'The Walking Dead' creator says he knows what caused the zombie virus, but we'll never find out

Gene Page/AMC

The INSIDER Summary:

• "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman told fans at San Diego Comic-Con he knows what caused the zombie virus in the comic series.
• He says it's dumb and won't ever tell anyone.
• It's not the first time Kirkman has said he knows the cause of the virus.
• In the past, Kirkman has said he wouldn't tell because he found the idea of scientists working on a cure and finding its origins boring.

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As "The Walking Dead" enters its eighth season this October, there's still one lingering mystery that hasn't been resolved. How did the zombie outbreak start and spread across the globe?

While fans have been guessing for years, there's one man who knows the answer, but he doesn't plan on sharing the secret anytime soon. Maybe ever.

"I know what caused the virus in 'The Walking Dead,' but it's dumb. I'll never tell anyone," creator Robert Kirkman told fans at San Diego Comic-Con Thursday during a panel for Kirkman himself.

This isn't the first time Kirkman has said he would never tell anyone the origin of his apocalyptic world.

In the past, Kirkman has said fans would never learn about the cause of the outbreak because he didn't think it was important to the story. Fans thought we may finally find out more about the zombie apocalypse's origins when AMC launched the series' spinoff, "Fear the Walking Dead," which takes place before the main series, but that hasn't been the case. 

"As far as digging down to actually find the smoking gun and realizing what that causes, it’s really just unimportant to the overall story," Kirkman said in 2015 in press notes ahead of the series premiere for "Fear the Walking Dead." "If we were to do a companion to 'The Walking Dead' and it was about a bunch of scientists that were working to find the cure and finding out the origins, that would bore me to tears."

But it seems like the origin may not be boring so much as it's just "dumb" as he put it. 

What could that "dumb" origin be? We may never know for sure, but a Uproxx posited during "Fear the Walking Dead" the virus may be of a biblical nature. One of the lead characters, a teacher former named Travis, spoke about Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and told the class "nature always wins." Was the virus Mother Nature's way at getting back at the human race? 

Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC

It would certainly be an explanation, but a bit of a bummer if that was the actual answer.

As Kirkman said, he'll never tell anyone, at least for now. That doesn't mean "The Walking Dead" and its companion series "Fear" can't continue to drop some hints along the way to stir up fan theories.

"The Walking Dead" will return to AMC October 22.

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