Days Gone Bye

Lore & Background

The episode opens in medias res as former Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes scavenges for gas and supplies at an abandoned convenience store on a deserted highway in rural Georgia. He spots a little girl holding a teddy bear as he assures her not to be afraid of him, but she turns out to be a zombie. When she shambles towards him, Rick shoots her in the head. Returning to several weeks prior, Rick is seriously injured while chasing down criminals alongside his partner and childhood friend Shane Walsh; he is shot in the side and goes into a coma. Hospitalized after the injury, Rick experiences a series of dreamlike encounters with friends and family. When he regains consciousness, he finds the hospital abandoned and horrifically ransacked: the walls are sprayed with blood, destroyed equipment is everywhere, and dead bodies litter the hallway. He walks past a set of double doors secured with heavy chains and spray-painted with the ominous warning "Don't Open Dead Inside". From the far side of the secured doors, Rick hears growling while an unknown menace pushes against the locked doors.

In Their Own Story

Rick encounters Morgan Jones and his son Duane, and they explain the zombie apocalypse that occurred while Rick was in a coma. Morgan warns that the only way to stop the zombies is to destroy the brain, and cautions that the zombies are attracted to noise. Rick decides to head to Atlanta where a refugee camp is rumored to exist, though Morgan would rather stay behind. Rick, Morgan, and Duane go to the Sheriff's Department headquarters where Rick was assigned and take weapons, radios, ammunition and a patrol car. While there, Rick encounters a zombified former colleague whom he shoots in the head. Rick splits the stash of weapons and supplies from the police station with Morgan and promises to stay in touch with a walkie-talkie. Morgan and Duane return to their home where Morgan, armed with a sniper rifle and perched in a second-story window, shoots at the zombies wandering in the street below. While Duane sits nervously downstairs, unsure why Morgan is shooting out the window, it becomes clear that Morgan is trying to attract his zombified wife. When she appears, Morgan gets her head in sight but is unable to shoot her. On his way out of town, Rick stops by the legless zombie. He apologizes for what had happened to her then shoots her. Continuing toward Atlanta in the police car, Rick radios for help on an emergency channel; his signal is picked up at the survivors' camp where Shane, Rick's wife Lori, and their son Carl are safe. Unaware that it is Rick on the radio, the survivors lose the signal and can't warn him of the dangers in Atlanta. Later, Rick abandons his car when it runs out of gas, then finds a nearby farmhouse and its dead owners. He takes their horse and continues toward Atlanta on horseback. In the seemingly empty city, Rick follows a helicopter flying overhead right into a horde of zombies. They attack, killing his horse and forcing him to drop his bag of weapons and crawl under a tank, and as they follow him under it Rick contemplates suicide before noticing a trapdoor in the bottom of the vehicle. After he shoots a walker inside, he hears a voice from the tank's radio sarcastically ask if he is comfortable, before the scene exits with a top-down view of Atlanta overrun by walkers.

Reader's Guide

The episode was critically well received, praising Andrew Lincoln's performance and Darabont's direction. Several critics compared it to Lost. In the United States, the episode achieved a viewership of 5.35 million, making it the most-watched series premiere in AMC history. The episode garnered a Nielsen rating of 2.7 in the 18–49 demographic, translating to 3.6 million viewers. Principal photography for the pilot commenced in May 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was wholly shot on 16 mm film and edited using computer-generated imagery. The principal photography produced a high demand for extras as zombies. Special effects artist Greg Nicotero stated that while anyone was welcome to audition, the producers of the show were looking specifically for people who possessed exceptional height and thin features. Casting for extras took approximately three days. Once accepted, the extras would be sent to "zombie school" for training and preparing for filming.

Did You Know?

• The episode originally aired on AMC in the United States on October 31, 2010.
• Frank Darabont wrote a 60-page pilot script for "Days Gone Bye".
• The episode premiered in 120 countries worldwide.
• The episode achieved a viewership of 5.35 million, making it the most-watched series premiere in AMC history.
• Principal photography for the pilot commenced in May 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia and was wholly shot on 16 mm film.