The Walking Dead continues to soldier on, even after years of continuous ups and downs and a fluctuating viewer base. The show is now marching through the 10th season as it focuses on the survivors fighting the dreaded, fanatical Whisperers. With ratings holding steady between 3 and 4 million viewers per episode, The Walking Dead still manages to cling to more than half its initial season 1 viewer base, but it could all go up in smoke if the showrunners aren't careful.
When the Whisperer plot arc is sewn up, The Walking Dead will face a new kind of challenge. Here's 10 ways the show can survive into its 11th season and beyond, while injecting new life into a normalized post-apocalyptic narrative.
EMBRACE A CHANGE OF SEASON
Season 3 hinted that Rick and the survivors made it through a harsh winter, and we've seen the later group brave the freezing snow at the end of season 9, but what if an entire season of the show took place within the winter months? While it might be hard to shoot from a logistical standpoint, it would certainly flip the script enough for audiences to take notice.
For the first time, we might truly get a full-on glimpse at surviving the zombie apocalypse in sub-zero temperatures, and all the challenges it entails. Should The Walking Dead go frosty? Now might be the right time!
SOME CHARACTERS NEED TO GO
It's always a shock when a fan favorite meets his or her unfortunate demise at the hands of zombie chompers, or the wicked machinations of another human. That being said, there are a few characters who are so long in the tooth that it might be best for them to pack it in and make room for fresh blood.
With Michonne exiting the show (no doubt making her return in the upcoming Walking Dead feature film), it's time to decide if long-time regulars like Daryl should check out, unceremoniously or not. After all, there's only so far you can go with characters who have been through so much turmoil that they essentially go through the motions week after week. Perhaps it's time to let these guys enjoy a little peace.
BRING BACK SURVIVAL ROOTS
For the last several seasons, The Walking Dead has shifted its focus from all-out survival to internecine warfare between different groups of humans. As such, the zombie threat has become little more than a secondary distraction. Yes, the real horror of the story comes from the humans rather than the undead, but the audience could use a switch-up.
With Hilltop devastated by the last Whisperers attack, this could be a key opportunity to uproot the survivors and send them on an adventure into another state in search of greener pastures. Not only would it dislodge the show from the mud it's currently stuck in, but it would provide the right backdrop for some interesting new stories to emerge.
FOCUS ON MAN-MADE CATASTROPHES
While attacks from marauding humans and flesh-hungry zombies are enough to keep the story going, there's no reason to ignore other potential disasters waiting in the wings after so many years of human decimation. For instance, nuclear power plants can theoretically run indefinitely provided they have an offsite power source and the right fail-safes, but what if one slips through the cracks?
A similar type of doomsday scenario was explored in the sci-fi series The 100, but it might play out to better effect in The Walking Dead. After all, there's a lot of stuff that requires upkeep and maintenance. We could assume humanity took care of these issues before the zombie apocalypse spun out of control, but where's the fun in that?
LESS COMIC BOOK, MORE REALISM
Within the pages of a comic book, almost anything can and does happen. On a TV show, that's a little harder to pull off, given the inherent expectation of realism. While The Walking Dead has managed to adequately portray a blossoming new society rising from the ashes of the old, it's all become a bit too fantastical to be taken seriously.
From 300-style Spartan attack formations used against hordes of zombies, to mechanical limbs, ferocious tigers and creative weapons, the show feels as if it's ventured past the realm of belief. Thankfully it hasn't gone off the rails just yet, so there's plenty of time to drag it back to more rational, practical territory.
FOCUS ON NEGAN DURING SEASON 11
It remains to be seen just how closely The Walking Dead will follow Negan's comic book character arc after the Whisperers conflict has ended, but the way things are going, it would be wise to feature him prominently in season 11. At this point, Negan is still a wild card that neither the survivors nor the audience fully trusts.
Putting Negan at the epicenter of season 11 will allow him to continue on as an accepted member of the community, or signal his exit from the show in some manner. One thing is for certain - Negan cannot go on like he has been. The writers will need to take him out of social limbo, and cement his allegiance one way or the other.
PUT THE VILLAINS ON ICE
The Walking Dead has produced some of the most wicked and sadistic villains ever to hit mainstream television, but not every season requires a full-fledged antagonist. Good people on both sides with differing ideas of how to handle a crisis could be all that's needed to give audiences a breather, especially after several years of non-stop human-on-human bloodshed.
One of the key themes of The Walking Dead is the push for humanity to rise above its own primal flaws and aspire to something better. That's notoriously difficult when there's a never-ending influx of supervillains trying their best to undo all that progress.
STEP INTO A LARGER WORLD
So far, all we've seen of post-apocalyptic humanity has been sewn up in hamlets sprinkled across the American countryside. What if there's a city within the United States that managed to claw itself back from the precipice? What if they were rebuilding and regaining strength at the same time that everyone was fighting for survival?
Not only is it possible, but it's plausible. Unless The Walking Dead's goal was to sign off on a nihilistic and hopeless note, it's going to have to flirt with the idea that humanity can come back from all of this. Might as well start now!
ANSWER KEY QUESTIONS
After 10 seasons, we know very little about the initial viral outbreak which led to the zombie apocalypse. It's about time that changed. The show should begin to explore just how far the virus has spread, and what damage it has caused. Is the entire world infected? Is it just as bad everywhere else? Has anyone managed to get a handle on things?
These are questions that audiences are ready for. While the meat and potatoes of the show may lie in the character's relationships within a dark and foreboding world, it would be foolish not to explore the how's, why's and when's of humanity's downfall.
CREATE NEW MATERIAL
The biggest strength of The Walking Dead was the comic book source material from which it drew many of its storylines from. The Governor, the Saviors and the Whisperers were lifted right out of the pages with very little in the way of deviation. These stories have gone on to produce some of the best episodic horror television in history, but unfortunately the train has pulled into the station, and the writers must now disembark.
The Walking Dead has essentially caught up with the comic books, with only one good storyline left to draw from, albeit drastically different from where the TV show is at this point. When this situation befell Game Of Thrones, it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster when the writing team decided to soldier on without the original author in tow. Extra heaps of caution will need to be taken if The Walking Dead wants to avoid repeating history.