The Walking Dead franchise has always maintained a few rules across its various mediums that help it stand out from other post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows. The zombies aren’t called zombies, there’s no cure for the condition and we’ve never found out what caused the undead outbreak in the first place. As AMC plans to keep on expanding the TWD universe going forward, though, it’s possible that these rules could begin to be broken.
As per a new rumor shared by tipster Daniel Richtman on his Patreon page, the network is apparently considering finally revealing how the walker virus came to be in some future project. That’s all we have to go on at the moment, but it seems this is one concept being floated around as AMC attempts to extend the franchise in any way it can following the conclusion of the parent series with its eleventh season next year.
Comic book creator Robert Kirkman has always refused to reveal the origins of the outbreak, though he’s famously joked several times that it was an infection released by aliens looking to invade the planet. It’s worth pointing out that the recent season 10 finale made another one of Kirkman’s light-hearted explanations canon – revealing Negan’s surname is Smith – but actually running with the alien invasion angle might be just too much.
Remember, it’s possible that a cure could also be found in TWD‘s future, as the search for one is potentially the backbone of those Andrew Lincoln movies that are taking forever to get here. The Walking Dead: World Beyond has already teased that the CRM are looking for it, too. So, it seems everything we know about the franchise could be turned on its head as it continues to grow over the coming years.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC for its super-sized 24-episode final season this fall.