Digital space and "Walking Dead" fandom's Team Delusional

Abstract

As previous fandom studies have shown, fans' disappointment in canon narratives may lead to adaptations and fragmentations in fan communities. This article examines Team Delusional, a subset of Walking Dead (2010–) fandom that emerged on Tumblr after the death of a series character. Rather than accepting the character's death as canon, Team Delusional has built a postobject fan community around the theory that the character secretly survived and will return to the series. Largely overlooked or even rejected by the larger Walking Dead fandom, this group continues to use Tumblr as its main community base. By deploying Tumblr's specific features and politics, the group maintains its identity and engages in interpretive practices that resist canon restrictions and intrafandom conflict. This analysis of Team Delusional's interpretive practices on Tumblr demonstrate the ways in which this social media platform particularly lends itself to postobject counternarrative fan subgroups.