The Walking Dead: EW Covers Through The Years

EW Walking Dead Covers Through The Years

From season 1 all the way to the newest season 8 covers, Entertainment Weekly has been all over The Walking Dead. Take a walk down memory lane with this incredible gallery of covers, complete with clips from all of our various cover stories.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick with assorted friends (Dec. 3, 2010)

From our cover story: Looking back, Andrew Lincoln can only laugh. But on an infernally hot morning last summer in Atlanta, when the star of AMC's zombie survival saga The Walking Dead found himself hacking up a corpse and smearing his sweat-drippy body with its pulpy entrails, the 37-year-old classically trained British thespian really did find it all rather disturbing. "I remember thinking, 'Please! This is not what I signed up for!'" says Lincoln of the audacious moment from the second episode, in which his heroic lawman, Rick Grimes, hatches a plan to escape the zombie horde by trying to look—and smell—like one of them. The wickedly bleak work was so exhausting and unsettling that the actor says he improvised the line that effectively stops the scene ("We need more guts") only because he wanted the scene to end. Not that it got any better the next day, when Lincoln and young costar Steven Yeun had to zombie-walk through downtown Atlanta with intestines and severed feet draped over their shoulders. "Afterward," Lincoln says, "Steven asks me, 'Is this normal for Hollywood?' And I said, 'Far from normal, my friend. Far from normal.'"

Andrew Lincoln as Rick (Aug. 31, 2012)

From our cover story: There is no "right way" when it comes to dealing with a zombie apocalypse. As a result, many different approaches are currently on display outside C block of the West Georgia Correctional Facility set in Senoia, Georgia, as the cast of AMC's The Walking Dead prepares to shoot a scene in the prison yard. Andrew Lincoln, who plays steely group leader Rick Grimes, crouches down on the concrete just inches away from the jail's basketball court. His face buried in his hands, and iPod headphones blaring Snow Patrol and Martha Wainwright's "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" in his ears, the actor readies himself emotionally for the scene to come. His fellow cast members seem to know when to give Lincoln his own space -- and today they are giving him plenty.

Danai Gurira as Michonne with Pets (Aug. 31, 2012)

From our cover story: As for the actress playing the warrior woman, Danai Gurira, she hasn't let the pressure of portraying such a highly scrutinized character get to her. "There is pressure, but it's not a pressure that immobilizes," says Gurira, who prepared for the role through sword training and repeated viewings of samurai films. "I'm my worst critic. I kick my own butt." Kicking butt is something viewers can expect early and often from Michonne. She and Andrea form a strong bond while out surviving on their own, but that bond will be tested when they arrive at Woodbury, as the two women take very opposing viewpoints on the community. While Andrea embraces hope, Michonne senses trouble. "Michonne is trained to see all the stuff to be wary of," says Gurira. "She can see the Governor for what he is very quickly. There are so many clues."

David Morrissey as the Governor (Aug. 31, 2012)

From our cover story: But as perfect as Woodbury seems on the surface for the cast and characters alike, there is an evil lurking, and his name is the Governor. Unlike the comic-book version of the character, a barbaric brute who chopped off Rick's hand for jollies, the Governor played here by David Morrissey is at first glance more seductive than sadistic. It's what's underneath that smooth, charismatic facade that is frightening. "There is definitely the politician element to it," says Morrissey. "He assumes a position of power, which is almost religious in a way. He is the savior of these people. That's how he portrays himself. But there's a whole other story going on about his psyche and how it's a dark world he inhabits."

Norman Reedus as Daryl and Micheal Rooker as Merle(Aug. 31, 2012)

From our cover story: And then there is the return of Daryl's big brother, Merle, now sporting a contraption with a bayonet appendage where his right hand used to be. "Merle's here because there's food and there's women and there's alcohol," says Rooker, who thanks to a new diet lost 29 pounds in nine weeks before filming, but has no problem chewing on some of Woodbury's finest roasted hog in between takes. "And people like me here! I'm popular!" Merle's intentions beyond living the high life, however, are cloudy. While he seems to be close to Woodbury's man in charge, Kirkman cautions that "whether or not he's working with the Governor or against the Governor remains to be seen."

