To date, AMC’s The Walking Dead, itself based on a successful, long-running comic, has amassed one main series, five spin-off series, an anthology series, multiple web series, several video games, and a post-show commentary series. That’s not even mentioning the sheer amount of merchandise that’s been spun out of the zombified saga. It’s become one of the most famous TV franchises in history, which makes revisiting its patient and melancholic pilot all the more surprising. Titled “Days Gone Bye,” and airing 15 years ago today, it’s not only a great premiere but a crucial piece of the zombie genre. And it contains a lonely atmosphere that The Walking Dead would never be allowed to return to.
The opening follows the first comic issue: deputy Rick Grimes wakes up alone in a hospital, having been comatose during the early days of the zombie apocalypse. It’s akin to the beginning of 2003’s 28 Days Later, but considering that both film and comic debuted within months of one another in the United States, it’s likely horror cross-pollination (and 28 Days writer Alex Garland was inspired by an even earlier “man gets out of hospital to find terrible changes” effort, 1951’s The Day of the Triffids). From there, Grimes begins his sad trek across Georgia and uncovers the reality of a world that quite literally devoured itself.
