As a staple piece of television throughout the 2010s, The Walking Dead became a huge hit as it mixed classic horror ideas with poignant character drama to provide a thrilling spectacle of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group's battle to survive the apocalypse. Throughout its 11-season tenure, the show was never afraid of shaking things up with no character being safe as the fear of the undead gradually shifted to a deadly caution of the living.

Off the back of the series' success, AMC has been able to launch a large franchise following new heroes and old favorites even as The Walking Dead has reached its end. Throughout the entire saga, there have been plenty of episodes which have excelled not only at telling a captivating story, but at terrifying viewers as well.

Updated on September 29, 2023, by Ryan Heffernan:

As one of the largest television brands ever to hit the small screen, The Walking Dead has expanded to not only be a series of epic proportions, but a wider saga as well which has been explored through a range of spin-off series. One of the latest of which is The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which has not only given viewers more of the fan-favorite character, but has also excelled as a grounded horror story.

11 "Truth or Dare"

'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' (Season 1, Episode 7)

IMDb Rating: 6.3/10

The Walking Dead: World Beyond sadly didn't have much of a chance as it was canceled before the first episode even aired, but it has granted audiences two short seasons of killer character dynamics and surprise reveals that stand with the best of them. Perhaps no TWD betrayal stings quite so much as that of Huck (Annet Mahendru), who befriends the rest of the crew only to be revealed as the daughter of their primary antagonist.

This story tells how Huck got her facial scar, and it will come as a huge surprise to people expecting a lengthy fight scene. Instead, this episode places its weight on questioning the responsibility of a soldier, and whether she should have defied orders that led her to commit murder and betray her ethical code. Huck remains one of the more fascinating antagonists of the franchise, and this episode shows her at her absolute worst.

10 "Cindy Hawkins"

'Fear the Walking Dead' (Season 7, Episode 3)

IMDb Rating: 6.3/10

It's been noted elsewhere that Fear the Walking Dead may very well be the scariest spinoff of the TWD franchise, and episodes like "Cindy Hawkins" make that difficult to dispute. June (Jenna Elfman) and John (Garret Dillahunt) are stuck in an underground bunker that belongs to the serial killer Teddy (John Glover). They discover a room in which he tortured his victims, with the name Cindy Hawkins coming up as his apparent final victim.

Meanwhile, they can't leave the bunker without extensive protection. Outside, John encounters strangers and shoots two of them with one making it inside the chamber. Chaos erupts, and they find out that what they believed to be the ghosts of Teddy's victims were actually walkers. It stands as a layered and complex issue that meditates on several different brands of horror to stand tall among Fear the Walking Dead's scariest episodes.

9 "Good Out Here"

'Fear the Walking Dead' (Season 4, Episode 3)

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Featuring the infamous death of series mainstay Nick Clark (Frank Dillane), this is one that no fan is likely to forget. Yet, by using a child as its surprise antagonist, it delivers serious scares. Nick pleads with the child to stop doing what her brothers tell her to do, but it's all to no avail. Meanwhile, Madison (Kim Dickens) stops Nick from crossing a moral event horizon in killing Ennis (Evan Gamble), but he's forced to eventually do just that.

There is a sense of destiny in this story that shows Nick's fate is set in stone, which makes it all the more painful to watch as it unfolds piece by piece. Nick manages to kill Ennis after a fight in a silo, impaling Ennis on a set of deer antlers in a specifically grisly scene to be killed soon after. Nick would continue to show up here and there in flashbacks, but for the ongoing narrative, this was his last stop.

8 "The End is the Beginning"

'Fear the Walking Dead' (Season 6, Episode 1)

IMDb Rating: 8.4/10

The final moments of season five of Fear the Walking Dead suggested that Morgan (Lennie James) was on the cusp of death, slipping out of consciousness with a severe wound as walkers closed in around him. The season six premiere, “The End is the Beginning,” revealed that Morgan was still alive, though in no state to celebrate as, nursing his debilitating wound, he struggles to find his kidnapped loved ones while being pursued by a relentless bounty hunter.

The boiled-down plot mechanics enabled the episode to take on a rugged intensity as Morgan’s fight for survival led to plenty of heart-stopping moments. While Morgan emerged victorious, the episode’s ending didn’t let viewers off the hook, teasing more carnage to come as two men spray paint an ominous message on a submarine.

7 "On the Inside"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 11, Episode 6)

IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

The final season of The Walking Dead was loaded with suspense, as the looming conclusion of the story raised tensions whenever beloved characters drifted into harm's way. This was the case in "On the Inside" when Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Virgil (Kevin Carroll), lost in the open, take shelter in a house that turns out to be the home of some mysterious creatures.

The story surrounding Connie and Virgil was a pulsating mix between haunted house horror and the blood and guts that The Walking Dead at large often serves up. It also featured a fascinating step forward for Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and the Reapers as they started to mark themselves as one of the series' more memorable antagonistic groups.