Andrew Lincoln as Rick (July 26, 2013)

From our cover story: Ask any cast member how Gimple's season 4 will differ from Mazzara's season 3 and you're going to get pretty much the exact same answer with the exact same word popping up over and over. "I think the scripts this season have been really different, intricate, character-driven," says Lincoln, who plays the show's lead, Rick Grimes. "Deeper character development," responds Lauren Cohan, also known as farmer's daughter/zombie slayer Maggie. "A lot of character development going on, really rich character development," offers Chad L. Coleman, who joined last season as bighearted big man Tyreese. "A great melding of character and action," replies Danai Gurira while casually twirling one of Michonne's training swords. Even Kirkman himself can't help but get into the act: "I think more than anything Scott is a character guy." You don't say!

Norman Reedus as Daryl (July 26, 2013)

From our cover story: Things won't look that grim when season 4 picks up. But they will look different. Very different. You notice it the first time you walk on The Walking Dead's prison set. Everything looks so damn...green. That's because the jail is now home to a thriving fruit and vegetable garden. Strawberries, pumpkins, radishes, and tomatoes grow in the yard where mountains of file cabinets and broken computer monitors used to pile up. "We have fantastic greens people," explains exec producer Gale Anne Hurd of the real food growing here. "We try to keep the crew and cast from stealing too much." (Judging by the "Always shut the gate. The deer are eating our set!" sign that hangs around the corner, it would seem humans are not the only thieves milling about.)

Chandler Riggs as Carl (July 26, 2013)

From our cover story: This is far from the only dramatic change to the prison set from last year. A makeshift stable houses Michonne's new horse, Flame. An outdoor kitchen has been constructed next to the basketball court, and an electric shed featuring an engine generator and numerous extension cords has brought power throughout the prison. The addition of 50 Woodbury residents at the end of season 3 and other newcomers in the several months since is reflected everywhere you look, including the homemade tetherball rig and adolescent drawings of dinosaurs, flowers, and butterflies on an outside wall. A new community has been built here, but it is not one being led by Rick Grimes, who has pulled back to focus more on his son, Carl, and baby daughter, Judith. "He's become Farmer Rick!" says Lincoln with a laugh. "I'm hanging with the pigs. I had one day when I was covered in pig s--, had flies all around my crotch, and blood. Nobody sat next to me—I was like Pig-Pen!"

Norman Reedus as Daryl (Sept. 5, 2014)

From our cover story: The good news: Daryl and Carol are apparently back together! (Shippers, start your engines.) More good news: They're not stuck in a train car! But also, bad news: This hallway is almost pitch-black, and there's that dead walker on the floor to consider. You can't help but feel it is not alone. The man who plays Daryl stands at the ready, waiting for the director to yell "Action!" And then, well...Norman Reedus decides to start flashing people. (I'm going to just pause for the cause and give everyone a few seconds to stop hyperventilating.)

Andrew Lincoln as Rick (Sept. 5, 2014)

From our cover story: Of course, things aren't likely to be quite that cheery when The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Oct. 12. For one thing, the zombie apocalypse is still in full effect. For another, last we checked, our heroes were being held captive at Terminus in a train car, and, oh yeah, there was a good chance THEY WERE ABOUT TO BE EATEN! (More on that in a moment.) So if you thought watching Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) rip out a man's throat with his own teeth in the season 4 finale was a sign of things to come, you were absolutely right. "We've gone into this room," says Lincoln of the season 5 vibe. "And it's a very dark room, and it's a very scary room. And we've locked the door and you're not allowed out. We're going to the other side now." Lincoln's message comes with a warning, especially for parents: "We're really earning our rating this season. There are families that watch it together, but just so it's on the record, guys—it's a grown-up show this season."

Danai Gurira as Michonne & Pets (Sept. 5, 2014)

From our cover story:Of course, the introduction of these characters into the fold has the potential to add some conflict. It's possible the old guard might not all agree with this mission to D.C. "Michonne's a person who doesn't go for things easily," notes actress Danai Gurira. "There's really that question: Will she or won't she buy the Eugene story?" And then there may be other personal speed bumps on the road to Washington: Rick and Abraham have a particularly combative introduction in the comic, and Maggie could lose it if and when Rick identifies Tara (Alanna Masterson) as a member of the group that decapitated her father, Hershel. "That conflict could be a bit of a powder keg," acknowledges Kirkman. There is also that whole Rick-and-Carol reunion to worry about, after he exiled her from the prison. "I can tell you that she is very certain with some of her feelings," says McBride. "And she's got some mixed feelings." (Memo to Rick: Don't start looking at any flowers, buddy.)

