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The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror drama series developed by Frank Darabont, based on the comic by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. It follows a group of survivors navigating a world overrun by zombies—called "walkers"— and facing threats from both the undead and rival human groups.
The Walking Dead franchise explores themes of survival, morality, and societal collapse. After the global zombie apocalypse, reanimated corpses, or "walkers," hunt the living, drawn by sound and scent. Anyone who dies turns into a walker, indicating a dormant infection, and walkers can only be killed by destroying the brain or body.
The story begins with Sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who wakes from a coma to find the world overrun. He soon leads a group of survivors near Atlanta as they battle both walkers and hostile humans in a fight for survival.
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The Walking Dead features several puzzling elements, like Rick’s unlikely survival, the inconsistent effects of walker blood, and the endless supply of gasoline. Interestingly, massive walker hordes persist, and lawns remain mysteriously trimmed, all adding to the show’s suspension of disbelief.
Here is a list of seven confusing things from The Walking Dead.
Disclaimer: The following list is ranked in no particular order, and the opinions expressed belong solely to the author.
Endless gasoline and 6 other confusing things from The Walking Dead
1) Rick survives the bridge blast
In a major twist, The Walking Dead revealed that Rick Grimes survived the bridge explosion. Severely wounded and impaled, he fell into a river and, despite the danger from nearby walkers, washed ashore alive.
Rick wakes from a coma nearly two months after the outbreak, alone in an abandoned hospital with no power or medication, making his survival unlikely.
Though later media suggests a doctor briefly stayed behind, it doesn’t fully explain how Rick endured. Still, his awakening serves as an introduction to the world, even if it stretches disbelief.
2) The CDC gets minimal attention
As The Walking Dead season 1 unfolds, the group of survivors travels to the CDC in Atlanta, hoping to find safety and answers about the outbreak.
There, they meet Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich) who reveals a grim truth: everyone is already infected. While the virus reactivates the brain stem after death, the rest of the brain stays inactive, meaning walkers can’t be cured or returned to their former selves.
Throughout the series, the group meets people like Hershel, who cling to the belief that walkers can be saved—going so far as to keep several in a barn. While Hershel likely wouldn’t have accepted the CDC’s findings, it is surprising no one shared what they learned with him.
3) Walker blood shows inconsistent effects
In The Walking Dead, using walker blood as camouflage was a common tactic. While it allowed the group to blend in with the undead, it also posed risks. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) became sick after coming into contact with it, and the Saviors later weaponized it by smearing it on weapons to infect anyone injured.
Despite this, Michonne (Danai Gurira), who was shot in season 3, touched her open wound after handling walker blood and suffered no ill effects.
The danger of walker blood was inconsistently portrayed. While it was used as a weapon, the show rarely explored its risks beyond Gabriel's brief illness. Despite the potential for infection, the tactic continued without significant consequences for other characters.
4) Gasoline supplies remain a mystery
Throughout The Walking Dead, characters frequently use various vehicles, from Dale’s RV to Daryl’s motorcycle, despite the apocalypse. While they later rely more on horses and walking, gas-powered vehicles continue to work smoothly, with an endless supply of gasoline, though fuel issues become prominent in spin-offs like Dead City.
In this spin-off, the Croat discovers how to convert ethanol from decomposing bodies into fuel, a valuable resource that the New Babylon Federation seeks to control.
Though fuel is plentiful early on, gasoline lasts only six months to a year, making its continued availability unrealistic. The show rarely addresses this, leaving the issue of gasoline as an unexplained mystery, even with alternate fuel sources introduced later.
5) Lawns stay trimmed without explanation
Throughout The Walking Dead, one odd detail stands out—many lawns and fields appear freshly mowed and green, despite the collapse of society.
While communities like Alexandria might maintain their spaces with manual tools and water, it is less believable in abandoned neighborhoods or open fields where no one is around to tend the grass.
A standout example is in season 3 when the group finds the prison. Despite being overrun and the prisoners locked inside, the grounds look surprisingly well-kept.
6) Zombie hordes persist
In a real-world scenario, humans likely wouldn’t survive as long as the characters in The Walking Dead, and many should have died along the way. While some suspension of disbelief is expected, one puzzling detail is how, over a decade into the apocalypse, massive walker hordes are still so common.
While the show's twist—that everyone turns upon death—adds complexity, it still seems unlikely that so many walkers would remain. Survivors regularly kill them in large numbers, and since walkers can’t reproduce (unlike humans), their numbers should’ve declined.
Oddly, child walkers are almost never shown, making the persistence of huge herds even more questionable.
7) Walker decay rate doesn’t add up
Throughout The Walking Dead, fans have seen walkers in various stages of decay, from newly turned to ones that have been dead for years. Some are bloated, burned, or even missing limbs, but their rate of decomposition doesn’t align with what would happen in reality.
Walkers' decay rate in The Walking Dead doesn’t align with reality. In the show, they remain intact for years, even though rigor mortis sets in within hours of death, and their bodies should deteriorate much faster. This leads to speculation that the virus might preserve them.
Interested viewers can watch 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
