Vigna - Guts: the anatomy of The walking dead

To my son, Robert, my reason to keep fighting

In some ways, this book is an extension of the recaps of The Walking Dead that I write for the Wall Street Journal, and because of that, I figured itd be worth carrying over the ground rules Ive used there in writing about the show. First off, this is your one blanket spoiler alert: this book discusses everything on the TV show through season 7. For that matter, it also references The Walking Dead graphic novels, Fear the Walking Dead,The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor novels, Night of the Living Dead,The Odyssey, Mad Men,Cheers,The Sopranos, an Edgar Allan Poe story about zombies, and Historia rerum Anglicarum, a thirteenth-century book that contains the first recognizable zombie story. Do not read on if you care about spoilers. Second, while we will explore the concept of internal logic and story consistency, we are not going to waste time on nitpicking critiques (except for when we get to Glenn in the alley, when we will nitpick quite a lot). Lastly, this book is about the TV show called The Walking Dead, and while that is based on graphic novels, we are primarily interested here in the show, not the comics. Also, as a follower of the show first, I make a point of never reading ahead in the comics, so I dont really know what happens in that universe anyway. Dont spoil it for me.

It was a cold, rainy October night in New York City, and the wet pavement along Eighth Avenue, always a crowded spot in the heart of busy Midtown, was packed with people standing in a line waiting to get into what bills itself as the worlds most famous arena. It isnt an unusual occurrence, of course: The Garden has played host to Stanley Cup championships, the NBA Finals, the Fight of the Century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The Stones, Springsteen, Clapton, and Dylan have all walked its stage. However, the people excitedly milling around in the rain that October night werent there for a basketball game, or a concert, or politics. They werent there to see the pope, either; His Holiness had delivered a mass at the Garden two weeks earlier and charmed the city, but was long gone.

The crowds flocking outside the arena that night, October 9, 2015, were there to see The Walking Dead.

The executives behind AMCs wildly popular show about a group of zombie fighters surviving an apocalypse rented out the Garden for a special viewing party in the middle of the annual New York Comic Con, ahead of the shows season 6 premiere. Doing something at Comic Con was routine for a show like The Walking Dead, which was, after all, based on a graphic novel of the same name by Robert Kirkman (who also produces the show). But that night at the Garden was different, and the shows fans were giddy. Nobody had ever commandeered a setting as big and prestigious as Madison Square Garden for a TV show. Roughly fifteen thousand people had shown up for it. A stage was erected on the arena floor and designed to look like Alexandria, the fictional town where the series was set at the time (and still is as of this writing). Kirkman was there, as were producer Gale Anne Hurd, director Greg Nicotero, showrunner Scott Gimple, and the other executives. The hundreds of people in the crew were all there, seated on the floor to the right of the stage and occupying a dozen or so rows. And, of course, the entire cast was there, as well as actors whose characters had died over the shows run. Plenty of them were on hand.

Three massive screens hung from the rafters for an early premiere of the first episode of season 6, First Time Again, in which the Alexandrians discover an old quarry thats become a bottomless pit of walkers. Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), the former sheriffs deputy who is the shows star and de facto leader of the town, develops a plan to draw them away. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of zombies in that pitthree hundred extras were dressed to look like the living dead (the rest were CGI effects), more than the show had ever used at one time. The premiere represented a new level of complexity for the show, and the fans absolutely loved it.

The fanfare extended well past the screens and stage. The lobby had props from the show on display, like the notorious fish tanks of the villain called the Governor (hint: they didnt hold fish) and the hospital cafeteria doors with dont open dead inside written on them. The concession stands sold Apocalyptic Popcorn, The Walking Bread, The Governors Nuts, and Sgt. Abrahams Macho Nachos. People in zombie makeup roamed aroundgood makeup, too, show quality; these zombies looked like extras from a taping, not your friends at a Halloween party. The undead posed for selfies, scared unsuspecting people in the lobby, and lumbered around the seats during the show. The entire Garden had been transformed; it was like Christmas night for zombie fans.

The thousands of fans who attended had come enthusiastically, and in costume. There were plenty of Rick Grimeses in the audience, and Michonnes, and Daryls. There were Abrahams, and Carols, and Glenns and Maggies, and Carls. They came from forty-nine states and nine foreign countries. It wasnt just fans, either; some notable faces were also in the crowd. Robin Lord Taylor from Gotham (who also had a small role in one Walking Dead episode) was in the audience. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers who sued Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook, sat a few rows ahead. Elizabeth Rodriguez from the spin-off show Fear the Walking Dead was even closer to the stage, chatting with Nicotero, the director, producer, and makeup-effects wizard for both shows. Michael Zapcic and Ming Chen from AMCs Comic Book Men sat on the aisleand those were just the stars near me, the people I could make out on the floor in the darkness. As the Wall Street Journals resident zombie expert, I was there, too.

This is only the beginning of the most intense season of The Walking Dead, Kirkman said from the stage. No one, absolutely no one, is safe. When the crowd booed at that, he gave it back to them.

Go ahead, boo, he said, its still gonna happen. Whos your favorite? Theyre gonna get it first. Kirkman, a thirty-seven-year-old, thickset native Kentuckian with a heavy beard, does this a lot in his public appearances. Ask him about an upcoming episode, and hell say, Is that the one where Rick dies? Kirkman didnt set out to make the most popular show on television, and to build a media empire around it, and to address thousands of adoring fans in New York City. He started out working in a comic book store, and figured one day that he could write his own. He seems genuinely surprised and bemused by his own success, and has a biting (no pun intended) sense of humor about it.

Theres never been a premiere in Madison Square Garden before, Gale Anne Hurd said from the stage. Hurd is a well-respected industry veteran, a producer for both the Alien and Terminator franchises.

The fact that we got to watch it with fifteen thousand people who laughed at the right moment, who cheered at the right moment, who screamed at the right moment, it elevated the show beyond any of our expectations, Nicotero would tell me later.

* * *

I screamed along with everybody else in 1983 when Luke Skywalker toppled Darth Vader. I cheered in 2003 when Legolas single-handedly took down that oliphaunt. But those were moments that took place in theaters, with a couple hundred people. Id never been around anything close to the spectacle staged that night at the Garden, when Rick and Daryl and Michonne wrestled with a zombie army. I dont think anybody had.