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After over a decade on our screens, the Walking Dead has exploded from one series into an entire universe… which, admittedly, feels more like the start of something than the end of the world that the series so patiently portrays. (Maybe there’s a lesson in there about how every ending is a new beginning, if you stop to think about it.) What initially was a relatively intimate, small-scale story about the few survivors of a global catastrophe has become an international franchise about the pockets of resistance and human resilience… and, honestly, a somewhat confusing collection of multiple TV shows to try to keep track of.

Don’t worry, though — it’s not the end of the world. (Well, not for us, at least.) Below, we’ll cover how to watch The Walking Dead universe in both release and chronological order and explain the differences between the two, so that you can choose the experience you’d prefer.

How to watch The Walking Dead in chronological order

The Walking Dead first aired in 2011 and is set to end over the next few months. However, as various spin-offs have started in the decade since, it’s not as simple to watch through the universe of The Walking Dead in order as you might expect.

Fear The Walking Dead, a spin off that started as a prequel to explain the origins of the apocalypse, pivoted focus after the first few seasons and used a time skip to catch up to the main series.

Over the following years, popular characters shifted between the two shows, making it important to understand the chronology of the universe. Likewise, as The Walking Dead Season 11 drew to a close, the emerging presence of the CRM made both Fear The Walking Dead and a more recent spinoff, The Walking Dead: World Beyond (which explores the CRM more closely) more significant.

Confusing? Sure, but not as confusing about where The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live falls in the official timeline. The first Walking Dead show to explicitly spell out where it falls in relation to the original series — in terms of calendar timing, albeit still in a somewhat vague manner — it proves to be a show that takes place years before the end of the first Walking Dead series, seemingly parallel with the second half of that show’s ninth season. But it’s an inexact science, so forgive us if our math isn’t entirely correct by everyone’s reckoning.

Below, we’ll list how to watch the various series in the Walking Dead universe in chronological order:

• Fear The Walking Dead: Dead in the Water web series
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 1
• Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 2
• Fear The Walking Dead: Passage web series
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 3
• The Walking Dead: Season 1/The Walking Dead: Torn Apart web series
• The Walking Dead: Season 2
• The Walking Dead: Cold Storage web series
• The Walking Dead: Season 3
• The Walking Dead: The Oath web series
• The Walking Dead: Season 4
• The Walking Dead: Season 5
• The Walking Dead: Season 6
• The Walking Dead: Season 7
• The Walking Dead: Red Machete
• The Walking Dead: Season 8
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 4
• The Walking Dead: Season 9 Eps. 1-5
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Season 1
• The Walking Dead: Season 9 Eps. 6-16
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 5
• The Walking Dead: Season 10
• The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1
• The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 6
• Tales of the Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: Season 11
• Fear The Walking Dead: Season 7
• Fear the Walking Dead: Season 8a
• The Walking Dead: Dead City - Season 1
• The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season 1
• Fear the Walking Dead: Season 8b

How to watch The Walking Dead in release order

While chronological order helps you follow the journeys of characters and the overarching storyline across the universe, it isn’t the original order in which The Walking Dead aired. Below, you can find out how to watch The Walking Dead universe in release order:

• The Walking Dead - Season 1
• The Walking Dead - Torn Apart web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 2
• The Walking Dead - Cold Storage web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 3
• The Walking Dead - The Oath web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 4
• The Walking Dead - Season 5
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 1
• Fear The Walking Dead - Flight 462 web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 6
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 2
• Fear The Walking Dead - Passage web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 7
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 3
• The Walking Dead - Red Machete web series
• The Walking Dead - Season 8
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 4
• The Walking Dead - Season 9
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 5a
• Fear The Walking Dead - Althea Tapes web series
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 5b
• The Walking Dead - Season 10
• The Walking Dead: World Beyond - Season 1
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 6
• The Walking Dead - Season 11 part one
• The Walking Dead: World Beyond - Season 2
• >Fear The Walking Dead - Season 7a
• Fear The Walking Dead - Dead in the Water web series
• Fear The Walking Dead - Season 7b
• The Walking Dead - Season 11a
• Tales of the Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead - Season 11a
• Fear the Walking Dead: Season 8a
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• The Walking Dead: Dead City - Season 1
• The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season 1
• Fear the Walking Dead: Season 8b
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live - Season 1

Upcoming content in The Walking Dead universe

The above lists cover the content that you can currently watch, but The Walking Dead universe won’t stop anytime soon. While the main series is about to end, multiple spin off projects have been announced. Below, you can find a list of upcoming projects in The Walking Dead universe and learn about where they fit in the timeline:

The Walking Dead: Dead City - Season 2

Another series that extends the story following the end of the main The Walking Dead show, Dead City focuses on Maggie and Negan as they explore New York. The series aired in June 2023 as a six-episode season. News broke in July of 2023 that the show would be coming back for at least one season after that, though no release dates have been confirmed as of this writing.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season 2 and 3

Originally announced by Deadline as a Daryl and Carol focused spinoff back in September 2020, this series set after The Walking Dead’s finale aired on AMC between September and October of 2023. The show and was confirmed to return for a second season at the same time that the Dead City spinoff was announced; Season Two of the Daryl Dixon series is reportedly on track for a 2024 release date. In February 2024, a third season was also confirmed.

MAYBE: More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe

The only spinoff not directly attached to the main show, Tales From The Walking Dead is an anthology that dedicated each episode to a different survivor. Having wrapped its first foray into television in September of 2022, the second season of the anthology show is at least being considered by creator and Walking Dead Universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple.

"I hope we do [more episodes]," Gimple said in an interview with Collider. "[...] The thing with Tales, it didn't end on this cliffhanger where you've gotta get back to that. It's an anthology show. So, I'm hoping that we can get back to it, but it's probably gonna be catch-all as catch can, as far as within all the other shows."

That wraps up our breakdown of how to watch The Walking Dead in both chronological and release order. While the comics and TellTale games take place in a separate continuity, they still offer plenty of other apocalyptic adventures to explore. If you’re interested in the upcoming Clementine book series, check out our interview with author Tillie Walden.