The Decision to Move
Rick proposes moving the group to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta, hoping for a cure or safety. Shane argues for Fort Benning, but Rick wins the debate. Morales and his family decide to separate from the group and head to Birmingham. The rest of the caravan departs. En route, the RV breaks down. Jim, suffering from the fever, asks to be left behind to die and reanimate near the trees. The group tearfully says goodbye and continues.
Arrival at the CDC
Inside the CDC, a lone scientist, Dr. Edwin Jenner, is running tests on "TS-19" but accidentally destroys his samples. Despondent and suicidal, he drinks alone as the building’s AI warns of low fuel. Rick’s group arrives at the CDC at sunset, finding it locked and surrounded by bodies. As walkers approach, Rick pleads with the security camera, shouting that they are desperate. Just as they are about to be overrun, the shutters open, and bright light floods the group.
Episode 6: TS-19
Sanctuary and Secrets
A flashback reveals Shane at the hospital during the initial outbreak, trying to save comatose Rick but forced to flee as soldiers execute staff and walkers overrun the halls. In the present, Dr. Jenner admits the group after a blood test. They enjoy a night of hot showers, wine, and food—a stark contrast to their life outside. A drunk Shane confronts Lori, attempting to force himself on her, but she fights him off.
The Truth About the Virus
The next morning, Jenner shows the group the brain scan of "Test Subject 19," his wife, who allowed her transformation to be recorded. He explains that the virus kills the brain and restarts only the brainstem, leaving nothing of the person behind. He admits there is no cure and that civilization has collapsed globally. The group notices a countdown clock on the wall. Jenner explains it tracks the generator fuel. When it hits zero, the facility will self-destruct to contain the pathogens.
The Escape
As the power fails, the building seals itself. Jenner locks the group in the control room, believing a quick death by high-impulse thermobaric explosion is better than the horror outside. Rick and the others plead for their lives, arguing they want to keep fighting. Jenner eventually relents and unlocks the door. Jacqui chooses to stay and die with Jenner. Dale refuses to leave Andrea behind, which guilt-trips her into leaving with the group. Before Rick leaves, Jenner whispers something indistinguishable into his ear. The survivors rush to the lobby but find the glass unbreakable. Carol hands Rick a grenade she found in his uniform, and he uses it to blow a window open. They flee to their vehicles just as the CDC is incinerated in a massive fireball, driving away into an uncertain future.
