Ranking ‘The Walking Dead’ Seasons by Their Comic-Con Trailers (VIDEO)

Don’t Be a Braindead Walker

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AMC’s zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead has done many things well over the past 11 years, including, walker makeup, gore, plaid shirts, the phrase “this is who we are now,” bloodthirsty villains with a knack for killing fan-favorite characters, etc. And the reason we’ve come back, season after season after season? The characters, the universe, all the aforementioned things… and our excitement for the show’s next chapter, which is usually generated by its trailers.

Here, we’ve strolled down memory lane to rank the show’s “main” season trailers (usually the ones that premiered at Comic-Con) by how excited they made us.

Season 8

This trailer was an odd one for the series — and unfortunate that it arrived at a time when many viewers were fatigued with the unending “All Out War” storyline. Keeping most of the first half of the trailer silent was an interesting choice, but in the end it felt like all the explosions, chaos and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) speeches, but very little heart, or promise of narrative progression. It was, however, the first glimpse of “old man Rick,” which launched many fan theories of what would become of the survivors’ steadfast leader.

Season 7

We’re not too fond of Season 7’s trailer, mostly because it didn’t do much to sweeten the bitterness of that infamous season finale cliffhanger. While it does feature the introduction of King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and plenty of Carol (Melissa McBride) and Morgan (Lennie James), it deliberately avoids revealing the fates of anyone in the lineup, which severely limits the amount of hype it can generate.

Season 6

This one definitely earns points for the use of Hozier’s “Arsonist’s Lullabye,” but the Season 6 trailer fits squarely into the “deliberate misdirection” era of TWD promotion. It makes it seem Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Morgan were going to fight each other (never happened), like the group was suspicious of Carol (nope), and that Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) was going to play a pretty big role in things to come (also nope). But Rick sprinting away from the walkers was a darn cool opener.

Season 5

While parts of Season 5 tend to rank highly on many fans’ lists, this trailer doesn’t necessarily represent what’s going on. Instead, it creates a narrative that never existed on the show: That the Terminus cannibals were going to join Rick’s group and head for Washington, D.C. with them. While this trailer still gets our hearts pounding, we’re deducting points for the deliberate misdirection.

Season 11

Quite possibly the second-to-last Comic-Con trailer TWD will ever have, this brief snippet of the final season showed us the start of the conflict with the Reapers, a taste of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) tension and even a hint of the Commonwealth at the very end. Given that it’s the final season, its music choice — an “epic” re-work of the show’s main theme — makes sense. All things considered, it’s a solid preview with plenty of intrigue for longtime fans.

Season 10

The Whisperers arrived, and with them, another war. However, the Season 10 trailer succeeds where the “All Out War” trailers failed — it leans into the bonds between beloved characters like Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol to draw in viewers while sprinkling in just a pinch of misdirection to get people talking (that Michonne [Danai Gurira]-Ezekiel kiss was not the big deal this preview made it out to be). If you listen closely, you can hear the first echoes of the Daryl-Carol spinoff in this preview as they talk about running off together.

Season 3

This is the first trailer to feature a big “surprise!” moment in the end. In this case, it’s the survival of Michael Rooker’s Merle Dixon. It shines a spotlight on the group taking the prison for themselves, while also showing Michonne being a total badass. But it’s also pretty calm for a Walking Dead preview — the music is mellow, and there isn’t much to hint at the huge twists to come. (If you were a fan of the comics, though, you knew where it was all going… especially Woodbury.)

Season 9

Under new showrunner Angela Kang, The Walking Dead got a much-needed energy boost — and this trailer shows it. The colors feel brighter, the action, tighter, the stakes, real and tangible. Gone are the close-ups of characters’ faces and dramatic dialogue, replaced with snippets of realistic conflict and some truly foreboding words from Negan. Plus, that Whisperer tease at the end? Utterly chilling.

Season 2

Remember Shane (Jon Bernthal)? The Season 2 trailer sure hopes you do, as it opens on him running from a huge horde of the dead. In fact, this trailer does a lot to emphasize the inter-group drama and nail-biter sequences in a season that’s known for being a bit light on the action. It makes it seem like the weary survivors are on the verge of going their separate ways (which wasn’t true) and leans into the Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies)-Rick-Shane love triangle while hinting that something bad happens to Carol’s daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) without spelling out exactly what.

Season 4

Now, this is a trailer. Featuring a remixed version of Season 2’s trailer song, “Serpents,” it teases the prison outbreak (cleverly edited to make it seem like a group member, rather than a virus, was killing people), the prison collapse, Carol’s transformation into a hardened survivor and even Terminus at the end. Season 4 had some of the finest installments TWD ever offered, and this trailer is worthy of it.

Season 1

It’d be easy to put Season 1 first on the list and call it done since it’s the trailer that started it all. But it’s not ranked here on chronology alone; it does quite a bit to entice us to watch. Even though it mostly uses scenes from the first episode, it does a darn good job of immersing us in the show’s eerie atmosphere, as well as selling the angle that Rick’s a good guy awoken in a bad world who’s just looking for his family. Of course, in case anyone was on the fence back in 2010, it also name-drops Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd. By the end of its four and a half minutes, this first trailer has us ready for a TWD rewatch — and that’s what a trailer should do.