Summary
The Walking Deadhad plenty of heartbreaking and traumatic moments, especially so when a beloved character who had been with the series from the start ended up passing away. In a world full of dangerous people and flesh-hungry zombies, it was a constant reminder to its characters that death was always going to be snapping at their heels and the likelihood of becoming one of ‘the walking dead’ was a terrifying yet realistic thought for Rick and the group as they struggled to survive.
As seen throughoutThe Walking Deadseries, especially at the start, the hunt for a cure was paramount.After visiting the CDC in Atlanta, Rick and Co. became disheartened after Dr. Jenner told them that there was no cure and that they should give up trying for one. Of course, it didn’t help matters that Jenner then decided to blow the center up with him and Jacqui in toe. However, as seen with Hershel Greene (played by the late Scott Wilson) and the Governor (played by David Morrissey), that didn’t stop them from believing that a cure was possible, even though the ones that they were trying to save had already gone through the process of turning.
OnThe Walking Dead’s Reddit page, fans of the iconic TV series share convincing reasons why the infected can’t be cured and also wonder why its characters thought that it could be actually possible anyway. Looking at both characters, Hershel andthe Governor, where one had a barn full of walkers and the other kept his daughter locked up in the hope of a cure, one fan stated that they didn’t understand how they thought that even if they got a cure, how they would go back to being human again. “Their flesh is rotting, you can see it and smell it. I could understand if they thought maybe it could be cured within a certain timeframe. But after so long, even if a cure COULD be found, it would just be too late,” expressed userInvisible_Target.
This insight into the infected sparked others to give their opinions in the post’s comment section. Coming to Hershel’s defense, one fan said that because he was very religious, he may have been hoping for some kind of miracle to come about and “that god would save them somehow.” However, many reasoned out that most people were just in a state of denial because of how fast the virus came about, and they hadn’t adjusted to the concept of reality. What hasn’t sat too well with fans is the fact that the infected had rotting flesh that could not only be seen but smelt as well, so the idea of being able to reverse that was a confusing topic.
Others commented that the idea surrounding curing someone who isinfected inThe Walking Deadwasn’t such a big leap as with many skin diseases, that part could be treated, but finding a cure that reverses the effects on the brain was the most important part and that’s what they thought many were holding out for. As we saw at the CDC, Jenner’s wife became a test subject after she had passed away and this showed that the human part of the brain dies with the infection then taking over. It stands to reason that there likely wouldn’t be a cure that could make someone human again after they die, but a lot of stranger things have happened on the show.
In season eight, episode two of thespin-offFear the Walking Dead, June (Jenna Elfman), who goes by the codename Blue Jay, appeared to have found a “cure' after dosing patients with radiation but, unfortunately, this seemed to only prolong the infection from taking over, according to showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg. Lifting the lid to explore more about the creation of the zombie virus and how to stop it would certainly be a fantastic continuation intoThe Walking Dead’s universe.
