Walking Dead: How Did The Virus Start? The Zombie Outbreak ...

The Walking Dead: Dramatic trailer for second half of season 10

AMC series The Walking Dead is into its 10th season and still going strong with a major character teased to return. Just like a viral infection, the show is growing and spreading. Along with the prequel spin-off series Fear The Walking Dead, there’s another series in the works and a number of films with character Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln).

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How did the zombie virus start in The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead started with a zombie virus which mysteriously broke out and infected people.

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In season one, the zombie virus quickly spread and caused chaos as people were infected and in turn spread the condition.

From what fans have learnt over the years, the virus reanimates dead bodies and if a person if bitten then they become infected.

The zombies feed on the carcasses of other animals and don’t seem to have any intelligence.

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READ MORE: Walking Dead season 10: When does The Walking Dead return in 2020?

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The Walking Dead is set in a world in the aftermath of the zombie outbreak (Image: FOX)

The Walking Dead has never explored the causes of the virus (Image: FOX)

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The only way to stop the Walkers is by cutting off their heads or burning them.

Over the years, many characters have been infected and become members of the undead horde, who have to be slain by their former friends to stop the spread of infection.

When Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt) initially arrived in The Walking Dead, he posed as a scientist heading to Washington DC to end the outbreak.

However, his lie was soon uncovered and his main purpose became to survive from the zombie and the likes of Alpha (Samantha Morton) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

The Walking Dead: Fear The Walking Dead doesn't explore the virus (Image: FOX)

The Walking Dead: The virus was caused by space spores (Image: FOX)

The Walking Dead comics have now wrapped up with the final issue #193 coming out last year.

Many fans are still curious to know how it all started and it seems The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman finally gave an answer when he posted on Twitter.

He told his 663,000 followers on the social media platform simply: “Space spore” in reference to the beginning of the virus.

While it’s not clear whether he was joking or being sarcastic, the response to a fan seems similar to things Kirkman has said in the past.

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In a Tumblr Q&A from 2018, Kirkman said the cause of the virus was "a crazy sci-fi thing that would make the story all that much weirder."

He also went on to say at the time: "It couldn’t be less important to the story and the lives of these characters. It would be completely out of place in the story.

“Honestly if a scientist from Washington came to the character and told them what happened the characters would just shrug and say 'Oh… okay…' it wouldn’t change their lives at all… and… I’ve said too much’.”

According to Gamespot, space spore could be a homage to the father of zombie movies George A. Romero and his 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead in which a zombie outbreak was caused by a space probe returning to Earth.

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There were previously hopes Fear The Walking Dead might explore the outbreak given it takes place just as the outbreak starts.

However, the prequel series hasn’t gone down this route and instead is again focusing on humans put in extreme circumstances and the innate survival instinct of people.

Going forward, The Walking Dead is also unlikely to explore the outbreak further either and will continue to see the survivors facing new villains in this post-apocalyptic world.

Kirkman also ruled out exploring the causes of the virus because "it's been done on a lot of other zombie stories,” reported Comic Book.

He also said about leaving an aura of mystery, explaining: "because you know it’s kind of a mythology-breaking proposition. You don’t want that kind of thing as far as somebody being immune."

The Walking Dead season 10 returns on February 23 on AMC and on February 24 on FOX UK.

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