All 11 seasons of The Walking Dead, ranked worst to best
By Ashley Hurst
For over a decade, The Walking Dead was the biggest zombie show on television, airing almost 200 episodes and spawning myriad spinoffs. That’s a lot of zombies.
The show had its ups and downs. Every season was packed with shocks and surprises, highs and lows. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and decide which seasons were the best, which landed in the middle, and which were at the back of the zombie pack.
First up, the stragglers:
11. The Walking Dead season 8
This season came with the exciting promise of an all-out war between the Alexandrians and the Saviors. It delivered, but the episodes were lackluster, with unrealistic battles. I mean, how many miraculous escapes can Negan make?
And when Carl was killed off, it went down catastrophically badly among fans, resulting in droves of viewers giving up on the show. It was, perhaps, the biggest mistake in the show’s history. Simply inexcusable.
The series finale showdown between Rick and Negan was something of a high point. I enjoyed seeing Eugene intervene and destroy all of the Savior’s guns. Plus, Rick slitting Negan’s throat and basically ending the war was immensely satisfying — the only battle of the season that actually had a satisfying conclusion.
10. The Walking Dead season 7
The season 7 premiere was one of the most shocking episodes in the history of television. Not only did Negan kill Abraham, but he also killed fan-favorite Glenn Rhee. I don’t think anyone will ever forgive the writers for taking those characters away from us. Fans were left scarred by the sheer brutality of it.
But that’s not why season 7 is ranked so low on this list; it was actually a really good episode, but the rest of the season was a massive disappointment. Nothing really happened. Sure, Jeffrey Dean Morgan killed it in his debut as Negan, but the show didn’t build on his horrifying first appearance. The scariest thing about the season was hearing another round of “Easy Street” while Daryl was locked in a cell.
The season featured extended episodes that didn’t really need to be extended, producing yawns from the fans. Overall, it suffered from having way too much of Negan talking and threatening, with the only major shocks coming in the premiere.
Worst of all is the Oceanside storyline, which came and went and never really felt like it had any point.