Interesting Fun Facts About The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a unique television series that follows a group of survivors during the zombie apocalypse. Set in Georgia, a band of people led by policeman Rick Grimes, wanders the state looking for refuge and supplies - all the while fighting for their very lives.

On October 14^th at 9:00 PM, EST, The Walking Dead will usher in its third season. It has already become the single most watched show on cable television, and is the channel AMC's highest rated show in the history of the station.

I was challenged to write a hub about some of the fun facts about this show, and I learned that there are many, many things to write and talk about where this program is concerned. I've included only the most interesting.

Please note that there WILL BE SPOILERS ahead. If you have not seen seasons one and two in their entirety, you may want to read no further.

The Walking Dead Season One Official Trailer

1. The Walking Dead Trivia

1. True to it's genre, The Walking Dead's very first episode premiered on Halloween night, October 31, 2010.
2. In the very first episode, Days Gone Bye, Carl Grimes, Rick's son, is wearing a Science Dog t-shirt. Science Dog is a character created by Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead.
3. Daryl Dixon, unlikely fan favorite of the show (played by Norman Reedus) uses a specific type of crossbow, a Horton Scout HD 125. This thing retails for about $300.00 (US) and Reedus has said that he takes it home with him after filming. Dick's Sporting Goods says that the Horton Scout HD 125 is for 'individuals who want a smaller crossbow with a lighter draw weight.'
4. Zombies in TWD are never referred to as 'zombies.' There are different terms used for them, especially in the comics, with walkers being the most prevalent. They're known as roamers, lurkers, floaters, 'the herd,' and biters. In the show, the characters T-Dog and Glen often refer to them as geeks.
5. Though it's not widely known, the character T-Dog's real name is Theodore Douglas in the show. He is played by the actor IronE Singleton.
6. In the world of The Walking Dead, walkers outnumber the living about 5000 to 1.
7. In episode five of season one, we learn that it has been five and a half months since the walkers took over the world.
8. The fact that walkers will eat animals other than humans is a nod to Romero, who's living dead would eat any warm blooded, living creatures. In The Walking Dead, walkers will not eat anything that has previously expired. Walkers have eaten deer, chickens, rats and dogs on the show.
9. One big theory is that the virus that causes people to become walkers upon death is not contagious, everyone already has it, or it's somehow in the air or the water. It is speculated that the walker's bite, and possibly their scratches, however, are always fatal. People who expire for reasons other than zombie bites or scratches will also reanimate, unless their brains are severely damaged prior to death.
10. In season one, special effects guru Greg Nicotero played not one, but two walkers! He was the walker who bit Andrea's sister Amy as well as the zombie eating the deer right when Daryl Dixon was introduced to viewers. The super-gross bloated 'walker in the well' from season two was played by makeup artist Brian Keith Hillard.
11. According to Jenner, the scientist at the CDC in Atlanta at the end of season one, the deceased will reanimate in as little as three minutes, or as long as eight hours depending on the physical and mental conditions they were in at death. That character's full name, by the way, Edwin Jenner, is a nod to the English scientist who developed the smallpox vaccine in the 1790's. His name was Edward Jenner.
12. There was a lot of controversy about what Jenner actually said to Rick Grimes just before the survivors left the CDC at the end of season one. In the BluRay edition of TWD season one, if you turn the center channel audio up very high, you can actually hear Jenner say: "It's in your blood. We're all carriers." Rick doesn't divulge this information to the other survivors until the end of season two.
13. Frank Darabondt, the executive producer of TWD's first season, is an accomplished film director. His credits include The Shawshank Redemption,The Green Mile and The Mist. He also wrote the script for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, among others. A little extra trivia: Darabondt was born in 1959 in a refugee camp after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and his family immigrated to the US when he was a baby. Darabondt is now the executive producer for a TNT show called LA Noir, starring Jon Bernthal, who played Shane in TWD.
14. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn, the guy who played Dale on TWD, was also a cast member on all of Frank Darabondt's movies.
15. In season one, the scene where Merle Dixon starts shooting off his gun on the rooftop caused a little bit of real-life chaos. Some people did not know they were filming, thought that Michael Rooker was a sniper and called the police. A SWAT team actually showed up. Fortunately no one was arrested!
16. The character Rick Grimes is from King County, Georgia, which is a fictitious place. It was named in honor of Stephen King, who is a very good friend of Frank Darabondt's.
17. TWD is not Robert Kirkman's only venture into comic books. He also wrote for Marvel comics, for the titles Marvel Zombies and Ultimate X-Men. TWD is distributed by Image Comics, as is his title Invincible, about a Superman-like character called Invincible, who is an extra-terrestrial with amazing super powers. There is a rumor that he will be working the Dixon brothers into the TWD comics, as they are original characters to the show and do not appear in the books.
18. For Sophia's final scene in season two, the actress Madison Lintz was subjected to a variety of different make up and special effects procedures. She had to swish a liquid in her mouth to turn her gums zombie-black. Greg Nicotero stated on The Talking Dead, TWD's after-show, that Madison's solution was specially flavored to make it less gross.
19. Glen Mazzara, the TWD show-runner, has said that the now famous massacre at the barn scene is affectionately referred to as Barn-ageddon.
20. In the show, Andrea had a little bit of a love affair with Shane, who hated Dale. In the books, though, Shane met his maker very early in the series and Andrea and Dale are the two who hooked up.
21. Though we saw Michonne at the end of season two, saving Andrea's life, her actor hadn't even been hired when the episode filmed. Actor Danai Gurira has some pretty big shoes to fill, since Michonne is one of the biggest badasses in the comics.
22. The season two series finale attracted nine million total viewers, making it the most successful episode of the show so far.
23. Because of the success of seasons one and two, AMC has ordered eighteen episodes for season three. Season two had thirteen, season one had only six.