Abstract
This chapter looks at why The Walking Dead has been such a successful transmedia franchise. Joyce argues that there are five key reasons. First, the zombie apocalypse benefits from an open rights regime as the zombie is a public domain figure. Second, The Walking Dead benefits from having comics as its narrative core medium as the medium specialises in infinitely suspended narratives worked on by multiple creative teams. Third, the zombie apocalypse can rely on our world for mythos and topos, so The Walking Dead’s storyworld can focus on ethos. Fourth, the franchise guardian Robert Kirkman actively legitimises transmedia expansions. Fifth, the zombie apocalypse allows for immersive participatory fan practices that make it a cultural attractor.
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