You’ve been cornered by Negan, The Walking Dead‘s most infamous and vicious villian. Death looms, and you see all the horrors of The Walking Dead up until this point flash before your eyes. A ‘greatest hits’ of the show, this was the only The Walking Dead maze in the world to showcase scenes from Season 7 onwards of the show

There had been, and still are, many scare mazes based off The Walking Dead universe. Thorpe Park wanted to do something different with Living Nightmare, and so worked with AMC – the creators behind the show – to do just that! The start of the maze recreated the famous Negan scene where the main cast were made to kneel on the ground before someone was brutually murdered by being beaten with a baseball bat. Here, you would be made to kneel before the actors got in your face and tormented you. This was also the first maze at Thorpe Park to feature swearing in the script.

From here, the story of the maze changed each year. Originally, the maze was meant to be ‘your life flashes before your eyes’, and you would relive the horrors you’ve already faced (scenes from the show), before you were murdered. Later, it would be that you would have to get supplies for Negan, going through all the previous horrors again.

In any case, after the pre-show, the storyline of the maze was simply escaping Walkers. This would take place in iconic scenes from the show, including the Hospital (with the “Don’t Open Dead Inside” doors), the Governor’s Office, the prison and – in the final year of the maze – the Whisperers.

Living Nightmare had a good length to it, which utilised the space well, and paid homage to the show very well. As with all Walking Dead mazes across the world, it wasn’t the most scary experience, instead focusing on atmosphere and highlighting the theming. This is not a bad thing, as it slotted into the park’s line up well, being a good starter-maze for those who were unsure about scare attractions.

Living Nightmare’s main struggle was creating a good ending which did justice to the maze. It was only in the maze’s last year where the park found the sweet spot, introducing a densely packed forest section and including the primary antagonists from Seasons 9 and 10, The Whisperers. This created a very uneasy feeling for guests, as well as a memorable way to close off the maze.

In 2018, the park operated Living Nightmare during the main season as part of ‘The Year of The Walking Dead’, under the name “Living Nightmare Extreme”. This featured more actors, and also had guests go in smaller groups, and sometimes alone!