‘The Walking Dead’ changed the zombie genre, and the creator is from Lexington
Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
Robert Kirkman, the American comic book writer who co-created “The Walking Dead,” changed the genre of the zombie movies and television from horror to character-driven story lines.
Kirkman was born in Lexington on Nov. 30, 1978, and was raised in Cynthiana. Growing up, Kirkman was a fan of zombie films like “Night of the Living Dead.” By the age of 22, Kirkman had published his first comic book, the 2000 superhero parody “Battle Pope.”
Three years later, he created “Invincible” for Image Comics about the son of the world’s most powerful superhero who develops his own powers.
Later that same year, Kirkman launched the comic book series “The Walking Dead,” about of a group of people navigating the apocalypse, and trying to survive attacks from zombies known as walkers.
In 2010, the television show “The Walking Dead” premiered on AMC to critical accolades, based on Kirkman’s comics.
The show premiered on Oct. 31, 2010, and ran for 11 seasons. In addition to Andrew Lincoln as the series lead Rick Grimes, the show also starred Lexington native Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier. The series concluded on Nov. 20, 2022.
The series was a ratings boon for AMC. During its third season, the show attracted the most 18-49-year-old viewers of any cable or broadcast television series. Over the course of the show’s run, it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series — Drama and the Writers Guild of America Award for New Series.
A number of spin-off series were developed based on “The Walking Dead,” including “Fear the Walking Dead” and “The Walking Dead: Fear City.”
Kirkman created his own imprint of Image Comics, Skybound Entertainment, to develop the comics he created into traditional and new media. The company manages the licenses for “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible,” which went on to become an animated series on Amazon Prime Video starring J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Zachary Quinto and Walton Goggins, among others.
A third series based on Kirkman’s comic “Outcast” was produced by Cinemax and aired in 2013.
Kirkman and his wife lived in Kentucky until 2011, when his family moved to Los Angeles.
Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.
This story was originally published December 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘The Walking Dead’ changed the zombie genre, and the creator is from Lexington."