Steven Yeun as Glenn and Lauren Cohan as Maggie (Sept. 5, 2014)

From our cover story: If that sounds scary for the characters, it has been pretty harrowing for the cast as well. "In the last couple months, I've had my first real apocalypse nightmares," admits Lauren Cohan, who plays farmer's daughter Maggie. "I don't know if that's because we're now shooting in the city, but now it's this sense of like, I know there's an apocalypse, and nobody will flippin' believe me. And in my dreams I'm walking up to people, and sometimes it's, like, Melissa McBride, but she's sitting in a café and she has no idea there's actually an apocalypse, and I throw her espresso out the window and I look at her and shake her shoulders, saying, 'What are you doing sitting here?! There's an apocalypse! Everyone's dead and they're walking around! You have to go!!!'"

Norman Reedus as Daryl (Feb. 11, 2015)

From our cover story: "It's one of the darkest times that we've ever had as a group," concurs Reedus. "Everyone is on the verge of giving up." Daryl, in particular, will have difficulty dealing with the loss of Beth. "He goes into a depression," says Reedus, "and he'll slowly seep back into a dark place, which sucks."… All of which brings us to the big threat for the back half of season 5. While our not-so-merry band of survivors will be facing many of the types of foes we've seen before, they will also be wrestling with a far greater danger—themselves. "There's certainly going to be human threats, there's certainly going to be zombie threats," says Kirkman. "But I think that what's different about these back episodes is that the threat is going to become a little bit more internal. These are characters that have evolved into something that is probably unrecognizable to them. And that's something that's really going to weigh on them. They're slowly realizing that in order to survive in this world they have to be monsters, and then they're alive but they're like, 'Oh crap, we're monsters! I don't want to be a monster. What do we do?' That is going to be a huge conflict for all of them individually and as a group."

Andrew Lincoln as Rick, Melissa McBride as Carol, and Norman Reedus as Daryl (Aug. 7, 2015)

From our cover story: Andrew Lincoln is on the run. He takes off for 20 yards, turns, and runs 20 yards back. Then he does it again. And again. And again. He does this for hours, with all manner of heavy weaponry—assault rifle, handgun, flare gun, machete—draped across his body. And in 95-degree Georgia heat, no less—the type of weather that makes you wonder why shorts appear to be permanently out of fashion in the zombie apocalypse. He does it through rehearsals, through first positions, through last looks. He just keeps running back and forth, like some sort of deranged Forrest Gump with a broken compass. But this is the type of stuff Andrew Lincoln does to ready himself for a scene, and for this particular shot he will need to be ready.

The director yells "Action!" and Lincoln kicks it into another gear. But now he's Rick Grimes, and he is not alone. Zombies shuffle off dilapidated porches to his right and out of the woods to his left. An army of the undead follows his rear: 139 walkers in total coming from all sides except the one directly in front, where the relative safety of Alexandria lies. "OPEN THE GATE!" yells Lincoln as he barrels at sprinting speed into a flesh eater. "OPEN THE GATE NOW!"

Andrew Lincoln as Rick (Feb. 19/26, 2016)

From our cover story: While Reedus is busy cracking up with the crew, Andrew Lincoln is rocking out. The actor is pacing back and forth with an iPhone in his left hand and a Beats portable speaker in his right blasting Ronnie Dawson's 1958 rockabilly single "Action Packed." Lincoln bobs his head to the music while intermittently yelling out "Action packed!" at nobody in particular.

If this dynamic duo seems extra ebullient, it's because after being apart for most of the season, Daryl and Rick are back together at last. And their epic bromance will be rekindled with this special road-trip episode, an installment Reedus and Lincoln prepared for with a screening celebrating another classic pair. "We sent a text message to Robert Redford and told him we were watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid all day," says Reedus. Adds Lincoln, "We like to call the episode 'Butch and Sundance.' But the producers, after a few days of filming, started calling it 'Bill and Ted's.' So I don't know what they were seeing, but what we were filming was completely different."

