the walking dead

If Game of Thrones skipping 2018 has one advantage, it’s that next year will finally bring us a new king of TorrentFreak’s most-pirated TV. It totally won 2017, of course, but a few new additions like Rick and Morty or demotions for Arrow might make this a very different list going forward.

Curious changes are afoot at The Walking Dead, especially as the show’s eighth season has seen some notably tempered ratings. Sunday’s midseason finale also averaged some of the show’s worst numbers since Season 2, and – given the hour’s big twist and some contractual holdups – we had to ask: Is The Walking Dead’s future in question?

We’re accustomed to death on The Walking Dead, and doubly-so when the comics provide a road map. That’s what made that climactic bite in Sunday’s midseason finale such a shocker, and – before you ask – both producers and the actor in question confirm the character’s exit, noting “[That bite] is a one-way ticket.”

Time is a curious thing on The Walking Dead, as where some seasons jump months at a time, others pick up seconds later. That’s made Maggie’s Season 6 pregnancy difficult to chart, but word of whether we’ll meet the little tyke in Season 8 might hint at a major change to come.

It’s easy to chalk up ex-Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont’s legal battles with AMC to growing pains, but it’s something else when all Walking Dead producers turn on the network. AMC has been slapped with lawsuits from Robert Kirkman, Gale Ann Hurd, David Alpert and Glen Mazzara, all alleging similar profit-scheming.

'It's an honor just to be nominated.' You hear that countless times – just not from these stars.

Stuntman John Bernecker was seriously injured and hospitalized after the fall.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s long list of genre credits let the boys of Supernatural have a bit of fun with their dad busting skulls on The Walking Dead, but the two crossing paths onscreen is another matter. A familiar foe popped up on last night’s Supernatural, connecting universes with logic more twisted than barbed wire.

The Walking Dead has had no shortage of controversy since the brain-bashing arrival of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, though the series may have inadvertently stoked racial tension as well. U.K. suppliers apparently pulled official merchandise over accusations of racism, though Morgan himself dismisses the controversy with “people are stupid.”

Let’s be honest: even the most diehard of Walking Dead fans would admit to tough going through the first half of Season 7, between all its brutality, and unease with seeing Rick so utterly broken. We’ve heard Andrew Lincoln promising a brighter future ahead, though the actor now acknowledges some fan frustration, promising “this season made a lot more sense once we got the last roll of film in the can.”

It’s been an exceptionally punishing year for fans of The Walking Dead, who first endured the cop-out of Negan’s entrance, a summer spent waiting, and about eight episodes since of misery under The Saviors’ reign. Rick will finally fight back when Season 7 returns in February, and Andrew Lincoln insists “There’s a lot more levity, if you can believe that.”

A die-hard "The Walking Dead" fan tried to walk through an airport security checkpoint with a replica of villain Negan's infamous bat. Needless to say, it didn't work out.