The zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead changed humanity forever, collapsing every existing world power and killing off the majority of the species. The franchise follows the few survivors trying to build a new life and a new world, fighting against both the undead and their fellow humans whose worst impulses have run riot. It’s therefore devastating to know that no matter what Walking Dead‘s heroes accomplish, the franchise already set up a second zombie apocalypse to destroy it all again.

This chilling fact comes courtesy of Clementine – a major protagonist within the franchise. Clementine was introduced in 2012’s The Walking Dead videogame, from Telltale Games. In the original game, Clementine is a young girl who is taken in by Lee Everett, and the story’s sole survivor. She’s since appeared in more games set in the Walking Dead universe, as well as the Clementine comic trilogy from Tillie Walden.

Walden’s Clementine: Book One follows Clementine as she encounters various survivor communities, including an Amish community and a suspicious group set up in a former ski resort in Vermont. While living with the latter, Clementine discovers a ravine full of zombies, who have been frozen by the cold conditions. While she escapes with her life, the encounter reveals that within the world of Walking Dead, countless undead have been frozen, waiting to emerge once again when the ice eventually thaws.

Walking Dead’s Clementine Spin-Off Sets Up Frozen Zombies

The Outbreak Can Return Even Centuries Later

Zombie biology is an ongoing mystery in the canon of the original Walking Dead comics (from Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard), but it’s clear that they don’t need to sleep or drink to survive, and their habit of eating the living doesn’t appear to be for nutrition. One of the only weaknesses of the undead is that they rot over time – something that is stalled by being frozen. Clem encounters dozens of Walkers frozen in the ravine, moving incredibly slowly and cut off from the world around them. She even encounters zombies frozen into the walls and, at the conclusion of the story, an avalanche buries a section of the resort under the snow.

In real life, major paleontological discoveries have been made thanks to bodies frozen in permafrost and thus perfectly preserved (for instance, the discovery of a preserved wooly mammoth in 2022). While no living being can survive this process, zombies are another story, and there’s every reason to believe that Walking Dead‘s undead could survive indefinitely in this state.

Kirkman and Moore’s original Dead Planet pitch wasn’t accepted, but could now function as a sequel to Walking Dead .

A particularly warm period or shifting weather patterns could therefore release them at any time, including in the far future, when society has grown careless about the undead (something that’s shown to be happening within Carl’s lifetime in Walking Dead #193‘s flash-forward ending.) What’s so exciting about this theory is that it could give the franchise an entire new era to play with – one that’s similar to its creators’ original zombie pitch, Dead Planet.

Walking Dead’s Creator Be Planning a Far Future Reboot

Walking Dead’s Predecessor Dead Planet Shows Exactly What It Would Look Like

According to CBR, Kirkman and Moore originally pitched Image Comics a zombie series titled Dead Planet. The series was set to begin in the 27th Century, and see a utopian Earth under attack by a zombie outbreak. Each arc of the story would jump forward in time, showing how the futuristic Earth is brought low by zombies. Image Comics reportedly turned down the pitch, with Kirkman and Moore moving on to the more traditional zombie story of Walking Dead.

Walking Dead’s pseudo-spin-off Rick Grimes 2000 shows exactly what a futuristic Walking Dead would look like.

However, setting up a second zombie apocalypse far in the future could allow Dead Planet to finally come into existence, this time as a sequel to Walking Dead. This potential is bolstered by Kirkman’s recent tease that Walking Dead Deluxe (a reprinting of the original series with new colors from Dave McCaig) may not end at the original issue 193, and that “it’s possible we just keep going with Walking Dead Deluxe #194.” This would fit the original series’ surprise ending, with fans being blindsided that it would conclude with #193. Not only is this kind of continuation possible, but fans have already seen exactly what it would look like…

Walking Dead Already Gave Fans a Hint at Its Sci-Fi Future

Rick Grimes 2000 Gave Rick a Spaceship

Kirkman already came close to this project with Rick Grimes 2000 – a tongue-in-cheek action/sci-fi spin-off where Rick awakens to discover the zombie apocalypse was just the first step of an alien invasion, with various characters returning with cyborg enhancements and futuristic weapons. The story ends with Rick flying a ship out into space, patrolling for the next alien attack – a far-future presentation that seems to call back to Dead Planet. Of course, even if Walking Dead‘s second outbreak never comes, the survivors still have a lot of new problems to contend with.

With the zombie outbreak contained, the survivors still need to deal with the threat of nuclear annihilation.

A Second Zombie Outbreak Isn’t Walking Dead’s Only Long-Term Problem

Unattended Nuclear Power Plants Could Finish Off Humanity

The original comic series ends by jumping forward to Carl in adulthood, raising his family in a gigantic, zombie-free human settlement still known as the Commonwealth. Plans are underway to connect the Commonwealth to a ‘Western Alliance’ via a new railway, and the younger members of society are already taking the zombie threat lightly, with Maggie’s son earning his living with a traveling zombie show.

While Carl has grown up and Rick is remembered as a legend, the story of this world is far from over. Almost every organized group of humans Rick’s group encounter in the series has some serious flaw, from fascistic leaders to outright cannibalism, so there’s plenty of reason to be suspicious of the Western Alliance. Likewise, it’s clear this society isn’t taking adequate precautions against the fact that anyone who dies will rise again, meaning every human settlement will always be vulnerable to attack from within.

Finally, there’s the major question of hazards like crumbling infrastructure, water pollution and even nuclear power plants. With the majority of humans dead after the zombie outbreak, the human world had years to collapse, creating major hazards that humanity is only just ready to confront. There’s a lot of story left to tell if Walking Dead Deluxe does continue, or if Kirkman chooses to tell a new spin-off following different characters.

A Walking Dead Follow-Up Can Stay True to the Franchise’s Message

Walking Dead Was Never About the Threat Being ‘Over’

Walking Dead was never a story about humanity beating the zombie apocalypse and returning to normal. The comics are clear that humanity must become better than before, or survival will be pointless. There’s therefore a lot of meat on the bone for a new Walking Dead story about this new version of human society contending with its own zombie outbreak, with Clementine‘s frozen zombies explaining exactly how this could take place.