Throughout the television universe's 14-year history, The Walking Dead has kept plenty of secrets regarding the zombie virus, but the franchise has revealed more and more about the outbreak as time went on. The zombie series has always been a more character-driven story, with love, violence, and death taking center stage; however, the undead have still played a massive part in the narrative. Walkers were a seemingly unstoppable threat when the show first debuted, but despite survivors learning to adapt and fight off the infected, the origins of The Walking Dead's zombie virus went unexplained for some time.
Luckily, with the introduction of numerous spinoff shows alongside the evolution of variants, more has been unveiled about how the apocalypse began and what sort of impact it had on other countries. Despite the original series focusing strictly on the US, other shows have explored some major details about how the rest of the world reacted to The Walking Dead's outbreak, with Daryl Dixon showing this firsthand, while World Beyond offered some subtle glimpses. Unfortunately, viewers may have missed several details by not watching every spinoff, but the franchise has disclosed some crucial bits of information regarding zombies.
The Walking Dead's Zombie Virus Was Created By Scientists In France
An Experiment Gone Wrong Appears To Be What Caused The Beginning Of The Outbreak
Daryl Dixon season 1 took the franchise to France for the first time in 2023, but the country has played a huge role from the get-go. Despite the zombie virus spreading worldwide, it was all started by some scientists in France, who appear to have caused the entire outbreak. While the comics never explained how the world fell apart, World Beyond's post-credit scene gives some massive clues to what actually happened in the Walking Dead universe, and although an exact description is never given, a confrontation between a French scientist and a mysterious man provides some vital information.
The man mentions a facility in France where an experiment was being worked on by scientists all over the world, suggesting this was likely the zombie virus. His anger towards the female scientist further indicates her guilt, as he seems to put the blame on her and her colleagues for causing this deadly disease. However, the scientist confirms that the experiment was never supposed to be released to the world and that the Primrose team was traveling to Ohio when the outbreak started, meaning something else caused their creation to be let loose into the world.
Daryl Dixon also shows France on day one of the apocalypse on multiple occasions, further cementing the country as the birthplace of zombies in The Walking Dead universe.
It's possible that a group of people attacked the laboratory where the experiment was being worked on as the scientist drops a cryptic line, claiming "When you all did what you did." While this exchange doesn't offer any exact details into how the virus started, the conversation heavily implies it was accidentally made by scientists in France, before a potential raid on the facility resulted in it being exposed. Daryl Dixon also shows France on day one of the apocalypse on multiple occasions, further cementing the country as the birthplace of zombies in The Walking Dead universe.
What Dr. Jenner Revealed About How The Virus Works
Dr. Jenner Confirmed The Virus Impacts Everyone Even If They Haven't Been Bitten
Most of the crucial details regarding the zombie virus have been uncovered in the past few years, but The Walking Dead did offer some huge reveals back in season 1. During the finale, the survivors encounter a scientist named Dr. Jenner who is living in a secure facility with hot water and useful resources. His set-up and knowledge seemed like it would be the perfect recipe to survive the apocalypse, as he explains to the main group how the reanimation process works and mentions that the brain is what has to be destroyed to kill walkers.
However, his secret message to Rick is the reason Jenner gives up and explodes his own stronghold. Jenner informs the protagonist that everyone is infected, even if they haven't been bitten, meaning everyone will suffer the same fate when they die unless they sustain an injury to the brain. Rick doesn't tell his fellow survivors until season 2 - the same time the audience finds out - making it a truly shocking moment that changes the entire franchise, and despite Robert Kirkman regretting The Walking Dead's CDC episode, it became crucial to the franchise thanks to Jenner.
Even though he died in the season 1 finale, Dr. Jenner did reappear almost a decade later via a video message in World Beyond's finale. It showcased that he was communicating with French scientists during the early days of the apocalypse and documenting his findings. Although his message doesn't highlight too much new information, he does mention that America didn't see any signs of variants during the early stages, which would indicate that their creation happened in France, just like the virus.
