The Walking Dead spoilers follow.
If there's any franchise in the world that will never die, it's The Walking Dead – and not just because it's full of zombies.
From humble beginnings, AMC's comic book adaptation has shuffled on in surprising ways, branching out with new spin-offs, webisodes, and even films, like a particularly ravenous horde that's ready to consume everything in sight.
Each of these stories takes place within the same universe that was first inspired by Robert Kirkman's vision and, at certain points, these shows and TWD episodes even cross over with each other.
When you also take into account that some chapters were written as prequels designed to flesh out the origins of this apocalypse, it quickly becomes clear that The Walking Dead wasn't actually released chronologically.
Are you a newbie who wants to dive right in or are you a purist who would like to rewatch it as a whole using the correct Walking Dead timeline? That's where we come in.
What to Read Next
Join us here at Digital Spy as we reveal how to watch every Walking Dead show, web series, and film in chronological order. It's not as hard as you might think!
And while you're here, would you also like to check out the Star Wars timeline? Or what about the X-Men's movie order? If the MCU timeline is giving you trouble, we're here to help with that too.
The Walking Dead in order - how to watch The Walking Dead timeline in chronological order
1. Fear the Walking Dead: Season one (six episodes)
Here we see the start of the outbreak, all while Rick Grimes sleeps peacefully in his coma.
2. Fear the Walking Dead: Dead in the Water (six episodes)
Riley returns in this earlier prequel that follows the outbreak's impact on a submarine near the Gulf of Mexico.
3. Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 (16 episodes)
Airplanes and zombies never mix as this online-only mini-series demonstrates so well.
4. Fear the Walking Dead: Season two (15 episodes)
Pirates, ocean zombies and a cult all collide in this season which focuses primarily on Colman Domingo's Victor Strand.
5. Fear the Walking Dead: Passage web series (16 episodes)
Two characters named Gabi and Sierra protect each other as they search for a tunnel where supplies have been safely stored.
6. Fear the Walking Dead: Season three (16 episodes)
Following Travis' death, Madison, Alicia, and Nick end up on a ranch run by the Otto family, which includes the antagonistic Troy.
Watch Fear the Walking Dead on Amazon Prime Video
7. The Walking Dead: Season one (six episodes)
Rick Grimes awakens from his coma and reunites with his wife, son, and best friend, only to find out that his wife and friend are now closer than he'd care for.
8. The Walking Dead: Torn Apart webisodes (six episodes)
The story behind Hannah, the walker Rick Grimes kills in the premiere, is revealed in a six-part web series.
9. The Walking Dead: Season two (13 episodes)
Drama continues to impact our survivors as they hole up on Hershel's farm. Sophia goes missing, Shane loses his mind, and key characters like Maggie and Michonne also make their debut.
10. The Walking Dead: Cold Storage web series (four episodes)
In the early days of the outbreak, Chase finds shelter in a storage facility while searching for his sister.
11. The Walking Dead: Season three (16 episodes)
Rick's group find refuge in an abandoned prison, but not even that can save them all from the Governor's wrath.
12. The Walking Dead: The Oath web series (three episodes)
Paula and Karina seek help from a doctor named Gale after their camp is overrun by walkers.
13. The Walking Dead: Season four (16 episodes)
The Governor is finally defeated, but things aren't going so well at the prison still, so the gang seek out a new haven called Terminus, which is – shock horror – not quite what it seems.
14. The Walking Dead: Season five (16 episodes)
Big things happen to Beth and Carol at the hospital, while we also discover Eugene lied about his hunt for a cure. This season also introduces the Alexandria settlement.
15. The Walking Dead: Season six (16 episodes)
Rick takes over Alexandria but things go south real quick when Negan shows up...
16. The Walking Dead: Season seven (16 episodes)
New settlements including The Kingdom and Oceanside are introduced here as the battle against Negan continues.
Watch The Walking Dead on Disney+
17. The Walking Dead: Red Machete (six episodes)
Rick's machete is a star in its own right, so it's no wonder that it ended up getting its own six-part origin story.
18. The Walking Dead: Season eight (16 episodes)
There's a lot more fighting, as per usual, but the key takeaways here are Carl's death and Rick's decision to spare Negan his life, despite everything he's done.
19. Fear the Walking Dead: Season four (16 episodes)
Some major players die this season, including Nick and seemingly Madison. But hey, at least Morgan's back!
20. The Walking Dead: Season nine (16 episodes)
This is the season where Rick seemingly dies, only to be snatched away by the CRM. A six-year time jump ensues where a new group called The Whisperers attack.
21. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024)
The Rick and Michonne spin-off, which was later titled The Ones Who Live, is set some time around here, post-time jump.
A title card in the spin-off show's premiere revealed that the events were set five years after the bridge, which played out towards the earlier end of season nine. If you need a reminder, Rick Grimes exited the main series when he was kidnapped by the Civic Republic Military in a helicopter as the bridge exploded.
Addressing whether The Ones Who Live season two is on the cards, creator Scott Gimple told TVLine: "That's possible."
"It was a wild ride to make The Ones Who Live. It was like six years of a lot of hoping and pivoting and working," he concluded. "It didn't eventuate the way I thought it would; it eventuated so much better."
22. Fear The Walking Dead: Season five (16 episodes)
Morgan is now the leader and he has a thing for Grace. Dwight from The Walking Dead also pops up for a cheeky crossover.
