Fans have often wondered how many years is The Walking Dead, based on its timeline from the start of the zombie apocalypse to the end of the main series. The good news is that The Walking Dead confirmed its timeline since the zombie apocalypse first began and the world fell apart around 13 years prior to the main show's finale. The reveal came in the long-awaited origin story episode for one of its most popular characters, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), in The Walking Dead season 10 episode, “Here’s Negan.” The show even featured a look at the world before the zombie virus outbreak happened.
The flashbacks gave a clear frame of reference for when the tragic events occurred in Negan's The Walking Dead timeline that changed him. They also helped shed light on how many years passed in The Walking Dead’s timeline. It’s interesting that it took until the last episode before the show’s final season for it to nail down a specific timeframe for how many years passed in TWD. The biggest clues were found by looking at the aging of characters like Carl and adding up all the specified time skips that transpired. These things had to be examined because how many years passed in The Walking Dead is never discussed by the characters.
How Many Years Have Passed In The Walking Dead Timeline
The sequence about Negan being beaten up by a criminal was set 12 years before The Walking Dead’s late-season-10 and early-season-11 timelines. At this point, zombies were everywhere. The show went back six weeks further to him trying to help Lucille (Hillarie Burton Morgan) with her cancer treatments while also trying to keep their home safe. Later, a flashback to a moment in Lucille’s life from seven months prior to the treatments showed the two living together ahead of The Walking Dead’s apocalypse. This confirms the characters in the show have been fighting for their lives against the zombies for 12 to 13 years as of TWD season 11.
When looking back at other time skips and rather accurate records that fans have composed for The Walking Dead timeline, this figure isn’t all that surprising. The first several seasons played out across a somewhat brief period of time, and it wasn’t until much later that the series started delivering large time jumps, the biggest of which being the one that happened early in The Walking Dead season 9, which leaped forward by six years. All things considered, it’s good that Walking Dead fans don’t have to rely on unofficial timelines anymore when figuring out how many years is The Walking Dead.
How Many Years Between TWD and Fear The Walking Dead
While The Walking Dead’s official timeline spanned almost 13 years, Fear the Walking Dead put it back just slightly further. Fear the Walking Dead's origins in season 1 show the earliest days in The Walking Dead’s timeline, with its pilot episode taking place just a few weeks before TWD’s timeline with Rick really begins. Since the official timelines go back earliest in 2010, the amount of time that has passed when including both The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead is still about 13 years.
Where Walking Dead: World Beyond Fits In TWD's Timeline
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is the latest spinoff series to come from The Walking Dead franchise, and the limited series focuses on the first generation to grow up during the zombie apocalypse. Several TWD characters appear or are referenced in the show, such as Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh). Unlike Fear the Walking Dead, the events of World Beyond happen concurrently with TWD, happening alongside seasons 10 and 11. Therefore, World Beyond happens after FTWD.
The second season of World Beyond sheds some light on how much time passes during the series, with season 1 spanning about 6 weeks. World Beyond season 2 happens over the course of 3 to 4 weeks. The TV show is meant to be a limited series, so season 2 will be the final installment of World Beyond. Since World Beyond is happening at the same time as The Walking Dead, the two shows are connected by the Civil Republic Military, which is the helicopter organization that flew away with Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead series finale.
When Do The Walking Dead Spinoffs Take Place?
The Walking Dead series finale saw Rick being forced to surrender by a CRM helicopter, the Commonwealth's tyrannical reign at an end, and Daryl and Michonne both separately searching for Rick. With several new spinoffs on the way, it's integral to know what year The Walking Dead ended, and therefore, when these spinoffs will start. Since it had been 12 to 13 years since the initial zombie outbreak, The Walking Dead ended with a short time jump of one year, adding to the length of time since the zombie apocalypse started. This puts the answer to how many years is The Walking Dead at the very end of the finale to 14 years.
The Walking Dead spinoff Rick & Michonne should be happening after that one-year time jump. However, don't expect it to end before the time jump, as Rick is not back and Daryl set off to find him. The Fear the Walking Dead mid-season finale also showed Morgan going to search for Rick, so that series should be easily 14 years after the initial outbreak. As for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Daryl set off to find Rick at the end of The Walking Dead. When figuring out how many years passed in The Walking Dead after he left, it should still be around the 14 to 15-year point.
In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon sneak peek, Daryl left a message on a recording, saying he was trying, with assumptions he is still looking for Rick, even though he is now in France. The spinoff that arrived first was The Walking Dead: Dead City, which takes place in NYC, as Maggie and Negan are looking for her son. But it's unclear how many years passed in The Walking Dead before this series. Lauren Cohen said it is about "five to six years" after the TWD finale. That puts it at 20 to 21 years after the original infection. The Walking Dead characters have a long way to journey from the Commonwealth to their respective locations.