A cold open is a narrative trick used by many TV shows and movies that essentially drops the audience into the middle of a story instead of starting at the beginning. While The Office became iconic for many of its cold opens, plenty of other series use a similar technique to hook viewers before the credits even roll.
The Walking Dead is one show that loves to give the audience a solid teaser that establishes where the episode is going before it really begins. But what are the best cold opens in the history of the series?
Season 3, Episode 3 – Walk With Me
Introducing a major player like Michonne is no easy task, but this episode’s opening scene really managed to make her first appearance have an impact. It starts off with a bit of a bait and switch. There are men flying a helicopter and hitting turbulence, and despite their attempts to correct, the chopper goes down.
The scene then cuts to Andrea and Michonne together, and Michonne has her jawless, armless walkers on chains. It was one heck of a way to meet Michonne, and it definitely successfully piqued everyone’s interest in this swordfighter.
Season 8, Episode 3 – “The Cell”
The buildup towards the Saviors was huge, and their ultimate reveal was explosive. But the first moments of the episode “The Cell” follows Dwight and illustrates what life is really like for every social class at the Sanctuary.
Dwight’s seemingly cushy position is punctuated by the jaunty soundtrack of “Town Called Malice” by The Jam, but it’s obvious that the people here aren’t particularly happy unless they’re at the top of the food chain. And the juxtaposition of Dwight making himself a delicious-looking sandwich, only to serve up some dog food to Daryl, was perfect.
Season 10, Episode 3 – “Ghosts”
Like most TV shows and films, The Walking Dead typically abides by the narrative convention of building tension by escalating the action over a long period of time. However, this opening scene bucks that trend.
Although the first sequence is only a few minutes long, a series of title cards explains that the fight against this building herd of walkers is taking place over hours upon hours, exhausting the Alexandrians and exponentially increasing their fear of Alpha’s horde.
Season 10, Episode 12 – “Walk With Us”
As far as action-oriented cold opens go, it’s hard to imagine any more thrilling than this starting sequence. The show starts in the midst of the deadly battle between the Whisperers and Hilltop, and not only is Hilltop being overrun by walkers, but it’s entirely engulfed in flames.
There’s a nice nod to the organized training that everyone did in the first episode of the season, and the rivalry between Alpha and Carol is at its peak. Not to mention, TWD deftly avoided the common issue of hard-to-see nighttime battles by setting everything alight.
Season 6, Episode 1 – “First Time Again”
After a pretty rough integration into the Alexandrian community, the sixth season begins with Rick, his group, and the citizens of Alexandria all working together to puzzle out how to handle the astoundingly huge horde that has collected nearby.
But as things are wont to do in the zombie apocalypse, it all goes awry and they have to wrangle the herd during their practice run. It was a thrilling season starter, and it handily demonstrated that Rick’s group had fully blended into their new home.
Season 5, Episode 3 – “Four Walls And A Roof”
The episodes after the group escaped Terminus were some of the most nihilistic material in the history of the series, but the show never lost its macabre sense of humor either. And this particular opening scene is one every fan will remember.
Gareth is explaining his cannibalistic philosophy to Bob after he and the rest of the Terminus have eaten one of Bob’s legs. But Bob pulls the ultimate Uno reverse card on everyone, revealing that he had been bitten by a walker and they were all eating “tainted meat”.
Season 3, Episode 5 – “Say The Word”
The Walking Dead has been home to many fantastic villains over the course of its more than decade-long run, but most fans will agree that the Governor is one of the best baddies in the history of the show. And nothing demonstrates his dark dual nature better than the opening of this episode.
The cold open starts on an idyllic scene in Woodbury, and then transitions to the Governor lovingly combing his daughter’s hair. But then, a chunk of her scalp comes off with the brush, and Penny is revealed to be a walker.
Season 9, Episode 5 – “What Comes After”
For Rick Grimes’ departure episode, The Walking Dead took things back to the very start. The cold open begins in a dream sequence, with the present-day Rick Grimes in a hospital room in Atlanta, talking to the comatose version of himself, telling himself to wake up.
Rick promptly listens to his own advice, bolting awake in reality, still impaled on exposed rebar with a massive walker herd bearing down on him. And once again to bring everything full-circle in a reference to the pilot, Rick climbs atop a horse and gallops away.
Season 8, Episode 9 – “Honor”
It comes as no surprise that the intro to Carl Grimes’ final episode was a heavy hitter. The very first moments are a dream sequence of the better world that Carl (and eventually Rick) dreams of, which then cuts to the harsh reality of Rick and Michonne digging a grave for Carl.
Then the audience sees Carl getting bitten saving Siddiq, and then Carl trying to enjoy his last day on earth. And the oddly jovial soundtrack of “At The Bottom Of Everything” by Bright Eyes really undercuts the devastation of Carl’s loss but the hopefulness that he has for the future that he’ll never see.
Season 1, Episode 1 – “Days Gone Bye”
Unsurprisingly, one of the best cold opens in TWD history was also the very first scene of the entire series.
Although most viewers had an idea of what the show was going to be about, introducing the good-hearted cop Rick Grimes while he’s wandering the apocalyptic wasteland by himself was a great way to establish what the story was and where it was going. And in typical Walking Dead fashion, Rick shockingly shoots a young zombie kid before the credits even start, pretty perfectly setting the tone of the tale.
