The Walking Dead's 15 Best Episodes, Ranked

With all the subsequent "The Walking Dead" spin-offs, it's easy to forget how groundbreaking and thoroughly entertaining the original TV series was. Based on the black-and-white comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, the mothership television adaptation premiered in 2010 on AMC. A critical success that garnered an enormous viewership and fanbase, the show went on to run for 11 seasons with well over 100 episodes in total. And while the series may have gotten a bit long in the tooth by the end, numerous episodes stand out among the best TV stories ever told in zombie horror.

Whether it's the intense finales that closed out each season or ambitious season premieres that shook up the status quo, "The Walking Dead" consistently produced strong episodes. In some cases, the greatest installments of the main series were quiet slices-of-life tales in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. For those looking to dive back into the show that started a global phenomenon, here are its 15 best episodes, ranked.

One thing that "The Walking Dead" consistently excels at is shaking up the status quo for its main characters. This occurs in the second season finale, "Beside the Dying Fire," which begins in the aftermath of the death of Jon Bernthal's Shane Walsh. Attracted by the noise, a large zombie horde attacks Hershel's farm, which had been the characters' safe haven all season. This results in several major character deaths, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) revealing a dark truth about the outbreak, and the group being forced to search for a new refuge.

The second season of "The Walking Dead" is generally seen as a weaker era for the main series, and it feels largely moribund on the farm. "Beside the Dying Fire" shakes things up in a much-needed way, finally ditching the farm with the usual blood and mayhem for which the show is known. The season finale also sets a clear and exciting way forward, introducing the fan-favorite Michonne (Danai Gurira) and the next season's prison setting. An effective course correction after a sophomore slump, "Beside the Dying Fire" dialed up the series' hype again.

The fourth season of "The Walking Dead" introduces a hostile faction of cannibalistic survivors in a community they called Terminus. After Rick, Carol, and their allies destroy Terminus at the start of the fifth season, they encounter its scattered residents in subsequent episodes. The Terminus storyline is resolved in "Four Walls and a Roof," with the cannibals' feast of Bob Stookey (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) derailed by the discovery that Bob was infected. Rick ambushes the remaining Terminus forces while the group mourns the loss of Bob in his final moments.

More than just a send-off for Bob, "Four Walls and a Roof" brings Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) deeper into the fold after his prior debut. Through Bob getting the last laugh on Terminus and Rick making good on his promise to kill cannibals, the episode feels like a well-earned payoff. Father Gabriel brings another morally complicated and compromised character into the ensemble, something Gilliam develops during his lengthy stint on the show. The fifth season struggles to find direction after resolving the Terminus storyline, but its coda here is magnificently staged.

The second half of the fourth season features the main characters fending for themselves in the wilderness after losing their home. The group reconvenes when they are captured by the Terminus cannibals in the season finale, simply titled "A." Rick's unit reunites with a rival faction that threatens him and his friends, causing Rick to finally snap and savagely kill them. This victory is short-lived, with Rick and his allies taken captive by Terminus, though a determined Rick isn't planning to surrender.

"A" starts with a flashback to the prison, where Rick is trying to put his violent past behind him, enjoy the hard-earned community he's founded, and be a good parent. This episode implies that such peace is fleeting at best in this harsh world. After seeing Rick down in the dumps following the loss of the prison, it's nice seeing him reassert himself, even if it's done to brutal extremes. But really, "The Walking Dead" wouldn't have it any other way, promising even greater retribution with the season's cliffhanger ending.

The Whisperers are one of the most memorable rival survivor factions on "The Walking Dead." This faction conceals itself among zombies by wearing dead skin and staying quiet. As Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) took on more of a leadership role after the departure of Rick, his first major challenge was the conflict with the Whisperers. The faction's sinister leader, Alpha (Samantha Morton), issues a lethal reminder to her rivals by marking the Whisperers' territory with the heads of several major characters in "The Calm Before."

There is already a sense of imbalance right from the start of "The Calm Before." But the episode's final reveal, with 11 familiar faces unceremoniously decapitated off-screen and discovered by Daryl, is the real emotional gut punch. This is coupled by the first glimpses of Alpha's own vulnerabilities, adding complexity to the villain as she keeps this murderously under wraps. As the penultimate episode of Season 9, "The Calm Before" sets the stage for the bloody Whisperer War that shapes the entire following season.

When Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bursts on the scene in the sixth season finale, he sets up a cliffhanger ending at the same level as "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" After months of speculation, the seventh season premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," confirms who he mercilessly murdered. However, rather than only claiming one victim with his infamous barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille, Negan kills two fan-favorite characters to start the season, then completely breaks Rick's spirit in a show of force. 

