Andrew Lincoln’s Favorite Episode of The Walking Dead Is Still an Absolute Masterpiece 15 Years Later

Twenty-two years ago, one of the most influential pieces of apocalyptic media was born. Robert Kirkman published Issue 1 of The Walking Dead comics, part of the first volume, which is titled "Days Gone Bye." In 2010, AMC and Frank Darabont developed the story into a television adaptation, beginning with the pilot, also titled "Days Gone Bye." Over a decade later, the pilot still remains as one of television's finest masterpieces, and star Andrew Lincoln's favorite episode of the series.

Lincoln portrayed the protagonist Rick Grimes from Seasons 1 to 9, making a guest appearance in the series finale and reprising his role in the spinoff series, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Rick became an icon himself, a symbol of broken humanity, but also determined to survive in an apocalyptic world where society has perished. He was the perfect character to begin this series as a lone police officer waking up from a coma to the rise of zombies ("walkers," as the series calls them). Back in 2015, Lincoln admitted that the pilot episode would "always" be his favorite, calling it "extraordinary" for several reasons: Darabont's direction, the horror, and the rare opportunity to be chased by hundreds of walkers in downtown Atlanta. Being the face of The Walking Dead series and now franchise, Lincoln couldn't be more right.

The Walking Dead Hooked Viewers With a Simple Story

The Walking Dead entered the realm of television with a simple premise: a sheriff's deputy from Georgia wakes up from a coma to find that the world has changed. The dead have risen as zombies, and his wife and child are nowhere to be found. "All I am now is a man looking for his wife and son," Rick warns Merle Dixon in the second episode. "Anyone who gets in the way of that is going to lose." While Rick reunites with his family just two episodes later, the overall gist of the series is evident in the pilot. This is a story of not just survival, but of the human condition. It's an examination of how people cope when the world they know suddenly doesn't exist anymore, and they're forced to think about pure survival.

In introducing these themes of humanity becoming its own worst enemy, The Walking Dead subtly shows hints of how people can stoop to their lowest points if it means everyone for themselves. Rick is saved by a stranger named Morgan, whose wife is now a walker and is caring for his young son, Duane. Morgan and Duane are initially apprehensive about Rick because of the risk he poses as a potentially infected person. But after learning of Rick's predicament, in which he has no idea what's happening, Morgan takes Rick in without question.

Rick sees the walkers as a tragedy; he talks to them, expressing remorse that this happened to them, despite knowing that the person they once were is gone. But he still kills the walkers out of mercy, to put these people to rest. In contrast, Rick's best friend, Shane, turns down Lori's idea of putting signs on the highway to warn people about Atlanta. He's strict so that the group stays safe, even if it means letting other people walk into a graveyard. This difference in humanity, while mild, sets up a future conflict between Rick and Shane.

A notable element of the pilot is romance, particularly the love triangle between Rick, Shane and Lori. The series brilliantly pulls a jaw-dropping plot twist, just as shocking as the idea of dead people walking, when Rick pulls out a picture of his wife and son following a romantic scene between Lori and Shane. Lori is Rick's wife, the same one he mentioned to Shane before the apocalypse in a regrettable scene of bad taste, where he describes his troubled marriage. Not only does Rick have problems with the dead, but he unknowingly would face the challenge of his best friend and wife being in an intimate relationship. The love triangle is such an engrossing plot device for showing the free-for-all nature of this world, but also how people make complicated decisions to find comfort in turmoil.

"Days Gone Bye" Impressed With Iconic Imagery

Perhaps what The Walking Dead's pilot is most known for, beyond the story, is its imagery. Ever heard of "Don't Open, Dead Inside?" It's pulled straight from The Walking Dead in its first episode. Rick wakes up in the hospital, thinking everything is normal. Only there are small signs that they aren't. The flowers beside his bed are dead. The clock has stopped ticking. His monitor has no power. Nobody answers him when he falls and asks for a nurse. Rick doesn't have to comment on the disastrous environment around him to explain his fear or that something is clearly wrong. The set design does the job by itself.

The pilot probably features more iconic shots of The Walking Dead than any other episode combined. It was shot on film, something very few shows do these days, and while the CGI technology in 2010 isn't as advanced as it is today, it helped bring to life Darabont and Kirkman's vision of an apocalyptic Atlanta and the fictional King County. The show's imagery kept the style minimal to stick to the grounded tone of the story: shots of Rick riding in on a horse to Atlanta on an abandoned highway and the "Don't Open, Dead Inside" doors with walkers' hands grasping through the cracks, to name a couple.

And who can forget the walkers? Bicycle girl, the little girl walker and the tank walker are works of art in the horror genre. Those undead creatures are the source of The Walking Dead's nightmare that can't be woken up from. Greg Nicotero, who collaborated with Darabont and George Romero in the past, came on board to do the special effects for the walkers. The walker work even required extras to go through "zombie school," so it wasn't as simple as asking actors to slug around and moan. The detailed work that went into creating these walkers into terrifying creatures made Rick's situation more dynamic and chilling. There's a real sense that these creatures could exist in real life, if a zombie apocalypse were to occur.

The Walking Dead Pilot Set the Bar High for Future Season Premieres

The reasons above are exactly why "Days Gone Bye" exists on many lists of the best Walking Dead episodes, or general lists of the top TV show pilots of all time. The episode sets high expectations for the future of the series, not just of the following season premieres, but the pilots of future spinoffs. "Days Gone Bye" doesn't require flashy zombies, large-scale action sequences or gorgeous architecture. In fact, most of the episode's setting is quite plain and ugly, but nobody expects the apocalypse to be beautiful. At the time, the bare minimum was enough to establish the show's tone and Rick as an easy character to root for.

The structure of the episode's story is quite unique, and it can't really be replicated with such greatness in many other pilots or season premieres. Most of the episode solely follows Rick, with the occasional supporting character emerging. Morgan has more screentime than Shane, the deuteragonist at the time. Yet, Morgan never appears again until Season 3. Very rarely does one singular character carry a pilot without a supporting cast being majorly present as well, and it's largely because of Andrew Lincoln's performance as Rick. But everything about "Days Gone Bye" -- the direction, writing, setting, performances and special effects -- marks the beginning of a long journey where death isn't always necessarily the end.