Robert Kirkman reveals when we could learn origins of The Walking Dead plague
By Shawn Lealos
Robert Kirkman was talking about the questions many fans have about what started the zombie plague on The Walking Dead in a recent Q&A session.
The question-and-answer was on Tumblr, where Kirkman was answering questions from Walking Dead fans about the hit zombie show and comic book series. When one asked if he would ever reveal the big secret about what caused the Walkers to rise from their graves, Kirkman gave a pretty blunt answer.
Kirkman said that he would likely never reveal what caused the zombie outbreak on The Walking Dead, saying it would just be “crazy sci-fi” and that it would make the story even weirder. He did leave the alternative open in the future to maybe revealing his thoughts on what started it in an interview after the series ends — referring to it as a “J.K. Rowling thing.”
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Fans remember looking back that the story started in the real world where Rick Grimes and his best friend and partner Shane Walsh were police officers trying to stop a criminal. Rick ended up in a coma, and when he woke up the world was already almost destroyed, and the Walkers had risen and run rampant in the world.
Fear the Walking Dead, which was based on Kirkman’s world but was wholly original and separate from the comic books, took the story back to the start of the plague, but once again, it did not reveal what happened — only showing the characters dealing with it from the start.
According to Kirkman, adding the origin of the disease that destroyed the world would not work at this point in the story.
"“It couldn’t be less important to the story and the lives of these characters. It would be completely out of place in the story.”"
Kirkman went on to say that if a scientist showed up and told the survivors what happened, they probably wouldn’t care. It wouldn’t change their lives or anything about the story, so what would be the purpose?
Robert Kirkman has a good point. The Walking Dead has never really been about zombies but was always about how the survivors reacted and interacted with each other in a crumbling world. At the same time, it was also never about the cause of the plague because there is no one left who can do anything about it and adding a super scientist who could fix it seems even less realistic than the Walkers themselves.
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Some movies (World War Z, 28 Days Later) and books (Peter Clines’ Ex series) have featured interesting stories that included the origins of the plague. However, for The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman feels that an explanation is unnecessary.
The Walking Dead airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EST on AMC.