6 "JSS"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 6, Episode 2)

IMDb Rating: 9.2/10

This tells the tale of Enid (Katelyn Nacon), a kid who had to watch on helplessly as both of her parents were ripped to shreds by walkers when they stopped to fix an issue with their car. After being trapped inside the car, and then finding herself lost and alone in the open, Enid adopts the mantra "Just Survive Somehow" as she searches for shelter before finally finding Alexandria.

The episode served as a means to flesh out the Enid character some more, shedding light on her backstory which contributed to her being the stand-offish girl Carl (Chandler Riggs) and the survivors meet when they arrive at Alexandria. In doing so, it expanded the world of the show by giving fans another character they could truly sympathize with while reminding them about the merciless nature of the world of the show. As such, it stands as one of The Walking Dead's best episodes.

5 "Beside the Dying Fire"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 2, Episode 13)

IMDb Rating: 9.2/10

In season two, the group temporarily holes up at Hershel's (Scott Wilson) farm, and it starts to feel downright cozy for a second if you ignore all the zombies. This episode proves that they are absolutely not going to be able to stay at the farm, and things start to get tense again. Rick killed Shane (Jon Bernthal) in the previous episode, then was barely saved when Carl shot Shane's reanimated form. This, however, called zombies to the farm.

This episode has a few claims to fame as it features a significant number of flashbacks that help flesh out some characters. It's also the first appearance of the great badass TWD character Michonne (Danai Gurrira), who would go on to be one of the breakout characters of the show and an eventual lead. Yet, scenes where Rick and Carl are trapped between a fire and a zombie horde remain absolutely chilling, even knowing they make it out.

4 "Days Gone Bye"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 1, Episode 1)

IMDb Rating: 9.2/10

Waking up barely alive in a hospital where most of the staff is gone or deceased and having to put the pieces together to understand what exactly happened is one of the most frightening scenarios imaginable. That's exactly what happens to Rick Grimes in the series' debut, and it made for one of the scariest The Walking Dead episodes as he tries to devise a plan to find his family while scrounging for food and resources.

It's easy to take this episode for granted as it sets up the show and delves into Rick's past a bit. The first season of the show is not overall its best, but there are few greater cold opens in the history of television than this one. When Rick finds a horse and rides it into a seemingly deserted city, the poor animal is ultimately ripped out from under him and devoured by a swarm of "walkers" when he takes a wrong turn. Setting the stakes about as high as they could be right at the beginning helped set the tone for the series.

3 "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 7, Episode 1)

IMDb Rating: 9.2/10

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has evolved into more of an antihero, but his early appearances showed a man who was bent into something truly monstrous by his own personal tragedies. Prioritizing survival and riding the high of being the ruthless leader of a gang, Negan takes his beloved baseball bat Lucille and bludgeons Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) to death after a horrific game of "ennie, meenie, miney, mo."

The graphic depiction of the violence, and the fact that it killed two cherished mainstays of the show, ensured the episode would not be forgotten in a hurry. It also ramped up the tension with Rick almost being forced to cut off Carl's arm, becoming a hollow shell of the authoritative leader he was in the process. The end of the episode reveals a shattered group lacking purpose or direction as they struggle to come to terms with the sadistic horror they have just witnessed.

2 "The Calm Before"

'The Walking Dead' - Season 9, Episode 15

IMDb Rating: 9.3/10

Horrifying The Walking Dead villains come and go, but few to grace the screen have been quite as upsetting as Alpha (Samantha Morton). Leading a group of people called Whisperers who wear flesh suits and intermix with zombies, she travels in enormous groups and forces confrontations from the first moment she appears. As four communities come together to celebrate a period of relative peace, Alpha prepares to make a statement in a big way.

This entry is generally remembered for the shocking moment in which it is revealed that the Whisperers have killed and then taken the zombified heads of many friends and family members and put them on a series of pikes jutting up out of a nearby hill. Truly, that moment is devastating, but the reason it works so well is that there is quite literally a calm before it occurs. The group enjoying a social gathering and idly wondering where their friends are is a major part of why the revelation is as crushing as it is.

1 "No Way Out"

'The Walking Dead' (Season 6, Episode 9)

IMDb Rating: 9.6/10

One of the best The Walking Dead episodes, "No Way Out" was the kind of episode where every action shows an immediate negative reaction, and it just gets worse and worse as they go along. First, Daryl and the crew are stopped by a group of Saviors, and he's forced to kill them in an explosion. This would go on to have devastating effects in the near future, but even looking no further than the end of the episode, things are rough. Meanwhile, Alexandria is overrun by walkers as a group of survivors led by Rick tries to sneak through the herd with devastating consequences.

Michonne is also forced to cut down a vengeful kid who pulls a gun on Rick which leads to Carl being shot in the eye. With much of the back end of season six building suspense leading up to the revelation of Negan, "No Way Out" was a startling emphasis on how horrific the show could be while paving the way for the terrible things to come later in the season.

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