What Happened When The Walking Dead's Virus Started Spreading
The World Quickly Turned To Chaos As Different Areas Adopted Unique Strategies To Contain The Virus
The beginning of the new world led to countries and locations acting differently, with panic and chaos quickly taking over in The Walking Dead universe. Naturally, places tried to contain the virus as it began spreading, but nowhere really seemed to get it right, with season 1 providing insight into how Atlanta dealt with the outbreak. Survivors initially tried to evacuate to a safe zone set up by the military, but napalm bombs were dropped on the city just a few weeks in, showing the drastic measures that were taken.
The rest of America as well as Canada followed suit, with soldiers even being instructed to execute survivors in safe zones in a last-ditch attempt to minimize the virus' impact. These actions resulted in America and Canada collapsing. Less is known about how the rest of the world reacted to the initial outbreak, but Daryl Dixon's flashback scenes showed that there was a similar panic in France. Police tried to defuse the situation when people first started reanimating, but this only created a level of lawlessness that sparked pandemonium, prompting people to leave the major cities.
While it hasn't been confirmed, Daryl Dixon suggested the United Kingdom may have survived The Walking Dead's zombie apocalypse, at least for a while. One line in season 2's finale indicates that the army locked down the island fairly quickly and that it was in a good place, meaning the country may have responded better than most locations. Still, the teaser trailer for season 3 shows some mossy, isolated environments, meaning the UK likely still got hit hard by the virus, which highlights just how differently civilians and authorities reacted around the globe.
Zombie Variants: What We Know About The Walking Dead's Super-Zombies
Zombie Variants Seemed To Start In France & Are A Human Creation
Zombie variants have become a big deal over the years, but plenty of questions remain about their origins. Technically, these super-powered zombies first appeared in season 1, although this was due to Frank Darabont having different ideas about how the infected would work before leaving his position as showrunner during season 2's production. However, it wasn't until season 11 that unique zombie types really began playing a role in the series, with the spinoffs also utilizing them more frequently, eventually leading to Daryl Dixon offering some clarity about the existence of variants.
The Walking Dead had zombie variants appear in both the season 1's premiere and the season 11 finale.
The show's main villain, Genet, used scientists to experiment on walkers and found a way to modify their behavior. As a result, multiple types of zombie variants appeared in Daryl Dixon, with some having the ability to run, others possessing enhanced strength, and a few even containing acidic blood. The exact process to create them isn't clear, but Genet gathered zombies from the US to make her serum work, and the spinoff even showed what happens when this substance is used on humans, as Pouvoir's leader suffered a horrific death after being injected.
Her experiments don't explain how all variants came into existence, as they have been around in France since the early days. Presumably, French scientists attempted to find a cure and ended up making things worse, as alluded to in World Beyond's post-credit scene. However, even if that is the case, it doesn't explain how these variants initially got to America or how they became so prominent, proving there is still more to learn about the super-powered undead.
Can The Walking Dead's Zombie Virus Be Cured?
A Cure Still Seems Unlikely Over A Decade Into The Apocalypse
Throughout The Walking Dead, there haven't been too many attempts at a cure, given most people are simply trying to survive, but some shows have explored the possibility. Dr. Jenner and his fellow scientists may have never made any major breakthroughs, but the CRM spent years researching the virus. Sadly, despite conducting numerous experiments and having experts on the subject, they still came up blank, resulting in the military faction devising a plan to make their community America's sole survivors, wiping out everyone else and taking their resources in the process.
Therefore, The Walking Dead 's survivors may continue working towards eliminating the threat of zombies and the virus, but there have still been no concrete signs of a cure over a decade into the apocalypse.
Additionally, June used radiation in Fear The Walking Dead to slow down the process of succumbing to a zombie bite, proving there are ways to manage the infection, despite no prevention being found just yet. Finally, Daryl Dixon has teased the idea of Laurent being immune given he was born while his mother had already turned into a walker, but his immunity has never been proven. Therefore, The Walking Dead's survivors may continue working towards eliminating the threat of zombies and the virus, but there have still been no concrete signs of a cure over a decade into the apocalypse.
