Revisiting The Walking Dead’s infamous CDC episode (2024)

Since the arrival of the coronavirus disease, many people have been hearing and seeing the acronym CDC, which stands for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, more than they ever have. However, for fans of “The Walking Dead,” it’s nothing new.

The CDC was at the center of one of the AMC series’ most controversial episode. The first season of “The Walking Dead,” which premiered in 2010, follows Georgia sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes after he wakes up from a coma during the early stages of the zombie apocalypse.

Rick reunites with his wife, son and best friend, Shane. Together, they decide to lead a group of survivors the CDC headquarters Atlanta.

In the Season 1 finale, “TS-19,” Rick and the group finally arrive at the CDC. However, feelings of finally being safe eventually give way to something terrifying.

Even with “The Walking Dead” well into its 10th season, “TS-19” remains one of the series’ most polarizing episodes. But it’s also one of the most important.

The episode begins by revealing how Shane left Rick inside a secured room at the hospital at the onset of the zombie pandemic. That flashback marks a turning point for Shane’s character, who would then go from protagonist to antagonist the following season.

In current times, the group encounters Dr. Edwin Emmerich, the sole remaining researcher left at the CDC. Jenner has spent his time studying Test Subject 19, his wife who volunteered to have her body studied after being bitten by a zombie (or “walker” in the show’s universe).

Jenner reveals to the group that while France was close to a cure, all other research facilities around the world have gone silent as humanity reaches its lowest point. The CDC headquarters is also running low on supplies and will self-destruct to prevent the spread of disease samples stored in the facility.

This leads to chaos. Shane threatens to kill Jenner, while members of Rick’s group – Jacqui and Andrea – decide to stay behind and die with Jenner as the building is destroyed. Andrea changes her mind at the last minute. Rick and the group manage to escape the facility just before it explodes.

“TS-19” is a frustrating episode that serves as a bit of an anti-climactic conclusion to an otherwise stellar first season of “The Walking Dead.” But hidden in it is a moment that changes the entire fabric of the show.

Just before Rick leaves the CDC, Jenner whispers something in his ear: Everyone is infected. Whether you’re bitten or scratched by a walker or not, you will become a zombie once you die.

Rick doesn’t reveal the news to the rest of the group until the Season 2 finale. The idea that they’re infected no matter what, removes a certain level of hope from the series. It also puts a spotlight on the pregnancy of Rick’s wife, Laurie. Does a newborn baby acquire the virus after it is born?

Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book the show is based on, revealed a few years later that “TS-19” was one of his biggest regrets of the series.

"If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have done the CDC episode,” Kirkman told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014. "It possibly gave away too much information and was such a big change very early on in the series.”

Kirkman also regretted Jenner revealing that the French were close to a cure. “The Walking Dead,” both the comic book and TV series, thrive on being existing in an isolated universe with little or no knowledge of what’s happening in the rest of the world.

There were rumors that Jenner may eventually return to “The Walking Dead” universe, likely in its prequel series “Fear the Walking Dead.” But that never happened.

One has to wonder if the team behind the TV series also regretted the CDC episode. Jenner’s big reveal to Rick hasn’t played much of a role in the series from Season 3 on.