Negan executing Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) in the biggest TV death of 2016 (and, to a lesser degree, Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz)) still haunts the "Walking Dead" franchise. Even with the knowledge that a gruesome death is coming, the moment is still shocking, with the violence going to grisly lengths. "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" marks a turning point for the series, including a level of evil that Negan never quite recaptured. "The Walking Dead" was never the same after its seventh season premiere, with the episode resolving a cliffhanger and showcasing its longest-running villain.

Negan is the most morally complex character on "The Walking Dead," at once a villain, but not without his own sympathetic nuance. His history is explored in the Season 10 episode "Here's Negan," as he embarks on a journey with Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). Flashbacks depict Negan in the early days of the zombie outbreak, taking care of his terminally ill wife Lucille (Jeffrey Dean Morgan's real-life wife, Hilarie Burton-Morgan), atoning for his treatment of her prior to the apocalypse. These recollections inform how Negan deals with being permitted to live by the Alexandria community in the present, albeit banished to a nearby cabin.

A lingering debate after Negan's defeat with his army of Saviors is whether he's a redeemable character. This is a question that persists into the spin-off continuation series "The Walking Dead: Dead City" with Negan's evolving return. That question of atonement is something that happens here, and Morgan beautifully captures how his character became the sneering warlord that he was introduced to be. A more introspective tale for the normally outgoing charmer, "Here's Negan" provides a sympathetic backstory for the villain everyone loves to hate.

Finding a new home in the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Rick asserts his control over the survivor community in the sixth season. After an accident leaves the community vulnerable to a large zombie horde, Rick tries to lead the Anderson family to safety in the episode "No Way Out." Camouflaged with undead gore, Rick leads the family through the heart of the horde, only for tragedy to strike. This is coupled with Daryl and his group running into a new faction of hostile survivors known as the Saviors.

The threat of the huge zombie horde is something that has been brewing since the start of the sixth season, reaching its fiery climax here. The episode is thematically about finding hope and courage in the face of insurmountable odds and enormous setbacks. Though Rick loses the Andersons and nearly his own son Carl (Chandler Riggs), he inspires the others to fight back against the horde and reclaim their home. This makes for an episode that's a rollercoaster ride of gory horror to hard-fought triumph, ending on a rare positive note.

Going into its ninth season, "The Walking Dead" loudly announced the departure of Andrew Lincoln and his longtime protagonist, Rick Grimes. This exit finally occurs in the season's fifth episode, "What Comes After," with a gravely wounded Rick trying to lure a walker horde away from his community. Suffering from blood loss, Rick begins hallucinating, seeing important figures from his past, like Shane and Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson). This culminates in an explosive last stand on a bridge between Rick and the horde, leading to the Hilltop community.

In addition to providing Lincoln with his send-off from the main series, "What Comes After" is also Norman Reedus' favorite episode. The installment is a beautiful tour through the series' own history up until that point, with welcome returns from past characters. Lincoln approaches Rick's farewell with all due gravitas that the performance deserves, bringing a solemnity to the role. Lincoln would reprise his role as Rick elsewhere, but for now, "What Comes After" is an emotional coda for the character.

The sixth season of "The Walking Dead" steadily builds up a conflict against the Saviors and their long-unseen leader, Negan. It isn't until the final scene of the season, in the finale "Last Day on Earth," that Negan finally makes his grand on-screen debut. Captured by the Saviors, Rick and his associates are taken deep into enemy territory for judgment by Negan himself. This culminates in Negan taunting his captive audience before beating one of Rick's group to death before their horrified compatriots (though we don't know who the victim is until the following season premiere).

After weeks of hearing about Negan, there was a lot of anticipation for the villain's big reveal in "Last Day on Earth." With Rick & Co. at the mercy of the Saviors for much of the episode, there is a growing sense of helplessness and dread as they progress toward their captor. That's where Jeffrey Dean Morgan comes in, and he masterfully plays his antagonistic role with a mix of playfulness and menace. There were several actors in consideration to play Negan, but after his first scene as the character, it's easy to see why Morgan landed the part.

The last big step in Carol's evolution into a hardened survivor unfolds in the Season 2 episode "Pretty Much Dead Already." For much of the second season, Carol's daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) is missing, with the survivors occasionally searching for her. As the season progresses, it's revealed that Hershel secretly kept zombies sequestered inside his barn, hoping for an eventual cure. When the group learns about this, they force the barn open to execute the zombies and avoid the glaring danger in their midst, discovering a zombified Sophia among the undead.

"Pretty Much Dead Already" telegraphs the twist that Sophia has been long-dead early on, but its final confirmation is no less heartbreaking. Carol's hope in finding her daughter was the only thing keeping her going, and her and Hershel's harsh reality check provides the episode with a bitter ending. Stripped of her child and faith, Carol becomes a stone-cold warrior while the season's inciting mystery comes to a melancholy end. Sophia's passing in "The Walking Dead" is one of its most upsetting deaths, and it doesn't even occur on-screen.

