The end is near for The Walking Dead. The 11th season of the hugely popular post-apocalyptic horror series got underway on Sunday, August 22, and will continue for 24 episodes until the series reaches its conclusion sometime in 2022.
We don’t know how The Walking Dead will conclude. We don’t know how it started. The show has never really dealt with the exact reason why the dead reanimated and did so with the need to consume the flesh of living humans. What we do know is where it started. According to the lore of The Walking Dead, the virus that turned so much of humanity into Zombies originated in the state of Delaware.
Historically, lots of things start in Delaware. It’s known as the first state since Delaware’s representatives were the first to ratify the United States Constitution. In 2018, when The United States Supreme Court ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that prohibited sports betting in any state of then Nevada violated state’s rights, Delaware sports betting became a reality. The First State was the first state to take advantage of this change in the law and offer legalized sports betting.
How The Walking Dead Started
Robert Kirkman, the writer of the comic of The Walking Dead and longtime producer of the AMC TV show, has dropped hints over the years as to what caused the commencement of the zombie apocalypse in Delaware. On Twitter in 2020, Kirkman suggested the zombie outbreak occurred because of a space spore.
Some critics felt that if this does prove to be the cause, it would be appropriate because it would serve as a homage to George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, the 1960s horror flick that spawned so many zombie apocalypse imitators.
In Night Of The Living Dead, scientists speculate that the zombies were the result of a space probe to Venus that brought radiation back to earth.
Then again, maybe it has nothing at all to do with invaders from outer space.
Two years earlier, during a Q&A on Tumblr, Kirkman teased about how he might someday reveal the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse. “Maybe years after it’s all over I’ll just casually mention it in an interview,” Kirkman said. “That seems like a very J.K. Rowling thing to do.”
Kirkman is of the belief that the cause of the outbreak isn’t as vital to The Walking Dead as how the characters in the story respond to the challenges that the zombie apocalypse presents to them.
“It couldn’t be less important to the story and the lives of these characters,” Kirkman said. “It would be completely out of place in the story.
“Honestly if a scientist from Washington came to the characters and told them what happened, the characters would just shrug and say ‘Oh . . . okay . . .’ it wouldn’t change their lives at all . . . and . . . I’ve said too much.”
Embracing Their Place In Zombie History
Delaware is an appropriate location for the launch of an outbreak such as a zombie apocalypse. Although it is the second-smallest and sixth-least populous state, Delaware is also the sixth-most densely populated U.S. state. What better place for such an outbreak than a small space with many people packed tightly together?
Credit to Delaware. If they were indeed the launchpad for The Walking Dead’s zombie apocalypse, they are embracing their place in zombie apocalypse history.
In the summer of 2013, Delaware was alarmed by a shocking rise in pedestrian fatalities and injuries on the state’s streets. At the time, one in four roadway fatalities were pedestrians and for every pedestrian death, an additional 12 were suffering injuries. In response, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety launched a series of public safety announcements. The tagline in their message – Don’t Join The Walking Dead.
For years, Milton, Delaware has played host to a zombie festival that is so popular, it doubled the population of the city. After being put on hold for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Milton Zombie Fest is due to once again overrun the city on October 16, 2021. The event is highlighted by a zombie walk and a zombie homecoming dance.