Walker Stalker Con: an exciting event by fans, for fans

I’ve been a part of The Walking Dead fandom since the early seasons, when Walker Stalker Con was the premiere convention for Walking Dead fans. Walker Stalker Con no longer exists, but its story is a testament to how a fandom centered around a successful franchise can expand, fracture, and reform over time. In this article, I’ll talk about what went down with The Walking Dead franchise, some interesting tidbits you may not know about TWD, the evolution of the fan con scene, and where fans of the show can connect today.

What happened to The Walking Dead? A quick plot recap

Centered on Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes, the show primarily depicts his struggle to maintain his humanity and care for his family after he awakens from a coma to discover a world populated by zombies, referred to as walkers on the show. He reunites with his family outside of Atlanta, Georgia and becomes the unlikely leader of his community as they traverse the country trying to survive. Over the course of the next several seasons, the group travels through a prison, on a farm, and settles in a protected community known as Alexandria. As they attempt to survive and build sustainable lives, the communities they encounter often pose as great a risk to their safety as the walkers.

Major villains include Negan and his community of survivors, the Saviors and later the Whisperers, survivors who wore walker skin to hunt the living. By the tenth and eleventh seasons, the survivors discover a well-established and government-like community known as the Commonwealth.

After eleven seasons, the main series concluded in 20l2. However, spin-offs Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live have premiered since then.

Lesser-known facts about The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is full of shocking twists and memorable deaths. But between takes, there are fun facts about The Walking Dead production that many fans don't know. We've compiled a few below.

• Since Daryl Dixon isn't in the comic books, he was invented just for The Walking Dead show.
• Much of the series was filmed at Raleigh Studios located in Senoia, Georgia. The studio has several sound stages, but one property in Senoia was built specifically for use on TWD. Scenes have also been filmed at an abandoned military base and on Tybee Island.
• Alexandria is actually a neighborhood in Senoia. Only about six families live there, but they sign contracts that prevent visitors while production is underway.
• Before walking the walk, many actors who portrayed walkers had to attend "zombie school."
• Actors Andrew Lincoln, Lauren Cohan, and David Morrissey all have British accents. Lincoln played Rick Grimes, Cohan played Maggie, and Morrissey portrayed The Governor.
• Legend has it that HBO originally turned down the show. Supposedly, they wanted the show to be less gory, but the producers soon pitched it to AMC.

How TWD fans built a community around conventions?

The fandom for The Walking Dead expanded as the show ran, but conventions gave it a physical place to gather besides online forums to discuss their favorite show. Walker Stalker Con originated as a website and podcast by James Frazier and Eric Nordhoff, who later turned it into a convention circuit in 2013. It quickly ballooned into one of the largest franchise conventions, attracting tens of thousands of visitors at events across North America and Europe.

The convention circuit gave fans something they couldn't get by simply tuning in to new episodes: in-person meetings with cast members, group selfies, Q&A panels, and costume competitions specific to the show's world. But for some fans, it wasn't about meeting the stars. While waiting in line for a panel with hundreds of other fans who got the cultural and linguistic references just as you did, many people felt a sense of belonging that couldn't be replicated on social media.

That formula of celebrity appearances mixed with fan-organized activities became a template for other series' fandom conventions in the years that followed, even as Walker Stalker itself began to face serious issues behind the scenes.

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Walker Stalker Con: What it was and why it's gone?

Walker Stalker Con launched in 2013 as a fan event focused on The Walking Dead and its cast. It quickly grew into one of the largest fan-run conventions in North America and Europe. The company was estimated to bring in north of 11 million dollars in revenue in 2017 alone, and Walker Stalker LLC opened additional brands under Heroes and Villains, another pop-culture convention geared towards actors of the Arrowverse, and later Fan Fest, which expanded the business model even further.

Issues with Walker Stalker began cropping up around 2018 and 2019. Guests began to speak out about gold-tier tickets and photo op packages changing terms without warning, events being canceled or moved with little to no notice, and refunds owed not being issued. Multiple vendors and celebrities were never paid for their goods or services, and by 2019, the majority of Walking Dead actors associated with Walker Stalker had publicly cut all ties with the brand.

More legal troubles followed in 2020, when the Tennessee Attorney General began an investigation into Walker Stalker LLC for failure to fulfill promises and misuse of funds. Later that year, another company, 3fams Productions, acquired the Walker Stalker brand and moved to virtual conventions, with hopes of returning to in-person events in 2021.

Technically speaking, the Walker Stalker brand is still alive under new management, but the Walker Stalker Convention, as it was known by fans, stacked with cast, wild and Walking Dead-centric is no more. It left a void in its wake, one that would be filled by other fan-run, independently operated conventions.

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Where Walking Dead fans gather now?

While Walker Stalker Con may be no more, fans haven't lost convention-going destinations; they've just been redistributed into a broader selection of fan-specific and multi-fandom gatherings.

• Walker-Stalker inspired charity reunion: The Camp, which takes place in Peachtree City, Georgia (just minutes from where portions of the show are filmed), regularly hosts cast members like Cooper Andrews and Seth Gilliam in more low-key settings, with an emphasis on activities over panels.
• The Walking Dead: From Atlanta to Paris: A recurring international reunion event which reunites original cast members in France and is produced through independent channels rather than a single flagship brand.
• Fandemic Dead: Now home to many of the cast and is frequently promoted as one of the only shows built around them.
• Major multi-fandom comic conventions: Like San Diego Comic-Con, GalaxyCon and others that draw fans of The Walking Dead alongside huge crowds of fans from other fandoms will routinely welcome cast members as guests.
• Regional pop culture conventions: SC Comicon in Greenville, South Carolina, that may only book one or two cast members, but allow fans to meet them for panels, autographs and photos.

How do students and young fans get involved?

College students and younger fans are building vibrant communities around The Walking Dead without ever attending ticketed conventions.

Online communities are just as vital. Platforms like Reddit, Discord, and Twitter allow students to share theories, fan art, and stay updated on conventions. These spaces help students participate in the fandom year-round, even if travel isn’t possible.

Students can even take part by running their own Walking Dead podcasts, writing recap blogs, or creating YouTube channels dedicated to discussing the show's lore and Easter eggs. Participating in the fandom through content creation requires no ticket stubs and can help students build their own followings.

If you're a student balancing classes with your love of comics and lore, scheduling your life around a convention or WD-centric watch party can take careful planning. But between free online spaces and the occasional cheap local meetup, the fandom can welcome you no matter your budget.

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What the cast has said about their fans?

Messages from the cast about how thankful they are to fans have been communicated not just through obligatory interview lines at finale interviews and conventions, but also about how the show impacted their careers in meaningful ways.

From the beginning, Carl Grimes actor Chandler Riggs has shared how incredible it is to hear from fans at conventions that his character on the show impacted their lives. He called it "the absolute best experience I could've ever asked for growing up."

At the end of their video thanking fans after the series finale, Ross Marquand said the show would not have reached 11 seasons without their loyalty and excitement, while Lauren Ridloff simply said they were family.

Backstage at the final Comic-Con panel, Chris Hardwick set the tone by joking and saying it means just as much to them as it does to fans. Ross Marquand confessed that the group shed a few tears backstage, thinking about the journey coming to an end. The humor mixed with real moments of emotion from the cast showed just how much conventions meant to them. For some of the actors, meeting fans in person became one of their favorite parts of the job.