The fourth season of "The Walking Dead" ends on a cliffhanger, with Rick and his group taken captive by a group of cannibals in their community, Terminus. This plot thread is resolved in tremendously bloody fashion in the subsequent Season 5 premiere, "No Sanctuary." The episode has Rick escape and attack his captors while Carol launches her own assault on the cannibals. This is coupled with flashbacks revealing how the residents of Terminus became so hostile to visitors, learning the hard way not to be so trusting of other survivors.

Even when outnumbered and outgunned, it's cathartically thrilling to see Rick and Carol turn the tables on Terminus, which is completely unprepared for the brutal retaliation. The flashback sequences suggest Rick and his group could turn just as savage as Terminus, though there's the implication that they already have, in some ways. These parallels don't overshadow the action, of course, which kicks the fifth season into high gear right from the start. A visceral showcase for Rick and Carol in particular, "No Sanctuary" shows how far the characters have come since leaving the prison.

Like any horror story, "The Walking Dead" isn't afraid to pepper in major character deaths every step of the way. The third season brings some heartbreaking losses to the forefront right away in its fourth episode, "Killer Within." Rick leads his group to secure the prison as their new home, clearing out the zombies that have managed to breach the courtyard. The battle unfolds as Rick's wife, Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies), goes into labor, facing severe complications that threaten her life along with her daughter Judith's.

From Lori's death to the heroic sacrifice of T-Dog (IronE Singleton), there are a lot of emotionally devastating moments in "Killer Within." The story had already taken an immense toll on Rick and his son Carl, but this episode brings both to their lowest point so far. Beyond its big character deaths, the episode is an unrelentingly intense watch as the survivors desperately battle walkers and try to find out who let them inside the prison.

The very first episode of "The Walking Dead" is one heck of an opening statement. "Days Gone Bye" has Rick and Shane chasing criminals before the zombie outbreak, resulting in Rick getting shot and going into a lengthy coma. Regaining consciousness weeks later, Rick finds the hospital he was recuperating in completely abandoned, with flesh-eating undead roaming the surrounding area. After learning what occurred while he was incapacitated, Rick sets out to the ruins of Atlanta to find and reunite with his family.

"Days Gone Bye" provides the series with a haunting opener, with Rick seemingly depicted as the last man on Earth. Rick wandering the abandoned hospital, his initial encounters with zombies, and his riding a lone horse into an overrun Atlanta are among the most iconic sequences on the show. There is a cinematic scale to introducing "The Walking Dead" to the television masses through this premiere episode, finding a brutal serenity in the end of the world. "Days Gone Bye" effectively sets the tone for the series out of the gate before dialing things up considerably as the show progresses.

A final battle against the Governor (David Morrissey) had been brewing since the third season of "The Walking Dead." The psychopathic manipulator had developed a grudge against Rick and the inhabitants of the prison after multiple skirmishes. This feud reaches its climax in the fourth season episode "Too Far Gone," with the Governor deceiving a survivor faction he's taken control of to attack the prison. Using a tank, the Governor breaches the prison's walls while personally executing Hershel in front of his shocked daughters.

What makes "Too Far Gone" such a tragic episode is that it's a bitter showdown between two survivor factions, all because of the vengeful actions of one man. The Governor's army realizes far too late that they've been steered into a heated confrontation based on lies, with the group surrounded by zombies as the fighting intensifies, escalating the danger. Meanwhile, the main group endures the most harrowing losses it's suffered so far, robbing them of their thriving community and many loved ones. Even though the Governor is ultimately defeated, there is nothing triumphant about this battle.

Sometimes the best episodes on "The Walking Dead" are its quietest and most scaled-down, in comparison to its big, bombastic counterparts. The fourth season episode "The Grove" has Carol and Tyreese (Chad Coleman) shelter at a pecan grove with sisters Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Mika Samuels (Kyla Kenedy). Lizzie begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior, including an empathic connection with the zombies, culminating in her murdering Mika. Realizing Lizzie is too dangerous to be left alive, Tyreese and Carol must make a hard decision on how to proceed.

If it's not clear already, we're big fans of Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier; she's the unsung MVP of the series. Seeing her struggle with the realization about Lizzie's true nature and what she has to do is among her best actions on the show. The episode also delves into the psychological toll of the zombie outbreak on the young while unveiling some of the mysteries present since the start of the fourth season. "The Grove" doesn't have the big brutal battles of other episodes, but is no less devastating in its intimate exploration of the zombie apocalypse's steep cost on humanity.