Original artwork, not a still
We are the walking dead!
— The Walking Dead · 2003
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the series' thesis as one shout. Rick tells his group that surviving the dead has already turned them into something like them, and that hoping for rescue or a return to the old rules is the real danger. Fans quote it for the bleak twist on the title, and it became the weight behind the show's later seasons, which kept the idea.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Walking DeadShow the scene
In The Walking Dead #24 (published 24 November 2005; written by Robert Kirkman, drawn by Charlie Adlard), the last chapter of the fourth collection, Rick Grimes wakes after 26 hours unconscious. He has just killed the prison's troublemaker Dexter, and the survivors have formed a committee and want him out of the leadership. In the prison courtyard he accepts that, but tells the group they are kidding themselves: the world will not go back to normal, they became savages when they killed their first zombie, and they are living on borrowed time among the dead. He ends the speech with the line.
Sources (1)
- Walking Dead Wiki, Issue 24Issue info box and Plot SynopsisReference checked
Context reviewed