23. The Walking Dead: Season 10 (22 episodes)
Negan escapes and seemingly betrays the group to Alpha, but at the last minute, we discover he's been working with Carol to take the Whisperers down from the inside all along.
Watch The Walking Dead: World Beyond on Amazon Prime Video
24. The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Season one (10 episodes)
Ten years into the apocalypse, a group of teenagers in Nebraska go look for their missing father while under threat from the CRM.
25. The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Season two (10 episodes)
Reunited, the group discover that the CRM are secretly experimenting on walkers in search of a cure. An after-credits scene reveals a new kind of zombie in France that's faster and stronger than any we've seen before.
26. Fear the Walking Dead: Season six (16 episodes)
Lots of people die, but what's most important is that a cult tries to set off a series of bombs which threaten to kill everyone completely.
27. The Walking Dead: Season 11 (24 episodes)
The final season of The Walking Dead ends on a happy note with the majority of our faves safe and sound in the kind of community they've always longed for.
28. Fear the Walking Dead: Season seven (16 episodes)
War breaks out between different factions in the now-irradiated wasteland we used to call Texas.
29. Fear the Walking Dead: Season eight (12 episodes)
The final takes place several years later with our faves now living on an island known as Padre.
30. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (six episodes)
Daryl winds up in France where he meets a bunch of new people and the scary, fast walkers previously introduced at the end of World Beyond.
The premiere episode revealed that the show takes place 12 years after the outbreak, which places it at around one year after the main show’s finale.
31. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (season 2) — The Book of Carol (six episodes)
Daryl Dixon's story continues, this time with more emphasis on Carol (Melissa McBride).
As McBride put it: "I've known there was much more to be told of Carol's story as I felt her so unsettled when we last saw her, as she watched her best friend, Daryl, ride away.
"Apart or (hopefully!) together, their stories run deep, and I'm so excited to continue Carol's journey here," (via TV Line).
The Carol-focused second instalment forces McBride's character to confront old demons as she continues to hunt down the crossbowman. Meanwhile Daryl is still wrestling with his decision to stay in France.
Following the success of one and two, a third season of the spin-off series is already in development.
32. The Walking Dead: Dead City (six episodes)
Maggie and Negan are forced to reunite as they search for Hershel in New York City.
The show takes place between five to six years after the very last episode of the main show.
Dead City was renewed for a second season ahead of its season-one finale last year, with Dan McDermott of AMC teasing: “We can't wait to bring Dead City fans back to the epicentre of Manhattan for more zip-lining action with Maggie and Negan.”
In case you're wondering, Fear the Walking Dead had a huge time jump between seasons three and four, which is why they're so far apart in the timeline.
And don't forget that individual episodes from Tales of the Walking Dead span the entirety of this timeline, too.
The Walking Dead — Future projects
Don't you worry. When you've caught up with everything listed above, there's more Walking Dead zombie goodness heading your way.
More Tales of The Walking Dead (TBC)
Following on from 2022's Tales of The Walking Dead, another season of the anthology show has now been confirmed. Expect to see more fan favourites return like Samantha Morton's Alpha did in season one.
However, these Tales will be much shorter than previous episodes because this series is now being made for AMC's Content Room specifically. It seems that the idea is to connect different parts of The Walking Dead universe with quick snippets that enrich the wider narrative.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season three (TBC)
The third chapter of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is on its way! Early footage places Daryl and Carol on the streets of London.
However a trailer, dropped May 2025, confirmed that somewhere along their journey the two will wash ashore in Spain following an accident on their sailboat.
That's not the only confirmation that was made. While the exact release date is still under lock and key, the trailer did reveal that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will return in autumn 2025.
The teaser features a voiceover from Carol, who seems to have a kernel of hope as she touches on the possibility of a future when she states: "First you survive what happened. Then you survive the survival. If you're lucky you can start living again."
The pair will be joined by Stephen Merchant, whose role is still under wraps. He's not the only new cast member to join the series as Eduardo Noriega, Óscar Jaenada and Alexandra Masangkay have signed on as series regulars.
The Walking Dead in order — how to watch The Walking Dead universe in release order
Just in case chronology isn't your thing, we've also included a guide to explain how fans can watch The Walking Dead universe unfold in order of release:
1. The Walking Dead (2010 – 2022)
2. The Walking Dead webisodes (2011 – 2013) including:
— The Walking Dead: Torn Apart
— The Walking Dead: Cold Storage
— The Walking Dead: The Oath
3. Fear The Walking Dead (2015 – Present)
4. Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462 (2015 – 2016)
5. Fear The Walking Dead: Passage (2016 – 2017)
6. The Walking Dead: Red Machete (2017 – 2018)
7. The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020 – 2021)
8. Fear the Walking Dead: Dead in the Water (2022)
9. Tales of The Walking Dead (2022)
10. The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023)
11. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023 - present)
12. The Walking Dead: Ones Who Live (2024)
13. More Tales of the Walking Dead (TBC)
There are well over 300+ hours of grisly zombie content here for you to enjoy, and you better start now, because who knows how many more spin-offs and films will be announced in the coming years. The petition for a web series starring Daryl's dog begins here.
The Walking Dead season 11 airs on AMC in the US and STAR on Disney+ in the UK.
Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond are both available on Prime Video.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