Norman Reedus as Daryl (Feb. 19/26, 2016)

From our cover story: Norman Reedus is bleeding. And this isn't in the script. We're on a solitary stretch of road in Senoia, Georgia, Reedus and Andrew Lincoln are filming a scene for the Feb. 21 episode of The Walking Dead where they find a vending machine that appears to have fallen off a truck. In this particular shot, Reedus' Daryl Dixon reaches in to pull out a can of Orange Crush, which he proceeds to chug before handing it to Lincoln's Rick Grimes, who polishes it off and then unleashes a belch that would give even Booger from Revenge of the Nerds a run for his money. You know, just two dudes being dudes—shotgunning cans of soda in the zombie apocalypse. But there's a problem. Reedus looks down to see blood on his right hand. He's cut a finger on the broken glass of the vending machine. "Dammit!" The actor scurries toward the crew. But instead of rushing over to the first-aid box, the merry prankster makes a beeline for script supervisor Amy Lacy and begins dripping blood onto random spots of the pages she religiously checks to ensure continuity. Or maybe those spots aren't so random at all. Before long, his masterpiece is complete. "I've never made a penis in blood before," says the star, who will later present Lacy with a ceremonial penis cake—you can see it on Reedus' Instagram feed—during a lunch break.

Danai Gurira as Michonne (Feb. 19/26. 2016)

From our cover story: The Walking Dead has had its fair share of deranged bad guys. The Governor kept a zombie daughter and killed his own men. Gareth from Terminus ate people. And the Wolves slaughtered others and mutilated themselves by carving the letter W on their own foreheads. But when it comes to villains in the Walking Dead universe, one name stands above all the others.

We first heard the name uttered by a nefarious-looking group that stopped Daryl, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) on the road in the prologue scene AMC aired to tease the second half of season 6 (which returns Feb. 14). This group is the Saviors, and their leader, Negan, is a foul-mouthed, leather-clad lunatic who wields a barbed-wire-covered baseball bat he affectionately refers to as Lucille.

Melissa McBride as Carol (Feb. 19/26. 2016)

From our cover story: While much of the focus is on how peace-loving Morgan and do-whatever-it-takes Carol (Melissa McBride) will continue to coexist, James points out that the Morgan/Rick relationship is just as fraught. "That people see them as old friends is not entirely true to the facts," says James. "The first time the two of them met, Morgan stuck a gun in Rick's face. The second time they met, Morgan tried to kill Rick. And the last time they met was highlighted by the fact that Rick had just put a bullet in somebody's head. So their relationship is a little bit more tumultuous than people remember it being."

Steven Yeun as Glenn (Feb. 19/26, 2016)

From our cover story: "Some people are going to die," promises exec producer (and Walking Dead comic creator) Robert Kirkman of the midseason premiere. "That is 100 percent true." But while death has become somewhat commonplace in this world, exec producer Greg Nicotero promises that the premiere (which he directed) will be unlike anything previously seen on the show, dubbing it "an epic man-against-the-undead battle that is unprecedented in the history of The Walking Dead." Don't believe him? Well, feast on this: Nicotero estimates he used more than 1,300 zombies for the episode, shattering the previous record. "The scale of it is astonishing," says Lincoln. "It's absolute mayhem."

Lauren Cohan as Maggie (Feb. 19/26, 2016)

From our cover story: A far happier union—and impending reunion—is the one between Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who will be preparing to become parents. For Glenn, that means "becoming the man that should and can raise a child effectively in that environment," says Yeun. As for his wife, "the pregnancy makes Maggie more badass than ever," says Cohan. "In the sense of she will not take no for an answer. We've seen her as a woman and as a wife and as a strong female character, but to me this is where she sort of finds herself."

