How To Watch ‘The Walking Dead’ Franchise In Order, From The Original Series To Daryl Dixon

The zombie apocalypse that AMC built has grown into one of television’s most sprawling universes, and keeping track of every entry can be a genuine challenge for both new viewers and longtime fans. The original show ran for 177 episodes, and several spin-offs have launched since it kicked off in 2010, with each one bringing crossovers and time jumps of its own.

For anyone trying to figure out where to start or how the pieces connect, breaking the franchise down series by series offers the clearest path through ‘The Walking Dead’ universe. Below is a rundown of the core shows that make up the franchise, presented in the order they arrived on screen.

‘The Walking Dead’

‘The Walking Dead’ is the show that started it all, following former Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes after he wakes from a coma into a world overtaken by the undead. Across 11 seasons, the series explores a world ravaged by a zombie apocalypse, primarily from the perspective of Rick Grimes, and it delves as much into human behavior under pressure as it does into the walkers themselves.

The show introduced characters who would go on to anchor multiple spinoffs, including Daryl, Carol, Maggie, and Negan. Rick encounters Morgan Jones, reunites with his wife Lori and son Carl, and joins forces with a group of survivors that comes to include Glenn, Carol, and Daryl.

Over its run, the series moved through the Greene family farm, a prison stronghold, and eventually the Commonwealth, introducing formidable antagonists like the Governor and Negan along the way. The season three arc introduces David Morrissey’s villainous community leader the Governor, while later chapters bring in Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s baseball bat wielding Negan.

By the time the flagship series concluded, it had built the foundation for a franchise that continues to expand nearly four years later.

‘Fear the Walking Dead’

‘Fear the Walking Dead’ arrived five years after the original show, but its early seasons are actually set before the events of the flagship series. Where the main show starts with Rick waking up after the world is already overrun, this companion series takes place during the beginnings of the outbreak itself, following high school counselor Madison Clark and her family across Los Angeles and Mexico.

The series eventually shifted from prequel territory into a storyline running alongside the mothership show, particularly once Morgan Jones crossed over from ‘The Walking Dead’. Given the events of The Walking Dead season 8 and the fact that familiar faces appear in the pilot looking unchanged, the crossover places the audience roughly three years into the apocalypse, with the spinoff’s storyline now running concurrently with the original show.

Characters like Althea, John Dorie, and June joined the ensemble as the series introduced new threats and communities, keeping the show running for eight seasons.

‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’

‘The Walking Dead, World Beyond’ shifted the franchise’s focus toward a younger generation of survivors who grew up entirely within the apocalypse. The series centers on a group of Nebraska based teenagers who have never known a world without the undead, and it features a crossover character in Jadis, also known as Anne, the former Junkyard leader who eventually joined Rick and Michonne’s group on the flagship series.

The two season limited series also served as connective tissue for the wider mythology, formally introducing the Civic Republic Military, an organization that would go on to shape later stories. The Civic Republic Military is properly introduced here, and the show closes with a scene revealing that fast moving, potentially man made variants of walkers have been spotted, a detail that Daryl later encounters overseas.

Though shorter lived than some of its sibling series, ‘World Beyond’ filled in narrative gaps that later installments would build upon.

‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’

‘The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon’ picked up Norman Reedus’s fan favorite character and sent him across the Atlantic, marking one of the franchise’s biggest tonal shifts. The first season sees Daryl wash up in France, where he is rescued by a mysterious religious community, and a nun named Isabelle later asks him to escort a young boy who may hold the key to humanity’s revival.

Season two brought Melissa McBride’s Carol into the story as she searches for Daryl, while the most recent chapter relocated the action further afield. The third season moved the setting to Spain after Daryl and Carol’s failed attempt to sail back to the United States, balancing action with separate storylines for its two leads.

A fourth season has already wrapped production, though AMC has not yet confirmed an exact premiere window. Season 4 has already been shot, but AMC has yet to confirm a release date, with a late 2026 window considered likely.

‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’

‘The Walking Dead, Dead City’ reunites two of the franchise’s most complicated figures for a mission through a crumbling New York. Centering Lauren Cohan’s Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, the series follows the unlikely duo as they work together to find Maggie’s son Hershel, who has been kidnapped and taken to a derelict Manhattan.

Their uneasy alliance is rooted in Negan’s own history with the man holding Hershel captive. Maggie has learned that Negan once knew the man who has Hershel, the brutal Croat, and she hopes his complicated relationship with him can help draw the man out of hiding.

The series has continued to evolve with each new season, and its third run marked a notable scheduling first for the franchise. The Walking Dead, Dead City season 3 premiered on AMC and AMC Plus on Sunday, July 26, 2026, under new showrunner Seth Hoffman, taking the relationship between Maggie and Negan into what has been described as friendly territory for the first time.

Between the original series and its various offshoots, including ‘Tales of the Walking Dead’ and ‘The Walking Dead, The Ones Who Live’, the franchise has proven remarkably durable across 16 years on air. Fans hoping for more can take some comfort in the fact that the door has not closed on future crossovers. Longtime executive producer Greg Nicotero has acknowledged that a reunion style project bringing the shared universe back together has been discussed for a couple of years now.

With ‘Dead City’ now airing and ‘Daryl Dixon’ expected to close out its story later this year, which corner of the apocalypse are you most looking forward to revisiting, Maggie and Negan’s uneasy alliance in Manhattan or Daryl’s long road home from Europe.