The Walking Dead: All 11 seasons ranked from worst to best

6. Season 2

Bigger, meaner, and scarier than its first season, The Walking Dead‘s sophomore outing saw Rick Grimes and his not-so-merry band of survivors find their way to one of the most pivotal locations in the show’s history: Hershel Greene’s farm. And much of the season was spent there, as we met not only Hershel but his daughters Maggie and Beth – both of whom would become huge parts of the show going forward.

This season was the first time that The Walking Dead began to slow down but that slower storytelling never overwhelmed the plot in the way that it would in the later seasons. One of the best examples of this was Shane’s downward spiral, which played out over the course of the second season in such compelling fashion (and featured an incredible performance from Jon Bernthal) that it ensured we couldn’t take our eyes away from it. And that wasn’t the only jaw-dropping quality from season 2, with the Sophia barn reveal, and the Walkers storming the farm in the season’s conclusion still standing out among the show’s all-time greatest moments.

It may not have been as tight as season 1, but it was every darn bit as compelling.