Cohan also found herself at the center of fan speculation after she cut her long hair into a pixie 'do, raising fears that such a dramatic makeover meant Maggie would be killed off in the back half of the season. "I had no idea there would be such a reaction," she says with a laugh. "My friends texted me and said it came up on their CNN newsfeed." (For the record, it should be noted that the comic-book version of Maggie has short hair. Make of that what you will.)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan (Aug. 5, 2016)

From our cover story: As Saviors take what they want from various homes and pile the goods into trucks, Negan pays a visit to the pantry to check out the ammunition supply. And then Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who has been tasked with bringing the ultimate comic-book villain to life, lets it fly. "Are you getting f---ing uppity on me?" he asks an Alexandrian. Crew members watching the scene on monitors around the corner begin to chuckle. Another unusable take. Apparently, Morgan enjoys sprinkling in some of the saltier language that made the character so infamous in comic form.

He's not done. "I can't be the only one to notice you got a f---ing fat lady in charge of keeping rations, right?" he asks on the next pass. "How about a f---ing thank-you?" he inquires on the next. "I want you to say f---ing thank you!" he commands after that. And then Morgan decides to double down: "How about a f---ing thank-you, or is that too much to f---ing ask?"

Crew members at this point are holding in their laughter. The thing about Morgan's F-bombs is that you never quite know when and where they are going to detonate. None of these profanity-laced ad-libs are in the script, and none will actually make it to air. No matter. They ensure that high-octane Negan is always present and accounted for.

Steven Yeun as Glenn (Nov. 4, 2016)

From our cover story: Steven Yeun: "I actually just got back from a CAPE function, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, and one of the founders mentioned she went to this camp in Michigan called Sae Jong Camp where kids that are Korean-Americans go to get more of a cultural awareness, whether they're adopted or whether they're Korean immigrants, whatever the case may be. She mentioned that she was so saddened to hear that they all thought they were ugly. That they all thought that someone who looked like them wasn't supposed to be on television or that someone who looked like them wasn't supposed to be desired or heroic or cool, and that's such a f---ing bummer. And I do remember feeling that way myself growing up. I didn't have a Glenn. I didn't have someone to watch on television. I didn't have someone where I can say, 'That's my face, and my face is being accepted by everybody watching this program.' That's the greatest honor that I've gotten to experience."

The Ultimate Guide To The Walking Dead (Fall 2016)

Collector's edition book with exclusive zombie cover.

The Ultimate Guide To The Walking Dead (Fall 2016)

Cover number 2 of our collector's edition book featuring multiple cast favorites.

Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln (Sept. 29, 2017)

From our cover story: “It is super fun this season,” says Reedus. “I’ve enjoyed being on set more and working with all my friends.” Chief among those friends is Lincoln, who assures viewers that the Rick-Daryl bromance will be on display for even “more episodes than we bargained for.” And that means the on-set hijinks between the two actors—which have included a recent round of glitter wars—are back as well. “Yeah, we got Batman and Robin, Laurel and Hardy, and freaking Abbott and Costello back in the house,” laughs Lincoln.

Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, and Lauren Cohan (Sept. 29, 2017)

From our cover story: So besides an insane amount of action, what exactly can fans look forward to in season 8? Well, one thing they should not expect is for Maggie to give birth. While season 7 may have seemed like it took forever for both cast members and viewers alike, the on-screen timeline of events was actually only 19 days long, and season 8 picks up just a few days after that. “It’s quite early in,” says showrunner Gimple about the pregnancy, which was first revealed way back in the first half of season 6.

“I always want to put a little ticker tape along the bottom of the episode saying how far into the apocalypse and into the pregnancy we are,” laughs Cohan. “Because I’m playing newly pregnant for a really long time. But the truth of the matter is it’s only been a matter of weeks since Negan killed Glenn.”

Melissa McBride, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Andrew Lincoln, and Danai Gurira (Sept. 29, 2017)

From our cover story: “We’ve been knocked clear off our feet, concurs Danai Gurira (Michonne), who says the pacing and intensity of the first four episodes is “like nothing before.” Ross Marquand (Aaron) compares season 8 to Die Hard, while Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel) continues the throwback theme by describing it as “a Schwarzenegger versus Stallone action thing from the ’80s. I think there are, like, 10 explosions an episode. Every time you turn around, somebody’s shooting something or blowing something up. There’s some serious action that I don’t think we’ve seen on television since The A-Team went off the air.”