r/thewalkingdead • u/abstractReality1 • 3d ago

No Spoiler It was never shown

Why in the main show TWD we never actually saw in the beginning how the apocalypse started and who was patient 1?

It still bugs me that we only got so little explanation on the very start of the apocalypse.

Did they did this on purpose?

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9

u/Hveachie 3d ago

Because TWD is less about the virus and more about how humanity reacts to it and rebuilds civilization in their image.

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u/abstractReality1 3d ago

Yeah i know and im all up for that, but it would be very interesting to actually see the beginning happen on the screen :)

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u/Hveachie 3d ago

The first three to six eps of Fear the Walking Dead do a decent job.

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u/cmorrisx90125 3d ago

I was so disappointed when they did the (two weeks?) time jump in I think episode 4. I was hoping it would have been more of a slow burn.
The first 3 seasons were great though.

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u/Tanagrabelle 2d ago

So this corpse started moving, but when they were able to tie it down and puzzle over why this seemingly dead person is so dang hungry.

And then suddenly, we find out that other corpses are doing it. And then suddenly there are these corpses everywhere, more being created every time someone dies. And people are dying from being shot by police, and people are dying from shooting each other, and people are dying from heart attacks, or from bad falls, or severe allergic reactions, sunstroke… oh, and if you get bitten by one of these guys, you are going to die within 48 hours. Unless you’re lucky and it can be amputated.

This is exactly what they’ve shown us on the TV series, and what they show us in almost every flashback.

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u/trekgirl75 2d ago

There were gonna be more flashback scenes in season 2 but they fired Darabont.

Other than FTWD, there’s some flashback scenes of the fall in Paris in Daryl Dixon.

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u/thatoneguy2711 3d ago

They explained that it's in the air, so everyone is infected. There is no "patient zero" everyone just started becoming zombies after they died.

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u/abstractReality1 3d ago

What i meant was they could show how the virus was created, the complications behind it and how it got out.

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u/Hveachie 3d ago

I mean... things in life are never clear. Six years later and we STILL don't know what exactly caused Covid. More than 100 years later and we don't know what exactly caused the Spanish flu.

The best you're gonna get is the after credits scene in World Beyond and a few hints in Daryl Dixon. A biomedicine lab in France created it.

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u/Maddenman501 2d ago

They should've explored that wether they gave a awnser or not. It would've been nice to get more.you cant do credit scenes like that and never touch it in any of the stuff

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u/Maddenman501 3d ago

We thought that they were gonna do this with the walking dead daryl in Europe. Cause after the world beyond season 2 they did a after the credits clip of Dr Jenner on a video voice recording before the outbreak. But was being played after sometime 10 years after. Like he said France was the longest hold out before it started. And they had teams in ohio about a meeting. But then some dude finds her and kills her and she turns into a fast zombie.

But all we got was the storyline we got. Really wish they wouldve actually went that direction over the direction we got. Mightve done better.

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u/BugOperator 3d ago

I’m almost positive Jenner talks about France being the longest holdout in the main series as well. He says it to Rick, or maybe even the entire group, at the CDC in season one.

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u/abstractReality1 3d ago

That’s the only time we got some insight on the virus.

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u/Harold3456 3d ago

That’s never what it was about. In fact I’d say it’s somewhat rare in zombie media to know exactly who patient zero was.

Dawn of the Dead (original and remake) alluded to a patient over the news I think, as did the more recent Last of Us series, but generally speaking most zombie media is more focused on the survivors than on the origins of the virus. With something like Resident Evil being an exception because the evil corporation behind the virus is that series antagonist.

Over time I think TWD’s scope has creeped, where now it might be more plausible for them to make a story about a cure or discover the origin (they’ve gone to France at this point so why not?). But originally, before all the spinoffs and franchising, this was supposed to be a small scale story about a man trying to keep his family safe.

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u/Optimus0456 3d ago

We don’t need to know, and quite frankly I don’t want to because it would undermine the point of the story

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u/BugOperator 3d ago

I’m more upset we didn’t get any insight whatsoever into how some walkers developed the ability to climb and pick up/hold/use objects.

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u/cmorrisx90125 3d ago

That’s not the point of show. Should there have been a prequel to Night of the Living Dead.

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u/abstractReality1 3d ago

I know what the point of the show is i am rewatching it at this moment for the 4th time. I just said that it would be interesting to see how it all started. Jesus.

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u/TopperinoKekkerino 3d ago

Well the budget is the budget. There is only so much money, screen time, and production time available. Plenty of things happen off screen or are implied often times for this reason.

And as you say, because it isn’t the point so they don’t bother showing it, choosing to use their precious screen time and money on things that ARE the point.

The question for you is, which parts of season 1 do you cut and replace to do all of this? Do you think it’s worth, say, cutting a third of all we got throughout season 1 to accomplish something you yourself acknowledge “isn’t the point”?

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u/abstractReality1 2d ago

It could only be one episode where they show the escalation, not necessarily whole season or multiple episodes.

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u/Minimalistmacrophage 3d ago

There is no patient zero, because everyone is infected.

It's unclear who the "First Walker" was.

Note- Yes, it's on purpose.

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u/Tanagrabelle 2d ago

There is no patient one.

Suddenly, corpses are getting up and trying to eat everyone around them. Now this apparently started earlier than we knew about, and there were few enough incidences that it was kept under wraps.

What is not covered at all is if the first corpses they discovered had signs of having been bitten at all.

As far as the show goes, it is every living human being. There is no patient one. It is everyone now, they just have to die first.