What is The Walking Dead About? | The Walking Dead Facts
Based on a comic book originally created by Robert Kirkman over a decade ago, The Walking Dead chronicles the saga of Kentucky police officer Rick Grimes and his family in and around post zombie apocalyptic Atlanta. Various survivors must use their wits, courage, guns, knives, crossbows, and katanas to survive constantly attacking flesh-starved zombies. Much of the drama derives from infighting among humans for shelter, resources, and weapons.
Interestingly, the show does not use the word zombies and most often refers to the risen as walkers or biters (in some cases, even pejoratives like “lame brains”). Themes the TV show delves into include trust, power, family, territorialism, heroism, and redemption. This delving is largely what drives this show beyond the realm of mere entertainment, and into a sort of Game theory-with-a-storyline where human nature’s dualistic but conflicting tendencies toward cooperation and competition are constantly tested.