When I was in seventh grade, in 2014, I fell in love with not just a TV show, but a world of fandom and opportunities that would continue to inspire me for years to come. This epiphany came about when I started watching “The Walking Dead.” Ever since watching the first few seasons in middle school, I am still inspired by the series and what its themes stands for. Love, loss, harmony, turmoil, you name it! “The Walking Dead” has revolutionized the zombie genre in such a powerful way, that I still ended up loving it, even though I had never watched anything with too many trappings in common with it.
Right now, Season 11 is airing. It’s on break until February, but once the remaining sixteen episodes are released, fans will endure the end of an era, as the start of something new for the franchise will begin to unfold. In short, “The Walking Dead” is ending. Fans such as myself, who enjoy the spinoffs, like “Fear the Walking Dead,” and the two-season limited series, “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” will have plenty of new content to look forward to within this universe, as there are indeed some movies coming, as well as more spinoffs in the works. However, Season 11 is the final season of the flagship series, “The Walking Dead,” and for a fan who has been positively impacted by this show in so many ways for so many years, that means something.
Here at the Observer, I spoke to David Arivella, an academic technology assistant here at Northern Essex. Arivella is not caught up with ‘The Walking Dead,” but nonetheless, I still asked him about some of the reasons why he did enjoy the seasons that he watched, “I think it was about the characters, relating to them and the way they acted, and watching them get through whatever was going on in the given storyline.” His favorite character was Rick, “As a character, I thought Rick was the most relatable, with the way he handled himself. I liked how he became a leader, even though he didn’t really take on that responsibility himself, but because the other characters looked up to him.”
“The Walking Dead” returns on AMC on February 20th.
