Every Walking Dead Show, Ranked Worst to Best

I’m obsessed with The Walking Dead. I’ve read the comics, played the games, and watched all the shows. That means many hundreds of hours of my life have been spent in The Walking Dead universe, which is why I feel qualified to rank the TV shows from worst to best.

For the uninitiated, you may be surprised to know just how many Walking Dead spin-off shows there are. I think they all have redeeming qualities, but some are certainly better than others.

7

Tales of the Walking Dead

Tales of the Walking Dead is the franchise’s anthology series, with each episode telling a different story. The majority of characters are new, though one episode is about the pre-Whisperer life of Alpha (Samantha Morton), an unsettling survivor from the later seasons of the main show.

You could theoretically know nothing about The Walking Dead and start watching with Tales, though it would be a bumpy introduction. Some episodes are better than others, and the show is at its best when it takes risks with the structure, like a time loop tale starring Parker Posey and Jillian Bell; elsewhere, it’s hard to care much about the outcome.

A second season is on the way, though technically it was announced as a separate show with a tentative title of More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe. Hopefully it’ll be more consistently enjoyable than the first.

6

World Beyond

When I started watching World Beyond, I thought it was terrible. If this was my introduction to the Walking Dead universe, I surely would have given up. The wooden acting and weak dialogue make it a bit of a slog to get through initially.

But then something clicks after a handful of episodes, particularly as the show moves into the second season; you learn more about the Civic Republic Military and, importantly, start to care about the characters.

That’s not to say World Beyond ever ascends into greatness. The story, which begins with a bunch of sheltered teenagers venturing out into the dangerous world, is often illogical at a macro and micro level. Unless you want to see everything The Walking Dead offers, you could easily skip this.

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5

Fear the Walking Dead

I’m not sure if I’ve ever watched a show that varies in quality so much as Fear the Walking Dead. At the beginning it focuses on the Clark family as they deal with the early stages of the apocalypse, supported by some excellent characters like Victor Strand (portrayed by the endlessly charismatic Colman Domingo).

With season four, the show shifts into something else entirely, putting the spotlight on Morgan Jones (Lennie James) who crosses over from the main show. James does the best with what he’s given, but he and the rest of the cast are often poorly served by undercooked writing.

That’s not to say the show is bad from here, though, and there’s still plenty to like—season six is one of the highlights because it looks great, people talk more like actual humans, and it has a worthy villain. When at its peak, Fear offers some of the best entertainment in the entire Walking Dead universe, you just have to deal with a bunch of garbage too.

4

Dead City

If you’ve seen the main show, the concept of Negan and Maggie starring in a spin-off together is bizarre. While Dead City never quite overcomes that contrivance, especially because it undoes the relative closure the two characters had, it’s still fun to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan play around in this world.

Dead City moves the action to Manhattan, which gives it a distinct atmosphere in a city filled with walkers, and also introduces us to some of its living inhabitants—though many of them are forgettable or their potential is wasted.

It’s certainly watchable and entertaining enough, and I’ll lap it up for as long as they make it, but whether it ever truly justifies its existence is debatable.

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3

Daryl Dixon

Daryl is a fan favorite character from the main show, so it makes sense that he would get his own spin-off with the suitably titled Daryl Dixon. It sees him end up in France, unable to speak the language but still able to dispatch the undead with ease.

Norman Reedus can play Daryl with his eyes closed, but he still manages to bring new elements, particularly in moments of vulnerability. He’s complemented by Clémence Poésy as Isabelle, a nun who sees the potential in Daryl and tasks him with an important mission.

Daryl Dixon is wonderfully shot and the French scenery gives it an entirely different tone to the other shows. It’s not flawless—the villain’s motives are generic, for one—but it’s gripping nonetheless.

2

The Ones Who Live

Fans have waited years to see Rick Grimes on screen again and we were rewarded with The Ones Who Live. Rick is a morally gray man who will do anything to protect those he loves, which makes him a wonderful character to watch, and Andrew Lincoln plays him with such intensity. This show also stars the fantastic Danai Gurira as Michonne, firing on all cylinders.

After being featured in various capacities throughout the main show and the spin-offs, particularly in World Beyond, it’s here that we get the cumulation of the Civic Republic Military story. It’s interesting to see just how far the walker-infested universe has come.

Six episodes look slight on paper compared to the main show that often had sixteen per season, but it means there is no fat—this is a propulsive story that doesn’t waste time, though it can feel rushed as a result. Overall, it’s a roaring success.

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1

The Walking Dead

It might seem obvious, but nothing beats The Walking Dead. It’s the place where everything began. The show ran for over a decade, following a group of survivors through a farm, prison, and many communities, dealing with unimaginable horrors.

It’s impossible to pick a favorite character because there are too many. Apart from those who feature in the spin-offs, there are legends like Hershel, Glenn, Ezekiel, Sasha, Rosita, and Eugene. Everyone is fantastically cast and it’s always gut-wrenching whenever anyone meets their doom.

While I’m particularly fond of the early years, especially the dynamic between Rick and Shane, I think The Walking Dead remained enjoyable throughout, though there are times when it went too far with the violence (I’m looking at you, Negan). The biggest criticism I have is that the wider plot occasionally progresses slowly, but that bump is smoother nowadays than when the show released because you can immediately jump to the next episode.

When The Walking Dead comic debuted in 2003, no-one could have imagined it would turn into the media behemoth it is, with many TV shows under its belt. I still think there’s life left in the walkers, so I’m excited to see where the franchise goes next.